What are your beliefs? I'm a believer that 2020 is gonna be a great year for Queensland rugby!
Week 1 of Super W is finally here!!! Queensland has a bye on the competition schedule, but instead has an extra game against Fijiana! There was a real buzz of excitement in the air when I went to visit Ballymore this week.
Few people are more excited to finally start the season than Kiri Lingman! The daughter of a former-Wallaroo has risen up the ranks to become one of Queensland's (and the nation's) senior players and leaders. After patiently persevering through injury setbacks, she is looking forward to the season that awaits…
It’s week 1! Queensland officially has a bye, but you do have a “pre-season” type game again Fiji. How has training gone and are you looking forward to your first game?
Yeah! So personally, this has been the biggest and hardest pre-season I’ve ever been a part of. Super W is such a short format, you feel like you’re training for so long - to get to this point, it’s almost your reward. To be able to do that in a trial match before we hit the Super W round is perfect, to be honest.
What are you looking forward to most about this season?
To me, even though it’s a new season and a new group of girls, it almost feels like things are progressing as one. From the first year, to the second, to the third, there’s been an obvious progression, not just in terms of skill-sets, but as a brand in general.
Personally, coming back from injury, being able to play is the biggest thing, obviously. But overall, just seeing where we take it as a team and as a franchise. The first year of being called the Queensland Reds [not just the ‘Queensland Women’s XV’] is really exciting, we don’t take that lightly - that’s a huge honour. I guess playing under that banner and seeing what we can do as a team is what I’m looking forward to the most!
What was your highlight, playing rugby in 2019?
I think last year, Super W was probably the first highlight. I think the second was the announcement of Japan against the Wallaroos. Overall, it was rewarding for Women’s Rugby in Australia. We haven’t had the opportunity to play middle-tier countries in such a long time. It was the perfect opportunity to show what we could do and take two wins away. It was a highlight watching them! [Kiri’s shoulder wasn't 100%, so unfortunately she was unable to play in those games.]
What lessons have you learnt while recovering from your major injury in 2017?
That was a really big one. It wasn’t my first major injury, but it was the first time it had such a big impact on my life. I think I learnt the importance of being really diligent with all aspects of your body, particularly with training and recovery. Back then I was about 22, so I bounced back a lot easier after trainings. And I really took for granted the recovery and the little side of things, like the extras in the gym and being diligent about the things that you don’t take a lot of notice of. It also was a huge mental learning curve about having a setback and regrouping and refocusing and working to get back to a point. It wasn’t the greatest thing that's happened to me, but I’m always a huge believer that everything happens for a reason and I definitely found that out. It put me on a different path and that’s where I am today.
Who was your biggest rugby hero growing up?
One that really stands out and I’m sure you know is Liam Gill. Going through school, I played netball, so I didn’t pay much attention to rugby. My parents were huge rugby fans, so I remember watching it with them on the couch on Friday nights… but when I left school, that’s when l I actually started paying attention to what they were doing.
When I first started playing rugby, I watched it even more. I didn’t have an idea of what position I wanted to play, or what to do in that position. I remember watching the Reds during that time and seeing Liam Gill play and I remember the commentators always using the word “work-horse” with him. He stood out because of his work ethic and how good he was in so many areas of the game. I enjoyed watching him and thought he was an outstanding player, especially being a “jack of all trades”.
He probably, in a weird way, put me on my path as a flanker! As far as idols go, in a rugby sense, I think he’s my main one.
Your Mum was a Wallaroos coach in the early 90s. What are a few things you’ve learnt from her about the game?
Quite a lot! The thing with Mum is she has a really old-school approach, so to her brute force is the main approach. When I first started, I wasn’t the most aggressive person on the field. Even now, I’d say aggression isn’t my forte, but Mum is “old school, hit ‘em hard, tackle hard, run hard”… so I always get a nice little pump up message from her about being aggressive out on the field.
Even as the game evolves and coaches have a different spin on things, Mum has a really simple, old-school approach and sometimes it’s nice to think of the game that way. Just getting back to catch-pass, running the ball, tackling - she really hones in on those three skills and doing them well. That’s probably the biggest thing she’s taught me, always be good with the basics.
You only started playing rugby in 2014, down at Sunnybank. What inspired you to play at that time?
Um, I think at that time, it hadn’t been confirmed but there was a lot of talk about Sevens becoming an Olympic sport. For some reason, something in the back of my head, I don't know if it was fate or destiny or whatever, but something in the back of my head was telling me I needed to play rugby or give it a try, my parents had been a bit of an influence on that too... I was scared to, because of what the sport entails, but one day I just said "no, I'm gonna do it", I went down to closest club, which was Sunnybank and I gave it a go. So that's pretty much it.
Thanks for taking time to chat Kiri! All the best against WA next weekend. I’ll be watching!
Thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment