Melbourne-born NRLW stalwart Najvada George received a maiden Kiwi Ferns call-up for the 2023 Pacific Championships.
George first flourished in the basketball arena, playing for WNBL club Dandenong Rangers and representing the Australian under-17s. She switched to rugby league in 2017 with Werribee Bears (near Melbourne) and represented Combined Affiliated States at the Women’s National Championships, before turning out for the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII against Papua New Guinea in 2018.
The powerhouse forward was Wests Tigers’ Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership Player of the Year and played three NRLW games for St George Illawarra in 2019 but an ACL setback stymied her progress in early-2020. George reemerged with Parramatta in 2022, featuring in the club’s drive to the NRLW grand final, where the Eels lost to the Knights.
George, 24, was a mainstay in the Tigers’ maiden NRLW campaign in 2023, playing all nine games at lock, while she came off the bench in all three of the Kiwi Ferns’ Pacific Championships matches, averaging 17 tackles and 92 metres. She racked up 12 runs for 100 metres and 18 tackles in a superb contribution to the 12-6 triumph over the Jillaroos in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old wore the No.13 for all nine of the Tigers’ matches again in 2024 and upped her work-rate to 24.4 tackles per game with an average of 90 running metres, retaining a Kiwi Ferns spot for the end-of-year Pacific Championships. George played all three Tests, staring in the second-row in the opening clash against Australia in a late change, starring with 12 runs for 139 metres and a try assist in a 70-minute display against Papua New Guinea, and coming off the bench in the final against the Jillaroos.
