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Charlotte Caslick: Life choices, rugby bucket list and recent surgery
As another squall swept across Sky Stadium on a bitterly cold and wet Wellington day, Charlotte Caslick would have been forgiven for questioning her life choices.
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She could have been enjoying a nice sevens off-season, perhaps a holiday in the sun or time on the farm. Instead, she was in the heart of the Wallaroos midfield, playing a third new position in just her fifth Test match.
She’d helped her team to a half-time lead over the Black Ferns with a try in the early stages but ultimately became powerless to stop a second half onslaught and another loss to New Zealand.
Caslick has been the face of women’s rugby in Australia for more than a decade. A glittering career that includes Olympic and Commonwealth gold, Sevens World Cup and World Series titles and recognition as a two-time world sevens player of the year, means the 30-year-old has nothing left to prove.
And yet, here she is, making a switch to 15s in a bid to tick something else off her rugby bucket list.
“I watched Sharni (Smail) and BB (Bienne Terita) play at the last World Cup in New Zealand and I loved seeing them transition across, and while I’ve always watched the Wallaroos girls we haven’t really had a lot to do with each other and haven’t had much chance to cross over and play both, Caslick says.
“I think I’ve achieved a lot in sevens and I just wanted to do something new to challenge myself, and I’m getting to the age where it was sort of like, if not now, then when?
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Stepping into the 15s game for the first time in a bid to make it to the Rugby World Cup has been a steep learning curve but one Caslick has relished.
She’s copped plenty of grief from the forwards about her long sleeves and knee pads, and, after joining the front-rowers for a warm-up early on, found out the hard way why backs and forwards are often separated in some training drills.
While the results this season have so far been mixed for the Wallaroos, Caslick is enjoying being a student again.
“I’ve been learning from Cecilia Smith and Trilleen Pomare, who’ve been centres in this team for a long time and who play very differently to me.
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“I’ve been able to take a slight step back from a leadership perspective and just been listening and trying to learn as much as I can,” she says.
“I guess at sevens it got to the point where we had such a small group that I was also kind of trying to coach and develop the ball players coming through whereas at the moment I’m fully focused on becoming a better rugby player.”
Off the field, Caslick has made new connections as well.
“I love my sevens teammates so much but they’re really young, but in this group I’ve got a lot of girls that are more my age which has been really fun. As much as we come across each other all of the time, we’ve never like really got to form friendships or have those close connections, so that’s been great to get a mutual respect for each programme.”
Having been a professional player for 10 years, Caslick is full of admiration for her new team-mates who still juggle jobs, family and study. She laughs that their time management is a “whole lot better” than hers and says they just find a way of getting things done.
As the World Cup looms and with just two more matches against Wales before their tournament opener, Caslick says they’re cramming a lot in.
“We’re very real around the fact that there is a gap to the top four sides and we need to work really hard to try and close it. We’ve been together for most of July and will be again for a couple of weeks before we leave for England, so hopefully just time together will make us stronger.”
For Caslick however some of that time together will be as an observer from the sideline. An ankle injury suffered late in the loss to New Zealand in the O’Reilly Cup match in Wellington will keep her out of the series against Wales, although she remains on track for the World Cup.
Australia begin the tournament against Samoa in Salford, the city where Caslick’s mother hails from and where she’ll count on the support of a large family contingent.
They will also play tournament favourites England in the pool phase but it’s the second group game against USA which was circled on many calendars from the moment the draw was made. Caslick knows that game in York could be tournament defining.
“Us and the USA are probably in the same boat in that sense that there’s a bit of gap to the other teams and we’re both kind of fighting to get into the quarters,” she says.
“If we can win that one and the draw goes to plan on paper we’ll probably face Canada in a quarter final, which is not ideal, but you never know….there’s always upsets in Rugby World Cups.”
While New Zealand, Canada and Ireland have each called on multiple players from their sevens squads only Caslick, Tia Hinds and Terita made themselves available from sevens for the Wallaroos World Cup campaign, despite a handful of others showing initial interest.
With Australia to host the Women’s World Cup in 2029, Caslick hopes she’s pointing a way towards greater collaboration between the programmes in the future, and says she only sees an upside in closer ties between the sevens and 15s squad.
“I really want these two programmes to work better together and I hope that me and Tia doing this can be a bit of a bridge. I want to help Australian rugby…we’ve got such a big few years with the current Lions games and the next two World Cups, as well as a home Olympics in 2032.
“I feel like it’s been a great way to see how the programmes can coexist and appreciate each other, learn from each other and see that we can help each other, so hopefully moving forward into the home World Cup we can see that progress even more.”
She’s also motivated to show young girls how much rugby has to offer as the game comes under enormous pressure from the bold attitudes and deep pockets of rugby league and the NRLW.
“I see so many girls go to rugby league and I really want them to see how great rugby (union) is. I love rugby and what it’s given me, but at times in Australia we cop it a fair bit of flak, so I want young girls and boys to hang in there and be part of this.”
Taking on this new challenge has also given Caslick pause for thought about what lies ahead. Considering she says she gets massive FOMO when she’s not with the team or on tour, it’s probably a blessing that she’ll be back with the sevens squad just three weeks after the end of the Wallaroos’ World Cup campaign.
However, as she enters a new stage of her rugby career she’s also looking at life beyond the game.
“My partner and I want to start a family at some point in the near future and although that’s not always something that can be controlled, my personal life will hopefully become a bit more of a priority.”
Although rugby runs through her veins and there’s no intention of giving the game away anytime soon, this latest act in a stellar career has given Caslick a fresh perspective.
“I’ve been challenged, I’m learning and I’m becoming a better footballer, but also with the off field experiences, I’m having real fun too. I feel like I’ve got to the point where rugby isn’t my entire identity.”