Hannah Southwell

Rugby League

At 24 Hannah Southwell is a force in the sporting world. Beginning her career as a football (soccer) star with the Newcastle Jets in the Australian W-league, she became the league’s youngest goalkeeper in 2014 at just 15 years of age.

She went on to represent Australia in the under-17 and under-20 national teams, before setting her sights on rugby union in late 2016. Hannah was contracted with the Australian Sevens team and went on to represent Australia at the Oceania Women’s Sevens Championships, Australia winning the championship and defeating Fiji in the final.

Proving she can easily cross between codes, in 2018 Hannah made the move to rugby league and debuted in the NSWRL Women’s Premiership playing for CRL Newcastle. The same year she represented New South Wales, defeating Queensland in the State of Origin series. Proving to be a pivotal year for Hannah, she also made her test debut for the Australian Jillaroo’s.

Hannah went on to play for the Sydney Roosters in the NRLW, playing all seven matches including the Grand Final victory of the postponed 2021 season. Hannah then signed with the Newcastle Knights and alongside her sister Jesse helped them win the 2023 premiership.

Hannah was named as a finalist in the 2020 Dally M awards and won the tackle of the year. As well as on the field Hannah is taking her notorious tackling techniques to the boardroom as an RLPA representative, leading the push for increased investment in the fastest-growing female sport in the country.