Najvada George (born 21 February 1999) 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 and former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays for the

Wests Tigers Women The Wests Tigers Women are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. The team is part of the Wests Tigers club and plays in the National Rugby League Women's Premiership. In June 2022 ...

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 ...

. Primarily a , she has represented the

Prime Minister's XIII Prime Minister's XIII, or sometimes informally referred to as the PM's XIII, is the name of a representative rugby league team, comprising Australian players from National Rugby League clubs that did not qualify for the NRL Finals, or whose tea ...

and played for the

St. George Illawarra Dragons Women St. George Illawarra Dragons Women are a rugby league team, representing both the Illawarra and St George, Sydney, St George regions of New South Wales. The team is part of the St. George Illawarra Dragons club and plays in the NRL Women's Prem ...

in the

Background

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, George was a

player before making the switch to

. In the 2015–16 season, she played for the

Dandenong Rangers The Dandenong Rangers were an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in Dandenong, Melbourne, Victoria. The team was founded as the Dandenong Rangers, howeve ...

in the WNBL and represented the Australian Sapphires under-17 side. George played her junior rugby league for Werribee Bears in the

Melbourne Rugby League The Melbourne Rugby League, (currently the Storm Premiership for branding reasons), is a rugby league football competition located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and run by NRL Victoria. As of the 2022 season, there are currently 17 competing ...

Playing career

In 2017, George began playing

for the Werribee Bears. In June 2018, she represented the Combined Affiliated States at the Women's National Championships. On 6 October 2018, she represented the

in their 40–4 win over Papua New Guinea. In 2019, George moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and joined the Wests Tigers

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 ...

side. At the end of the season, she won the club's Player of the Year award. In May 2019, she represented NSW City at the Women's National Championships. In July 2019, she joined the

team. In Round 2 of the

2019 NRL Women's season The 2019 NRL Women's Premiership was the second season of professional women's rugby league in Australia. Teams Pre-season Regular season The season again operated under a round-robin format, with games played as curtain-raisers to the ...

, she made her debut in the Dragons' 26–6 win over the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

. On 6 October 2019, she came off the bench in the Dragons' 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. In March 2020, she was ruled out for the season after tearing her

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL).

References

External links

NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Najvada 1999 births Living people Australian female rugby league players Australian women's basketball players Dandenong Rangers players Parramatta Eels (NRLW) players Prime Minister's XIII women players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (state) St. George Illawarra Dragons (NRLW) players Wests Tigers (NRLW) players Wests Tigers NSWRL Women's Premiership players