A league of her own

The 2026 NRLW season is about to kick off, and rugby league legend Sammy Bremner is as excited for footy now as she’s ever been. 

This passion drives the sporting trailblazer to back any efforts to attract girls and women to the sport she loves. In fact, Sammy is keen for girls and women to play and keep playing any sport, and to do this, she believes better amenities for women and girls are crucial.

Case in point: the new Thirroul Butchers facility at Thomas Gibson Park, which has accessible and ambulant toilets, change rooms for all genders,
a referees’ room, first aid room and a canteen. 

The project was supported by a $1 million grant from the NSW Office of Sport’s Level the Playing Field program. Upgrades like these are “extremely important”, Sammy says.

“I was super-excited when our new facility was built for both men and women in rugby league, but also it’s super-important that there’s a clear pathway and our grassroots are doing the same thing. 

“Thirroul Butchers are one of the first in our catchment to have built a new facility that caters for female rugby league and league tag players to have their own change room and privacy, and have a bit of equity within that club. So that’s super-exciting and hopefully that’s the first of many.”

And – understatement alert – Sammy happens to know just a little about the importance of sport in a girl’s life.

She played netball from the age of five to 19 and was instrumental in establishing the Helensburgh Tigerlillies in 2010. She went on to play eight seasons with the club – including four premiership victories – and then, while pregnant, coached the team to another premiership win in 2020.

Sammy played nine Test matches for Australia and in the 2013, 2017 and 2021 rugby league world cups, was part of the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 2022 grand final side in the NSW Premiership, was in two Sky Blues Origin squads (2018, 2022), and played in interstate matches from 2012-17.

In 2016, she was named Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) Players Champion.

In 2018, Sammy was St George Illawarra Dragons’ NRLW captain, leading the side in its historic inaugural NRLW season.

She played two seasons for the Dragons and then joined the Sydney Roosters in 2022.

Sammy won the Dally M Fullback trophy in the NRLW Team of the Year and was named as fullback in the RLPA’s 2022 Dream Team.

Then, in the wake of so many great sporting achievements – and at the peak of such an inspirational playing career – the then 31-year-old mother of two officially retired from the Roosters and playing rugby league in 2024.

But there’s no stopping her. 

Sammy returned to the Dragons in November 2024 as the club’s female football manager. Now, with the full support of her husband, Wayne, and three children – six-year-old Reef, four-year-old Lakey and two-year-old Cali (“they’re wild”, she says) – Sammy is determined to help the Dragons to a top showing this season and continue growing women’s sport from the grassroots.

The new Thirroul Butchers facility is a milestone for women’s sport in the Illawarra, she says.

“I think that, as children, one of the reasons we do sport is for that sense of belonging and connection to community in the club,” she said.

“And creating a facility that enables them to feel connected and feel like they belong to it means that they have an opportunity to stay and play for longer instead of losing them to either another sport or no sport at all. 

“So any bit we can do to help bridge that gap is really important.”

The Dragons’ new $65 million state-of-the-art community and high-performance centre – the Bruce Gordon Centre at UOW’s Innovation Campus – is further evidence the club is invested in the development of sport in the Illawarra.

Sammy says proof of the Dragons’ strong commitment to women’s sport is on full display in the Red V’s NRLW team leading into this season.

“I feel like we are miles ahead than where we were last season. We still have a lot of work to do, but there’s been a lot of buy-in from the players, we’ve had a lot more staff come on-board, which ties into making sure that we have a really supportive ecosystem. 

“That takes a bit of pressure off my shoulders and Mark Riddell [NRLW & Pathways Recruitment Lead] has come on board … and he’s been huge for us in terms of recruitment and ensuring our pathways are really strong and linking that to the NRLW – he’s been unbelievable. 

“Nathan Cross has just started his dual role – he’s our head coach and the Queensland Maroons women’s coach – and that’s been of huge benefit to our squad because he’s up-skilling himself and bringing that back to the Dragons as well. 

“And then you add some new players and some new leaders, some new international players coming into our squad, going into the new facility, with a whole different look and feel to not only our female program, but our club in this season.”

Sammy says it’s great to see the NRLW has come so far since she started and to also be a part of it.

“I started playing rugby league for Helensburgh [Tigerlillies], because I just wanted to have fun, but I also loved hearing that people thought girls didn’t play football, and then when we ran out, everyone was gobsmacked by how well we played in our first game and I found that addictive. 

“I love when people say that certain things can’t happen in our program [at the Dragons] and in our game and I’ll do my best to find a way to make it happen so that our girls can benefit from it.”

The 2026 NRLW premiership season opens on July 2 with Cronulla Sharks vs Newcastle Knights, and the St George Illawarra Dragons are scheduled to play the Canberra Raiders on July 4.  

Visit the Illawarra Flame's magazines page to read the June 2026 edition.