Jakiya Whitfeld (born 11 June 2001) is an Australian professional

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 currently plays for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

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 ...

. Her position is . She previously played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

Background

Born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

, Whitfeld grew up in a small country town near Bathurst and played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for Central West growing up.

Playing career

Early years

In 2018, Whitfeld represented

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 ...

in rugby sevens, playing in the World Schools Rugby 7s Tournament and the Oceania Rugby 7s Championship, then later representing the

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

side. In 2019, she represented Australia at the

World Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. In 2020, she injured her ACL, causing her to miss out on selection for the Tokyo Olympics.

2022

In 2022, Whitfeld represented Australia again at the World Sevens Series. On 21 July, she switched to rugby league with the

in the

for the 2022 season, making her debut against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in round 3. She said, "I tested positive for COVID in the first week of pre-season, so I had to basically learn a whole new game in three weeks." She also played for the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

in the lower

NSWRL Women's Premiership The Harvey Norman Women's Premiership is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. It is the only state wide open age competition for women in New South Wales and is run by New South Wales Rugby League. The NSWRL Women's Premiershi ...

, where she was the competition's highest try-scorer.

2023

In May, Whitfeld joined new NRLW side

on a 1-year contract. Coach

Brett Kimmorley Brett "Noddy" Kimmorley (born 15 September 1976) is an Australian rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s and is the current interim coach of the Wests Tigers. A New South Wales inter ...

said, "We made a decision to invest in seven players who weren't at the Wests Tigers and she's one of them. When we had our initial conversations when we recruited her, she told me she'd like to play wing but also wanted the possibility of playing centre. Time will tell what she'll be best suited at." Whitfield made her club debut on the wing, scoring two tries in Wests' inaugural game, a 36-8 victory over Parramatta. She scored another in round 2, making 21 runs for 292 metres, the second-most by any player in the history of the competition at that stage.

References

External links

Newcastle Knights profileWorld Rugby profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfeld, Jakiya 2001 births Australian rugby league players Newcastle Knights (NRLW) players Wests Tigers (NRLW) players Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Canberra Living people