A Catch-up with the Vice-Captain: Lori Cramer

Time flies when your having fun! Half way through the regular season and after two wins and one tough loss to NSW, the Queensland Women’s XV are training hard with their eyes firmly on the prize!

To share about the journey, I had the chance to catch up this week with the teams vice-captain Lori Cramer. It was great to hear about her love for the game (and her club UQ!) I'm sure you'll love reading our chat below.

Hi Lori, thanks for making time to catch up. How are you?

I’m good! It’s been a good day. I’m looking forward to training!

I’d like all my readers to be as excited about Super W as I am. What message do you have for Queensland rugby fans about Super W?

Super W is a very exciting comp, there’s a lot of untapped talent that people haven’t seen before. People are very excited to see the women’s game. We haven’t had a lot of media exposure before and there’s a lot of exciting players to watch!

What are your thoughts on Queensland’s season so far?

We’ve had a good season so far. There’s still a long way to go which is exciting and there’s room for growth… We have a great team and there’s a really good vibe around the girls this year.

I’d love to hear about your rugby journey - I read that you grew up playing soccer and touch rugby… Is it true your only started playing in 2015?

Yes! It is 3 years I’ve been playing. I grew up playing soccer and touch like you just said… my friend asked me if I wanted to play Sevens for the Kings and Queens Cup and that’s how it started. Then they invited me to go down to play at UQ. I grew up watching more Rugby League, but I enjoy watching and playing Rugby Union now.

There’s a lot more thinking involved and lot more tactics. With soccer, you kind of just kick the ball and wait for them to make a mistake and there’s more space. Rugby is a lot more like chess really, there’s more thinking involved.

At my first training, I didn’t really understand the rules… and someone would pick the ball up and run the ball a meter and I’d be like “what are you doing - pass it”… but it makes way more sense now.

What is it that you love most about rugby culture in Queensland?

Well, being at UQ, I like that with the Men and Women’s team, there’s a lot of club activities that everyone does together. I love the way everyone interacts as a rugby community.

Also, I love in general how all body shapes are celebrated in rugby. Whether your tall, short, big or small, everyone can play. There’s a spot for everybody.

What would you say to young girls and boys thinking of playing the game?

I’d say to young girls you definitely need a good hair tie. [Laughs] Just to give it a go! Lot’s of people think “I’ve got to be fit before I do this, or I’ve got to do that…” just give it a go! That’s the best way to find out if you like it or not. But definitely get a good hair tie, that’s by main advice.

Awesome. I’m sure there’s a lot of young people out there inspired by you. Thanks to you and your team for all you do for the game. Go Queensland!

Oh cheers! Thanks for chatting to me! It’s really good to see you here.

The QLD Women’s XV take on the Brumbies this Saturday, 5pm down at Ballymore, (in-between the two men’s interstate finals featuring UQ and GPS!) Check out info about the day here.