Tayla Peters is a teenager who’s loving her footy and making every opportunity count when tackling her playing schedule in the winter oval-shaped ball codes.
She’s played for four different sides this year, one in rugby union and three in rugby league respectively and had the honour recently of representing the first ever New Zealand Warriors girls’ team, an under-15s age group, in a decisive victory over a Tongan selection.
The Botany Downs Secondary College Year 11 student was chosen for the inaugural Warriors squad after impressive performances for her Pakuranga Jaguars under-16 side that made its competition semi-finals in a grade that fielded 10 club sides this season.
One NZ Warriors NRLW manager Nadene Conlon says with the club being granted a licence for the NRLW from next year, it’s building the team of players and staff for that premier grade in preparation.
“It’s very exciting. Although our NRLW team is a key focus, we’re also very conscious about building our female pathways to not only provide opportunity in the game at all levels but also to be sustainable as an NRLW club.
“We recently targeted the under-15s age grade as there seemed to be more opportunities presenting themselves by other rugby league organisations for under-16 to 18-year-olds, whereas the under-15 is a little missed,” Conlon says.
“We had selectors go to as many of the under-14s and under-15s Auckland Rugby League competition games over a three-week period to select 24 players.
“Tayla Peters was one of the standout players in her [Pakuranga] team and subsequently picked for the squad. She’s a very talented player and was a pleasure to have involved.”
Tayla started playing rugby pretty much from when she could hold a ball, pass and run, says her father and mother Damien and Bianca Peters, and has continued playing at Pakuranga Rugby every year including in this season’s under-17 team.
The other playing shirt she’ll wear this year, the fourth playing jersey in 2024, is for the Counties Manukau Stingrays in the national regional three-day tournament at the end of the month in Tauranga.
She’s a big fan of rugby and meeting Black Ferns superstar Portia Woodman earlier in life was an inspiration, but she’s starting to view league as her future.
“I enjoy it, the contact and more speed. It’s not so stop-start. I like the flow of the game, and it looks like there are more pathways for women,” Tayla says.
A natural playmaker, her positions in rugby are first-five and fullback, while in league it’s halfback.
Tayla’s league club and Stingrays coach Pila Hingano says she’s an “awesome” player.
“She’s got a very talented kicking game and is a really good organiser and defender. She’s just got to keep doing the good things and keeping working hard.”
Tayla and six of her Jaguars teammates are in Hingano’s Stingrays squad.
Conlon says as the Warriors develop its programmes, the club is working on creating playing academies for girls around the country alongside its boys’ ones.
“We’re looking at as many opportunities as we can to run short campaigns and concept games to get girls wearing the NZ Warriors jersey.”
Conlon says the recent campaign for the Warriors under-15 girls’ squad of two weeks of training and captain’s run also wrapped up with a debrief, video review and one-on-one sessions so the players received feedback.
“We hope to provide more opportunities such as this and more to include other age groups in the very near future and ongoing.”
