Five to watch: the Wallaroos who can shape the Women’s Rugby World Cup

1. Desiree Miller At only 163cm, Sydney winger Miller is the Wallaroos’ pocket rocket at this World Cup. The former gymnastics prodigy boasts serious pedigree – her aunty Gail won gold in water polo at the 2000 Olympics and an uncle represented Australia as a boxer. Most vitally, the 23-year-old has got speed to burn and evasive skills to light up this tournament. Miller only took up rugby in 2021 when Covid left her itching for more physicality from sport. The core fitness, leg strength and flexibility she had honed on the gymnastics mat made her an instant success and elite striking skills from her football days make her a handy goalkicker. With her arsenal of athletic gifts, Miller inspired the Waratahs to the 2024 Super Rugby title, scoring three tries in the grand final, then rising to the occasion with another four for the Wallaroos against Fiji in July. View image in fullscreen Desiree Miller is ready to light up the Rugby World Cup with the Wallaroos. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images That explosive power and courage in contact make Miller key to Australia’s left-edge attack. The 18-cap flyer has shelved a double degree in psychology and cognitive science to chase her rugby dreams. Yet having scored so often and never celebrated with a pike, sissone or backflip (although she has done the splits in a team photo), there’d be no better place for Miller to dip into her gymnast’s bag of tricks than after a match-winner at this World Cup.

2. Lori Cramer The larrikin utility back from central Queensland finished the 2024 Test season as the Wallaroos’ highest scorer with 81 points. But Cramer arrives at this World Cup with a point to prove, having been displaced from her favoured full-back spot by rookie Caitlyn Halse. Playing the 2021 tournament in New Zealand means Cramer’s big-match experience and icy calm attitude under fire across her 30 Tests will be crucial in Australia’s quest for a semi-final berth. View image in fullscreen Lori Cramer has a point to prove at the World Cup after losing her preferred full-back spot with the Wallaroos. Photograph: Chris Hyde/Getty Images At 32, Cramer’s value on the playing field is matched by her team-bonding qualities in the squad. A proud Indigenous woman from the Yiman people, the self-described “old chook” has deep life experience, having taught resilience skills as a youth worker in high schools. Then there is her work as a labourer. Cramer’s Instagram is full of videos of her wielding jackhammers and cement mixers on the job. Surely there is no truer “utility” in the game. Cramer has of late put aside a passion for growing cactus to play for Exeter Chiefs in the UK where she is a beloved favourite with fans and teammates on the team bus. That experience in English conditions – and her hybrid skills from touch football, football and rugby sevens – could be crucial in this World Cup tilt, and Cramer’s mooted future as a coach.

3. Ashley Marsters If World Cup experience counts, these Wallaroos need look no further than Marsters. The 2025 tournament will be the 31-year-old flanker’s third after featuring in 2014 and 2021, and she goes into rugby’s big jamboree as the most-capped Wallaroo with 40 Tests. She’s done it with great tenacity and versatility, having played flanker, hooker, tighthead or loosehead prop (once all three in a single Test), even filling in as a centre at the 2014 World Cup. Ever since she ran out for Boroondara juniors as a four-year-old, Marsters has been a ball player, as dextrous with her offloads as she is dynamic in her charges. Little wonder the Western Force poached the longtime Melbourne Rebel as their marquee signing in 2025. And if recent form is an indicator, Marsters has plenty of football left in her. A gatecrashing try against Wales earlier this month showed the hunger and cunning of the Victorian veteran, exactly the sort of ruthlessness the Wallaroos need to smash out of the World Cup pool stages. View image in fullscreen Ashley Marsters brings a wealth of experience to a third Rugby World Cup with the Wallaroos. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

4. Tia Hinds After the Australian women’s sevens side won Olympic gold in Brazil in 2016, a generation of schoolgirls back home started to dream of wearing the gold. Many are now bursting through the ranks as sevens stars and Wallaroos, with gifted flyhalf Hinds leading the new wave of hybrid heroes by debuting at a World Cup. The Maroubra Magic playmaker is a mix of the nation’s football codes, having excelled at Australian rules, rugby league and touch football before becoming the youngest member of the sevens squad at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The then teenager kicked on even further in 2022, winning rugby’s coveted sevens triple crown – a gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, plus titles at the World Cup and world series final. View image in fullscreen Tia Hinds brings her speed and agility to rugby union with the Wallaroos after sevens success for Australia. Photograph: Albert Perez/Getty Images After a second Olympics in Paris and some goal kicking glory in Madrid, Hinds – “Dolly” to her mates – joined injured sevens star Charlotte Caslick in switching from rugby sevens to the 15-a-side game and made her Test debut in May this year against Fiji. Loving Hinds’ spark, coach Jo Yapp went on to blood the young gun in Tests against Canada, New Zealand and Wales. A criminology student away from rugby, Hinds is the Wallaroos’ secret weapon at the World Cup.

Click here to read article