Tahlulah opens her House and her heart to her community

In the latest instalment in our special 'Telstra Hersday' series on the stars of the women's game, pan66.com talks to 2023 Veronica White Medal winner Tahlulah Tillett about her outstanding work in the Indigenous community and a rugby league journey that began with the Cairns Kangaroos.

A proud Moa and Murray Island woman, Tahlulah Tillett feels grateful every day to have grown up in a family that celebrated their culture.

Now, she is committed to ensuring more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids can do the same.

The 26-year-old Cowboys five-eighth is not only working hard on the field but is creating her own legacy off it, through her commitment to the North Queensland Indigenous community. 

Awarded the Veronica White Medal in 2023 for her work running school attendance programs and also as an ambassador for the Cowboys House, Tillett is passionate about giving back to her community.

"A lot was given to me as a kid with my touch footy and rugby league careers and I want to repay the faith and give back to the next generation,” Tillett told pan66.com as part of the Telstra 'Hersday' series.

“The Cowboys House is a boarding facility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids living across the North Queensland region. 

“It gives them an opportunity to come to Townsville and attend high school down here and it’s not just about football, it’s more about giving the kids an education and opportunities so they can go on and achieve different things. 

“In my role with the Cowboys community team I run the Try for 5! program and we’ve got 18 primary schools across North Queensland where we promote attendance and engage with a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids. 

“This space I’m really passionate about, I want the kids to realise there are opportunities for them as they grow up. 

“As long as they are willing to work hard and be good people along the way, they can achieve anything they set their minds to and potentially can take that back to their own communities and help inspire the next generation.”

The eldest of four siblings and the daughter of foundation Cowboy Stephen Tillett, the Indigenous All Star says pride and culture has been instilled within her from a young age. 

“A lot of my passion has come from my family, just being raised to be who we are, be proud of our culture and not be afraid to voice your opinion,” she said.

“So I definitely think it’s been instilled within myself since I was a little girl, I’ve grown up around my culture from day dot, sung and danced to my culture and I want other young boys and girls to be proud of who they are and their cultural background. 

“I was born into a pretty proud rugby league family, my dad Stephen was at the Cowboys when they first started [in 1995] and I loved footy as a young girl and started playing when I was nine years old for the Cairns Kangaroos.

Sport for me has always been a great way to represent my family and explore my culture as well

Tahlulah Tillett

“As soon as I was offered a contract at the Cowboys it was a very easy decision to say yes.

"Growing up in Cairns and North Queensland, I loved watching the Cowboys play and idolised the likes of Johnathan Thurston and then obviously the connection there with my dad, having been a part of the men’s first Cowboys team back in the day.”

At the start of 2023, Stephen was appointed as Queensland's inaugural First Nations Justice Officer after a distinguished career in the Police Service.

Much like her dad, Tahlulah is a familiar face in the Townsville community and uses her platform to teach the next generation about resilience and perseverance.

Between 2017 and 2018, Tillett endured a period no teenage talent should face with the sporting world at their feet, suffering a meniscus tear, ACL blow and injuries to her MCL twice.

“In that time, I suffered four consecutive injuries, three of which required surgery,” she said.

“That period in itself was tough, but what helped me was the mindset of controlling the controllables and the light at the end of the tunnel. 

“I couldn’t change the fact I’d injured myself again and again, but I could control how I responded to it. 

“I was committed to my rehab and leant on a good support network and eventually I was able to make a return to playing rugby league in 2021.

“So that mindset is also something I like to share today, particularly the younger girls in our squad who might have had setbacks in their development and careers.”

Tillett came through the women’s rugby league ranks at a time when the opportunity to play regularly and mix it with the best athletes in the game meant traveling from Cairns to Brisbane each weekend. 

Today, as one of the first signings in Cowboys NRLW history, Tillett says an ever increasing pressure for positions and strength of pathway talent is seen as a great positive for the North Queensland region.

“Every time I travel to remote communities and back home to Cairns, the amount of young girls running around at that junior grassroots level is incredible,” she said.

“Particularly further up north, the kids are quite limited in opportunities but having the Cowboys based here in Townsville, it’s a great pathway for particularly the young girls.

"They don’t have to move too far away from home to play rugby league like a lot of past players did in the day. 

“The pathways have definitely created some healthy competition within the group and we’ve been competing for spots from pre-season right through to towards the end of the season now.

“So the opportunity to represent my home region each week is not something I take for granted and it’s amazing to see that there are pathways for them now directly through to the NRLW.”