Kezie Apps (born 4 February 1991) is an Australian

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 plays as a for 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 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 ...

and 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

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 ...

. She is an

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 A ...

international and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

representative.

Background

Born in

Bega, New South Wales Bega () is a town in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley. Place name One claim is that place name ''Bega'' is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "bi ...

, Apps played her junior rugby league for the

Bega Roosters The Bega Roosters are an Australian rugby league football team based in Bega, a coastal town of the Far South Coast region of New South Wales. The club was formed in 1960 as the result of the almagation of the Bega Rovers and the Bega West foo ...

alongside current Cronulla Sutherland Sharks player

Dale Finucane Dale Finucane (born 7 September 1991), is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL. Finucane previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Melbourne Stor ...

. At age 12, she was forced to stop playing due to age restrictions that were in place. Her older brother

Deon Deon is a given name. People with the name include: * Deon Burton (born 1976), English-born Jamaican footballer * Deon Butler (born 1986), American football player * Deon Cain (born 1996), American football player * Deon Hemmings (born 1968), ...

, played two games for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian 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 pla ...

in 2011.

Playing career

In 2014, Apps returned to rugby league, joining the

Helensburgh Tigers The Helensburgh Tigers are an Australian rugby league football team based in Helensburgh, a country town of the Illawarra region. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and has competed in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership since its i ...

women's side. Later that year, she made her debut for

in the annual Women's Interstate Challenge against

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

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 their Four Nations curtain-raiser against

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 ...

. At the end of the season, she was named the Illawarra Women's Player of the Year and the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

Women's Player of the Year. In 2015, she made her debut for the Women's All Star side in their annual fixture against the Indigenous All Stars. On 28 September 2016, she won the women's Dally M Medal for Player of the Year at the

Dally M awards The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the b ...

. In October 2017, she was named in

's 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup squad. On 2 December, she started at second row in the Jillaroos 23-16

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

win over the

. In June 2018, Apps, along with Sam Bremner and Talesha Quinn, were named as the three marquee players for the St. George Illawarra Dragons women's team which will commence playing in the

starting in September. On 6 October 2019, she captained the Dragons in their 6–30

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 ...

loss to 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 ...

Achievements and accolades

Individual

Dally M Medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the ' Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Da ...

: 2016 *

State Player of the Year: 2014, 2016 Captained NSW to State of Origin win in 2022 St George Illawarra Dragons NRLW Captain 2021 - present

Team

* 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup: Australia – Winners

References

External links

St George Illawarra Dragons profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apps, Kezie 1991 births Living people Australian female rugby league players Rugby league players from Bega, New South Wales Australia women's national rugby league team players Rugby league second-rows St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players Wests Tigers NSWRL Women's Premiership players