Karina Brown (born 9 March 1989) is an Australian rugby league footballer who plays for the Gold Coast Titans Women in the NRL Women's Premiership and the Burleigh Bears 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 ...

. A or er, she is a Queensland and Australian representative, winning two World Cups in 2013 and 2017.

Background

Born in Warragul, Victoria, Brown moved to the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

with her family at the age of two and attended Marymount College. Brown grew up playing rugby league but was forced to stop when she was 13 years old, as there were no longer any opportunities for her to play competitively.

Playing career

In 2010, she returned to rugby league, playing for the

Runaway Bay Seagulls The Runaway Bay Seagulls is a rugby league club based on the northern end of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. They play out of Bycroft Oval and their colours are Navy Blue, Red & White. The Seagulls' first season in the Gold Coast Rugby ...

and making her debut for Queensland. In 2012, after a year off, Brown founded the Burleigh Bears women's team. She captained Burleigh for four years, leading them to two premiership victories in 2015 and 2016. In 2013, Brown made her first Test debut for the

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 ...

, playing two games in their

2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fourth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was held in Great Britain from 26 October, culminating in the final between Australia and New Zealand on 14 July. It was held a ...

-winning campaign. In 2017, to ensure the ongoing development of women's rugby league in Queensland, Brown and teammates

Vanessa Foliaki Vanessa Foliaki (born 20 August 1993) is a New Zealand-born Australian rugby league footballer who plays for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Women in the NRL Women's Premiership and the Wentworthville Magpies in the NSWRL Women's Premiership. ...

and Sasha Mahuika left Burleigh to form another women's side, the Easts Tigers in Brisbane. On 2 December 2017, Brown started on the wing in Australia's 23–16 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup final win over New Zealand. On 17 June 2018, Brown signed with the Sydney Roosters for the inaugural NRL Women's Premiership season. On 22 June 2018, Brown captained Queensland in the inaugural Women's State of Origin, scoring her side's only two tries in their 10–16 loss to New South Wales. In Round 1 of the

2018 NRL Women's season The 2018 NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) was the first season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Only two of the four sides, the Brisbane Broncos and New Zealand Warriors, took part in pre-season trial games. T ...

, Brown made her debut for the Sydney Roosters, starting on the wing in their 4–10 loss to the New Zealand Warriors. On 30 September 2018, she started at fullback in the Roosters' 12–34 Grand Final loss to the Brisbane Broncos. On 11 October 2019, Brown captained the Prime Minister's XIII in their 22–14 win over the Fiji Prime Minister's XIII. In 2020, Brown joined the New Zealand Warriors for the

2020 NRL Women's season The 2020 NRL Women's Premiership was the third season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Regular season The season operated under a round-robin format, with games played as curtain-raisers to the 2020 NR ...

Achievements and accolades

Team

: Australia – Winners *

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

References

External links

New Zealand Warriors profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Karina 1989 births Living people Australian female rugby league players Australia women's national rugby league team players Gold Coast Titans (NRLW) players New Zealand Warriors (NRLW) players Prime Minister's XIII women players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Victoria (state) Sydney Roosters (NRLW) players Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland Sportswomen from Queensland