It’s been a big year for women’s rugby in Australia. Super W has taken off once again and the Wallaroo’s have had some awesome games, in Australia as well as New Zealand.
And in amongst it all, one of the rising stars in the sport is Alana Elisaia! After a stellar season with the Queensland Women’s XV (soon to be rebranded the Women’s Reds), she was selected and capped as a Wallaroo! The year has been almost non-stop for her, with the Aon Uni Sevens series and now the Australian Development Squad tour taking place in Fiji in just over a week. In the midst of it all, it seems like her dads advice that she shared in our last interview has been steering her well!
A big thanks to Alana for taking time to chat. Even after time spent on the world stage, she is still humble and as nice as ever to talk to. It looks like she has a great career ahead of her!
Hey Alana, great to catch up again. 2019 has been big for you! How would you sum up the year so far, in a few words?
Exciting and full on. Super W was really fun and then getting into the Wallaroos was pretty unexpected, but was really cool.
How are you feeling after the AON Sevens round in Canberra the other week?
Um… relieved that it’s over! (Laughs) no… Sevens is always hard. But I’m feeling good. Gutted that we didn’t take it out, but we played a really good tournament. So, content really.
On your Instagram page, you said that you are “proud, regardless.” Does that sum up how you feel about your teams Super W season earlier this year?
Yep. I think, regardless of our score in the grand final. We were such a tight knit team that we became a family. So we left everything out on the field and there was nothing else that we can do. And the score didn’t reflect on our team.
I was really proud of the whole team. I’m looking forward to next years Super W season already!
Me too actually! We just started pre-season. It’s cool to see there’s a lot of new faces.
Can you tell me more about what it was like playing with the Wallaroos this year?
Um... I didn’t find it as nerve racking as what I thought it would be. I thought it would be really overwhelming. But the group of girls that I went with were really supportive it and made it so much easier. Especially playing at Eden Park, I thought that would be scary. But it was exciting I guess.
During our last interview, you said your Dads advice to “relax and have fun” was really helpful. Did that advice still apply while playing for the Wallaroos?
Yep. I think I had to. Because if I got too worked up, I would have just crumbled. But I just took each stride at a time and had heaps of fun. Whatever time I had on the field, I just did what I could and enjoyed it. Because it doesn’t come very often.
What was your number 1 highlight from your experience playing with the Wallaroos this year?
Um.. Definitely getting to put on the green and gold jersey. And then getting to play was even more special I guess.
What will the next few months look like?
So we’ve started pre-season for Super W and we’ve got the Aussie development tour so I’m still training for that. That kind of overlapped with Aon and then Aon overlapped with Wallaroo’s and then Wallaroo’s overlapped with Super W… we’ll get a break during Christmas for like a week… so full on.
What would your message be to Queensland Rugby fans, ahead of next years Super W season?
I think it would be nice to have people get around the girls a lot more. We had a lot of support last year, but I think next year will be a big year considering we got rebranded as just “Reds”. So we’re one big family now. Hopefully we’ll get more people around us!
Thanks Alana for taking time out to chat!
That’s ok! Thank you for having me!
