Chelsea Baker (born 17 March 1986) is an Australian former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played for the

Central Queensland Capras Central Queensland Capras are a semi-professional rugby league football club primarily based in Rockhampton, Queensland and representing Central Queensland. They currently play in the Queensland Cup, the premier rugby league competition in Quee ...

in the

QRL Women's Premiership The QRL Women's Premiership, known as the BMD Premiership due to sponsorship from BMD Group, is the top level of women's rugby league football in Queensland, Australia. Run by the Queensland Rugby League, the competition is Queensland's first s ...

. Primarily a , she played for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in the

NRL Women's Premiership The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for women's rugby league in Australia, female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the ...

, winning a premiership with them in 2017, and was a

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

representative.

Background

Born in

Windsor, Queensland Windsor is an inner northern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Windsor had a population of 7,013 people. Geography Windsor is located about from the Brisbane central business district. It is largely residential ...

, Baker began playing rugby league for the

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Wallabys in 2012.

Playing career

In 2015, Baker made her debut for

, scoring a try in a 4–all draw with New South Wales. On 6 May 2016, she made her Test debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, starting on the wing in a 16–26 loss to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. On 2 December 2017, she started on the wing in Australia's 23–16 Women's World Cup final win over New Zealand. In 2018 and 2019, she represented Queensland Country at the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Women's National Championships. In June 2018, Baker joined the

team and finished the season as the top point scorer in the competition. On 30 September 2018, she started at fullback in the Broncos' 34–12

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. In 2019, she played all three regular season games for the Broncos but was dropped for their

win over the

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

. In 2020, Baker played for the

in the newly established

. In August 2020, Baker, a full-time mother to two children, withdrew from the 2020 NRL Women's Premiership season. Baker captained the

in the 2021

, primarily playing as a

five-eighth Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the . Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional a ...

. On Friday, November 12th, she announced her retirement from Rugby League.

Achievements and accolades

Team

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydney ...

: Australia – Winners * 2018 NRLW Grand Final: Brisbane Broncos – Winners

References

External links

QRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Chelsea 1986 births Living people Australia women's national rugby league team players Australian female rugby league players Brisbane Broncos (NRLW) players People from Gladstone, Queensland Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Windsor, New South Wales Rugby league wingers Sportswomen from Queensland