Life of Rilee: From meeting her idols to playing beside them

As part of pan66.com's 'Telstra Hersday' series on the stars of the women's game, we talk to the Titans' rising star Rilee Jorgensen about her journey from Norths Tigers to the NRLW and the thrill of playing alongside some of her idols.

If you ask Ali Brigginshaw who her idol was growing up she’d say Alfie Langer, ask Kezie Apps and she’ll tell you Nathan Hindmarsh but Rilee Jorgensen looked up to the likes of Steph Hancock and Brittany Breayley-Nati, and now she shares the field with them.

The Titans young gun is living proof of the NRLW pathway that exists for players now and the tough forward from Ipswich has the rugby league world at her feet.  

With a mum and an aunty who had both played rugby league, the dream to be a footballer has always felt within reach for Jorgensen.

“My mum and aunty were one of the ‘OGs’ in the area, they played with Veronica White and Karyn Murphy, and Ali Brigginshaw also played in Ipswich so I had a lot of role models growing up,” Jorgensen told pan66.com as part of the Telstra Hersday series.

“I actually started playing soccer when I was five but they told me I was a bit too rough and I should look at some other sports so my dad took me over to the Norths Tigers in Ipswich.

“So I started playing rugby league when I was about six. My brother also tried it but he didn’t like it much.

“But a big moment for me was when I was about nine, I got a photo with Steph Hancock at the 2017 World Cup at Suncorp Stadium.

"I remember that moment pretty clearly and I just knew I wanted to be out there one day.

“And it’s a moment like that where I would sometimes think back to during the long drives or being away from home and knew that if I could stick at it then I could get there.”

In a bizarre twist, nine years later Jorgensen would go on to make her debut as an 18-year-old for the Gold Coast Titans alongside Hancock.

Setting a cracking pace through the NRLW pathways, the U19s Origin star said it's still surreal to be ‘living the dream’ alongside her childhood heroes.

“Steph was a forward when I debuted against the Broncos so that was pretty cool,” Jorgensen said.

“I always liked her, just the way she went hard on the field every game and pushed on no matter what her body threw at her.

She always puts us younger ones before herself and is just a very caring person and I look up to that about her as well.

Rilee Jorgensen on Steph Hancock

“So from watching her and then her sticking around long enough for me to play beside her has been pretty cool.

“I'm grateful for the pathways they paved for us. I didn't really think about it too much when I was younger.

“I knew I wanted to be a rugby league player and because we always had the BMD premiership it was always my goal to play that but when I saw the World Cup and then the NRLW, it all felt possible.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Jorgensen however, with COVID threatening her development in 2020, however travelling the extra mile to the Gold Coast turned out to be a pivotal turning point in the tough forward’s career.

“When COVID happened, the whole Ipswich competition got ruled out and I was pretty devastated at the time,” she said.

“I had played Rugby Sevens with some of the girls down at Nerang and I saw their rugby league comp was still going ahead so I joined the comp down there.

“It was a fair drive from Ipswich down to Nerang, so it was a big commitment for my parents and my poor younger brother, he hated it, but we won back to back premierships there and that's when I got picked up by Tim McIntyre from the Titans.”

Helping the Gold Coast to a maiden grand final appearance and taking out the Queensland Under 19s Player of the Match medal, Jorgensen burst onto the scene in 2023.

For the 18-year-old back-rower, the reality that perhaps she could be the Steph Hancock for the next generation of aspiring players hasn’t hit home yet but she has already had a big impact on the Titans community.

“I noticed towards the back end of last year how the Gold Coast community really got around us and there were so many people at our training before the grand final and lots of young girls and even boys there,” she said.

“There’s this one girl called Brooke in particular who I guess I have had a bit of an impact on.

“She has down syndrome and I rocked up on a motorbike and took her to her formal last year.

“She texts and messages me a lot too... I love Brookie.”

Preparing for her second year of NRLW after making her debut in Round 2 last season, fans can expect to see a lot more of the iconic long hair and pink headgear in 2024 with the tough forward ready to make a big impact.

“My nan, who I call mama, would be cracking up about this because she's always trying to get me to put my hair up,” Jorgensen said.

“Everyone always asks if it bothers me but I've just worn it like that all my life, it's just a normal thing.

“I played one game with braids in and it got pulled so much, I'd rather have it out. I don’t even own a hair tie.

“But I’m just keen to get another season under my belt and help the girls go one further and get the premiership.

“Just keep living the dream I guess."