This was published 1 year ago
Head in the clouds: Meet the youngest ever Waratah
By Tom Decent
When Caitlyn Halse was young, all she wanted to do was play rugby. There was one problem: the boys didn’t want to play against her.
“I used to sleep with my footy and boots every night,” Halse told the Herald. “I started playing rugby league at six and rugby union at eight. My why? It was my Dad and my uncles. When I was growing up, I used to go down to games on Sundays and follow them around.
“Most of the boys didn’t want to tackle me or play with a girl, so Mum used to put my plait into my headgear. I used to play and then after the game I’d take it off. All the boys would be in shock when they realised they’d just played a girl.”
Halse has been surprising onlookers for more than half her life, but never more so than in the past two weeks.
When she ran onto Allianz Stadium last month for the Waratahs’ Super W side, against the Western Force, Halse wrote her name into the record books as the youngest player - male or female - to represent NSW at XVs.
At just 16 years and 187 days old, Halse was so young that she needed written permission from her parents to play against adults.
Caitlyn Halse is the youngest Waratahs player of all time. Credit: Steven Siewert
In front of friends, family, her year adviser and principal, Halse’s debut in a thumping 43-0 victory couldn’t have gone much better.
Last week against the Brumbies, the softly spoken fullback bagged a 75th-minute try to put the icing on a 24-13 win. Make no mistake: Halse is a star in the making.
Halse, who hails from the Camden Rugby Club, is one of the youngest girls to play in a major football league in Australia. (The youngest is Sydney FC’s Indiana Dos Santos, who made a name for herself last month by scoring a goal at age 15.)
Halse has been named at No.15 again this week for the Waratahs in their grand final rematch against Fijiana Drua on Saturday afternoon at Concord Oval.
Caitlyn Halse has impressed in her two Super W appearances this year. Credit: Steve Siewert
“It’s been different. I’m not used to it at all,” Halse said of the extra attention to have come her way since her impressive debut. “Sometimes my teammates make a couple of jokes about how young I am. I have to look after Tara, our team mascot. I have to take her to all trainings, meetings and everywhere I go. She hasn’t been pinched yet. I’m doing my best.
“There were nerves but all the girls got around me and supported me. Everyone made sure I was fine. Once I got my hands on the ball, I was good to go.
“[On the Monday], everyone at school wanted to have a chat to me about how the game was and get to know what it was like.”
Halse, who still isn’t old enough to drive by herself, can thank her father Daniel for helping get up her logbook hours.
Once the school bell rings at Magdalene Catholic College, Halse catches a 20-minute bus home. Then it’s an 80-minute commute to Daceyville for Waratahs training, several times a week. That’s commitment - and it is paying off in spades.
“I love not only the team environment but the physicality of the game. It’s just so different from everything else. I don’t think of league at all. I think I’ll just stick with rugby, I love it way more than league.
“In the Illawarra area, there’s not many girls XVs sides all year round. So when you get to 13s, you have to stop playing with the boys. I moved out to the city comp and I played with Gordon for a while in under-14s. That’s when it hit me that I could potentially be playing for a XVs women’s side.”
Halse has experience in sevens, and it could be an avenue to pursue one day, but for now, it’s all about the 15-a-side game.
“I do dream of one day playing for the Wallaroos,” Halse said. “I’ve just got to keep training hard and hopefully, one day I’ll get picked.”
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