Catching up with Cobie

A Conversation with World-Cup Vet Cobie-Jane Morgan

This week, I was lucky to catch up with a Wallaroo veteran, who’s recently made the move to Brisbane. A seasoned and experienced player, I enjoyed hearing her perspective on where the women’s game is at, her own rugby journey and even a highlight from the 2010 World Cup.

The Queensland team is lucky to have her around and will no doubt enjoy having her on the field for the play-off game next Sunday afternoon (31st March) at Ballymore! (It’ll either be against Western Australia or the Brumbies, depending on the outcome of this weeks games.)

During Super W finals week, I’ll be interviewing a few more players, so stay tuned!

Hey Cobie, how are you?

Good, thank you!

How do you feel the seasons gone for you and the team?

Yeah, I’m pretty happy with where we’re at at the moment. We’ve won 3 from 4, so we’re sitting in at second, just behind New South Wales. I think the level that we’re playing at is a pretty good standard and I’d never sit “comfortable”, but generally I’m happy about the feeling amongst the team and we’re training pretty hard at the moment.

As a seasoned player in the rugby community, what are your thoughts on Super W, how it’s progressed and where it can go?

Hmmm well, before last year we had the nationals every year which was a 3-4 day tournament where you had to punch out 6 games in 4 days. So it was pretty ridiculous, trying to get the best quality out of all the States sides. So Super W [beginning last year] showcased a lot of good talent, you’d play and then have a week to recover. I think the level of knowledge of the game has increased a lot, so going forward for the national level, the girls that assemble in the national side will be one level up again, in “rugby smarts”. We’ve got a young side and so over the next 5 years it will become almost semi-professional. Then in 10 years time, if we have success in womens rugby globally, there’s a big bright future ahead for all the young girls.

You were born and raised on the Central Coast of New South Wales and now you’re here in Brisbane. Can you tell us about your rugby journey and what led you here to Queensland?

My rugby journey! I moved from the Central Coast to Sydney after school and started playing rugby then. I’d played a lot of touch footy growing up and represented Australia from when I was 14 onwards… then I moved down to the Northern beaches in Sydney, after school, for university. Then I travelled to the Darwin Sevens with a whole lot of girls who were playing for Australia at the time, (who I’d also played a lot of touch with as well). That’s how I got roped into things…. That was my first Sevens tournament and I absolutely loved it. I’ve been playing touch on a global scale for a while, then I found contact and I really enjoyed it… not sure about my Mum though! (Laughs). I came back from the Sevens tournament and had got to know women who were in the Australian team at the time, you know, the likes of Tui Ormsby, Cheryl Soon who was the captain, and Alex Hargreaves who was playing for the Reds last year, she was at Sydney Uni. So I had a lot of good influences around me, just from that one tournament. I came back and they roped me into playing fifteens. I went to my first Nationals, up here on the Gold Coast and then got picked up for the Australian side. I thought that was a bit of a G-Up (laughs) because it was my first tournament! From there on, touch was going out the back door, we had to pay for ourselves. But when I started playing for Australian Rugby, everything was getting paid for, you never had to get your wallet out, so you were supported really well. I had a lot of good, strong-minded people around me and I guess that helped me in my younger years to become mentally tough. I went across to Samoa for a world-cup qualifier and then I haven’t looked back. I played one more World Cup for touch and then that was it. It’s been just rugby from “09” since. I’m in my tenth year now.

And how I ended up in Queensland… after I did my degree, took up an apprenticeship with plumbing and I considered that I have a good solid three-four years left - I wanted to push myself and see where I can go… I have a really good mate from Marsden State High who’s been on my back for the last few years and saying “come up and teach - I want you to be involved”. They sort of needed a female role model, so I said I’d finish my apprenticeship, get that ticked off and come up. I needed a change of scenery as well for rugby. Speaking with the Wallaroo’s coach, he said you never want to get comfortable where you are. If you’re sitting in a really good squad, you could easily fall into that trap, leading us into the World Cup. He said I need you to get out, play against what’s the bench mark now and it will improve your rugby. So here I am!

What’s your favourite thing about the Sunshine State?

What’s my favourite thing… What am I… 4 months in. I love warm weather! Summer’s my favourite. The first couple of weeks, I struggled training with the humidity, I felt like I was the unfittest person on the team, but I got used to it.

I love my job, I’m really happy there and I love being a part of this team. So this team and my job are my favourite things.

What’s your favourite memory of representing Australia at a World Cup?

Probably my first World Cup, where I debuted in London in 2010. It’s funny, we got “capped” after our first game. At the time, my dad he’d just got his first brain tumour. He was alright, he’d lost his marbles a little and we used to joke about it a fair bit.  He was over there, because he didn’t know how long he’d have left, so he was like “stuff it, I’m coming over to watch you”. I got my cap after our first game… and when you get capped, it’s a pretty special thing. You’re meant to put the cap away safely… and a few days later, I turn up for my second game, his memories a bit funny, I’m running out, and he’s got my cap on. I was like “oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing.” (Laughs) He’s the only person in the stand, out of all the parents and he’s got my cap on. I’ll never forget running out to a packed stadium in London, and there he is standing there with my Wallaroos cap on. (He passed away two years after that, but it’s a good memory. A funny memory.)

You’re known for playing very well in a lot of positions. What’s your favourite position to play?

I started at number 12, probably the smallest number 12 going around in the world. I used to love (and still do) running around into space, I’ve played out on the wing and that was a bit of a strange one because I’m not the quickest person… but I enjoyed it… but I’ve finally found where it best suits me on the field… I love to talk, I love to distribute the ball, I’ve got vision around the field, so halfback, definitely. I don’t know why I didn’t go there years ago, being that little commander on the field suits me to a tee. So I love playing at halfback.

Some of my readers don’t know the game very well. Can you describe the role of the halfback, in your own words?

Halfback… I guess we’re the link between our forwards and our backs. We’re the little commanders on the field. So we’re bossing everyone around, especially our forwards who are doing a lot of the damage up front. You have to be barking in their ear constantly for 80 minutes or so. You’ve got to be precise when you’re passing and make sure you’re getting clean ball out for the backs to do their thing (or the forwards)… visually, you’ve always gotta be scanning your options. On defence, it’s similar… you’re that last man. You’ve gotta be scanning and if anyone breaks that line, you have to be that cover defender. Like I said, you’re that link, the middle-man - the “middle-woman”, I should say, between the forward and the backs. 

Thanks Cobie-Jane for your time, we are all behind you this coming weekend!

Thank you for having me! I loved it. Thanks for that!