Kiwi triple-threat in NRLW

Kiwi Ferns player and Gisborne-born Nita Maynard moves past an Australian defender during the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s in Sydney. Maynard is playing for the Newcastle Knights who are playing the Brisbane Broncos tomorrow.Photosport picture

Wairoa code-switchers Madison Bartlett and Amelia Pasikala and Gisborne’s Nita Maynard are making an impact on the NRL Women’s Premiership.

All three are in teams sitting in the top three   of the eight-team competition after four rounds.

Points differential is all that separates the leading four sides.

Prop Pasikala’s Sydney Roosters team are top of the table; hooker Maynard’s Newcastle Knights are second; and winger Bartlett’s Canberra Raiders are third.

Bartlett debuted in 2019 for the NZ Warriors in a 16-12 Round 1 win against the Sydney Roosters after battling her way back from shoulder injuries and surgeries on her way.

She went on to play in each of the Warriors’ three-round games on the wing and was named in the Kiwi Ferns squad.

Bartlett, 28, moved to St George Illawarra Dragons for the 2021 season (which was played in early 2022) and was the leading tryscorer with six four-pointers.

She moved on to the Titans and played five games, and this year signed with the Canberra Raiders, who face the Broncos tomorrow at 2pm.

Rookie Pasikala, 19, made her NRLW debut only three weeks ago in Round 3 against the Roosters and is already making waves.

Having switched from union to league from less than a year ago, she was quickly snapped up by the Roosters and in just two matches has racked up 15 line breaks, 55.7 post-contact metres and has a 97.3 percent tackle efficiency rate.

Pasikala debuted for the Hawke’s Bay Tui rugby team in 2020 at only 16 years old and last year was a member of the Tui side who beat Otago 24-20 in the final of the Farah Palmer Cup.

Deciding to give league a try, Pasikala joined the under-18 Ngāti Kahungunu rugby league team and was then selected to represent New Zealand Māori Rugby League at the Pasifika Youth Cup.

Australian scouts saw her in action and were quick to make her an offer to join Sydney club Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to compete in the Tarsha Gale Cup.

The Roosters faced the West Tigers today.

Maynard moved to rugby league from union in 2017 and played for the Cronulla Sharks.

She made the Kiwi Ferns’ squad for the world cup in Australia where they lost 23-16 to Australia in the final.

The Roosters contracted her for the 2018 premiership and she played in all four games of the competition — the Roosters losing 34-12 to the Broncos in the grand final.

She tasted grand final defeat again for the Roosters and again against the Broncos in 2020, played for Parramatta Eels in 2021 and the Broncos in 2022.

She shifted to the Knights for the 2023 season. They play the Broncos tomorrow.