A club-level star in England and Australia, Roxy Murdoch-Masila broke into the New Zealand Test line-up in 2022.
Auckland-born, she moved to Queensland and represented Australia Under-18s in touch rugby and played rugby league for the Runaway Bay club.
After marrying former Wests Tigers and Penrith forward and Tongan Test rep Ben Murdoch-Masila and relocating to England, she played for St Helens in the second Women’s Super League season in 2018, before linking with Warrington Wolves and leading the club to promotion to the Super League. She was also named in the England’s women’s performance squad and initially pledged her allegiance to England for the 2021 RLWC.
Roxy and Ben intended return to New Zealand after the latter joined the Warriors, though the club’s enforced relocation to Australia in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic altered their plans – and the trajectory of Roxy’s rugby league career.
She represented Māori All Stars in the 2021 pre-season and turned out for Central Coast Roosters in the NSWRL Women’s premiership, earning a contract with Sydney Roosters. But the NRLW competition’s postponement until early-2022 – combined with the Warriors’ relocation to Redcliffe – saw Roxy instead join Brisbane Broncos, playing all six of the club’s matches.
The robust forward received a Kiwi Ferns call-up to face Mate Ma’a Tonga midway through 2022, starting in the second-row and scoring a try, making two line-breaks and racking up 90 metres and 22 tackles on debut in a 50-12 victory. Murdoch-Masila subsequently joined Gold Coast Titans and played two matches in the 2022 NRLW premiership, before heading to her former stomping ground in England as part of New Zealand’s World Cup squad.
Murdoch-Masila scored two tries in the Kiwi Ferns’ opening pool match against France and was in the second-row for the group-stage thriller against Australia, the semi-final win over England and the loss to the Jillaroos in the final.
