The Coal Australia family continues to grow, with more than 125,000 people in the Friends of Coal network and now their very first ambassador, Hannah Southwell.
Hannah Southwell is an NRLW premiership winner with both the Newcastle Knights and the Sydney Roosters, and before being in the NRLW spent time with the Capras in the Queensland Cup and the Newcastle Jets in the W-League where she became the youngest goalkeeper in the competition’s history.
She has also spent time with the Matildas, played plenty of Rugby Sevens and represented NSW on five occasions notching three series wins. So, why not add Coal Australia Ambassador to her resume.
With a sporting career like she’s had you’d think Hannah had been kicking around a football since before she could walk but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I started ballet of all things when I was about 4 years old but it didn’t take long for them to work out that I didn’t have much rhythm! Then my parents threw me into rugby league. I played with the Kotara Bears right through until I was 11, and after that there wasn’t really a pathway for me to continue.
“I wish I had the pathways that are available to young girls now but in saying that I moved onto some awesome opportunities. I played with the Newcastle Jets for five years, toured with the Young Matildas after high school.
“Then the Olympics rolled around and Rugby Sevens was put on the map so I quit soccer to play that and was picked up with the NSW squad. I ended up being contracted to the Australia’s Rugby Sevens team for 10 months and a year later the NRLW kicked off,” Hannah explained.
“Before I signed onto the NRLW I was with the Capras in Queensland for a year. One of my NRLW mates Tamika Upton is from Rockhampton so Tamika, my sister Jesse and I played in the Queensland Cup in the off season before the NRLW kicked off.
“It was so much fun, it was a loose town!” Hannah laughed.
Hannah signed with the Dragons in 2018 in the inaugural NRLW season at 19 years old, then played with the Roosters for three seasons, the Knights from 2022 for three years and will play this season back where it started, with the Dragons.
While she juggles work and NRLW training, Hannah will be advocating for the coal mining industry with Coal Australia.
“I always wanted to be involved with the industry. It’s always fascinated me, so I reached out to Stuart Bocking and we had a chat and got along really well and the relationship just grew!
“It’s such a great organisation to be part of. It’s needed, I think soon a lot of people are going to be knocking on the door realising that coal is here to stay and we need to start appreciating it.
“A lot of females work in mining now and the opportunities for women to work in it has really grown just like the opportunities have for women in the NRLW. There weren’t too many women in mining 10, 20 years ago like there wasn’t a pathway for women to play in professional rugby league.
“But there is now.
“A lot of women in mining love rugby league, so there’s a correlation there too!”
| Join the coal community and help forge Australia’s future at: www.coalaustralia.com |
