England and Newcastle Knights star Georgia Roche back on home soil
Not long to go until England Women head to Las Vegas and Georgia Roche has been enjoying her time back home in England…
England international Georgia Roche has been living the Australian dream since her move to NRLW side Newcastle Knights back in 2023, but the Yorkshire native is back on home soil and preparing to pull on an England shirt for the first time in 16 months
Following England Women’s final camp ahead of their fixture against the Australia Jillaroos, the 2023 NRLW Grand Final winner has been settling back into life in the Northern Hemisphere:
“It’s been really nice being back home, especially seeing family and friends and being back amongst the girls. I missed out last year being amongst them in camp and just getting back in the international environment is brilliant,” confessed Roche.
“The vibes in camp were really good and I don’t think I saw anyone with anything other than a smile on their face from Friday to leaving on Sunday. Everybody got around each other, the training was excellent, and everything felt really positive.”
After missing out in last season’s internationals due to club commitments in Australia, the 24-year-old is looking forward to running out alongside old friends:
“I’m really looking forward to playing alongside some of those girls that I’ve not played with for a long time, either at club or international level. That just makes the occasion a bit more special.”
The fixture will also see the half-back come up against some of her Newcastle team mates for the very first time and it’s a prospect she’s relishing:
“That’s going to be fun too – two of the girls in particular that we’ll be playing against are good friends of mine, they were the ones who welcomed me to Newcastle and are in my friendship group outside of football over there.
“We’re a completely different outfit now compared to when we last played them and I think the hard work that everybody’s put in from the last World Cup to now has changed us. I think what they’re expecting us to deliver will be different to what we’ll do.”
The final England Women camp also included an open training session with girls from clubs across Yorkshire all in attendance – including Roche’s own Drighlington RLFC.
“Drig [Drighlington] is a massive part of my life, I grew up there every single weekend. I played all my junior Rugby League with the boys there and unfortunately; we didn’t have a girls team at the time. But it’s just great to see how far the club has come in terms of a girls set up which I love to see.
“It’s still a very, very important and special place for me and it’s a big part of my family too, and it’s just great to see how they’ve come and how far they’ll go in the future.”
England Women versus the Australia Jillaroos will be the penultimate match of a quadruple header featuring a Betfred Super League clash between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves and two NRL matches – Raiders v Warriors and Panthers v Sharks.
All four matches will be shown live on Sky Sports – with England v Australia kicking off at 2am UK time. Tickets and travel information can also be found here.
