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Australia Sevens youngster signs three-year NRLW deal

TOBAGO, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO - AUGUST 08: Damita Jada Betham of Australia reacts as she runs on to score their sides try in the Rugby Sevens Women's Final Gold Medal Match on day four of the 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games at Shaw Park Field on August 08, 2023 in Tobago, Trinidad And Tobago. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images for Commonwealth Sport)
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NRLW’s Newcastle Knights have confirmed the signing of promising Australia Sevens talent Damita Betham on a three-year contract.

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Betham has been earmarked for big things for most of her life and as a 12-year-old she broke a 25-year New South Wales 200m record.

She was a member of the Australia squad that won gold at the 2023 Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Youth Games.

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In 2024 she was a was a member of the Australian Girls U18 Sevens squad that went to Global Youth Sevens.

Betham most recently took part in the opening round of Next Gen 7s’ 2026 season for the NSW Waratahs.

“Damita is a young, electrifying athlete, ready to take on the NRLW challenge with her speed, power and agility, signing a three-year contact to join the Knights, after a highly successful Rugby 7s career,” Ben Jeffries, Newcastle Knights’ head coach, said.

Western Force’s Tamika Jones has also swapped codes and signed for the Bulldogs.

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A former Wallaroos call-up, the 22-year-old has had had several years of her career marred by injury. In 2024 she did not miss a Super W game and earned a recall to the Wallaroos.

She has joined the Sydney club for the 2026 season alongside former Auckland Blues back Daynah Nankivell.

“Tamika has been part of the Wallaroos system for the past few years and that experience shows in her professionalism and standards,” Brayden Wiliame, Bulldogs coach, said.

Betham and Jones have followed Arabella McKenzie and Layne Morgan in swapping the 15-a-side game for NRLW.

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GrahamVF 37 minutes ago
Rennie to shuffle No 10 pack as Richie Mo'unga's comeback is pushed back

Hi JD perhaps you can give me your opinion on this. The severe decline in NZ rugby more or less coincides with the new Super Rugby format. It also coincides with the end of the Forster era and the Razor era. I don’t believe the loss of Springbok competition was the main factor - NZ rugby thrived without South Africa for two nearly two decades. My guess is dilution of top players through too may franchises resulting in a lowering of standards and perhaps just a general (and this is just a feeling of mine) reluctance to move away from the old school administrative thinking? In South Africa there is an entire TV channel devoted to schoolboy rugby which has a viewership into the hundreds of thousands and some of our top schoolboy games such as the annual Derby between Paarl Boys High and Paarl Gymnasium attracts over 30 000 fans on the day - mostly friends families and old boys - and brings the winelands town to a standstill for a week with trees dressed up in competing colours and countless radio and TV interviews - all sponsored by First National (Barclays) Bank, which also sponsors the Varsity Cup, Varsity Challenge Cup and Varsity Shield competition all featuring around 10 squads of post school pre club players. This is where SA Riugby have been at their most progressive - the allowing of overseas players definitely helped to kickstart the Springbok revival but the long term success has definitely been because of the quality of junior and development rugby.

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