“I count myself lucky”: Wallaroo Michaela Leonard on her remarkable rise
Michaela Leonard laughs at the memory of her first training session with the Brumbies. “When I had to ask what a maul was!” she says with a smile.
Leonard had been convinced to attend the trial in 2018 by a couple of team-mates she had met through rugby league at the time and did not arrive with any expectations, having never played 15s before.
But the attributes that had once made her a standout basketball player in her youth marked her out as a prospect for the Super W side, and Leonard has been a willing and eager pupil ever since.
She would soon master the breakdown and all the other vagaries of rugby, earning her first cap for the Wallaroos within 18 months of pitching up at the Brumbies.
Having dabbled with league and sevens after drifting away from basketball, she had found her sport.
A little over five years on from that trial in Canberra, Leonard will captain the Wallaroos for the fourth time in their O’Reilly Cup match against the Black Ferns at FMG Stadium on Saturday.
It is the latest step on a remarkable journey that has also included playing stopovers in New Zealand’s South Island and England’s South-West, via a first Rugby World Cup. Not bad for someone who only took up the game at 23.
“I count myself lucky all the time,” Leonard tells RugbyPass. “From five years ago to now, I would have never imagined a lot of the things that I’ve been able to do, and I’ve been fortunate enough to experience.
“I don’t think I would have told you that I would have played Super Rugby let alone travelled the world and played in three different countries. And now to captain your country is the biggest honour I could’ve ever imagined and probably one that I could have only dreamed would come true.
“So, definitely nothing I foresaw, and it was a big shock to me, even receiving the call prior to this tournament and [being] asked if I’d be willing to maintain this position for the upcoming Laurie O’Reilly game and potentially into WXV as well.
“It’s an incredible honour and I think probably a moment that will hold a lot of pride and sentiment for me for the rest of my life.”
Leonard was first asked to lead her country in June in the absence of permanent captain Piper Duck, who continues to be sidelined by an ankle injury, ahead of the first O’Reilly Cup encounter of the year.
That match drew an Australian record crowd for a women’s test of 7,055 to Kayo Stadium but ended in disaster for the Wallaroos as they slipped to a 50-0 defeat to the Black Ferns.
The manner of the loss clearly still stings Leonard, who says it “definitely wasn’t how we wanted to play, and it wasn’t the performance we intended to put out on the field”.
“I think there has been a big shift throughout the group of wanting to do better and be better,” Leonard adds. “There’s an understanding that that performance isn’t what it means to be a Wallaroo.”
As captain, Leonard would have been at the forefront of driving that message and the squad displayed its resilience in Ottawa ten days later to beat the USA 58-17 to effectively secure qualification for WXV 1.
Certainly, the stand-in skipper did enough in tough circumstances to earn the trust of coach Jay Tregonning and her team-mates ahead of their end-of-year commitments in New Zealand.
“For me, growing into the role has been a learning curve and probably a continuous learning curve. Over the four weeks through the Pacific Four tournament in Canada, I learned a lot from day one and I’ve been really fortunate that the support group and the leadership group have been around to help.
“I think it’s been a learning process for all of us. I think the captaincy and [being] a leader, it’s an incredible honour, an incredible title. But it really comes down to a multitude of people, whether that be staff, whether that be the six people in our leadership team, the older experienced players, the younger individuals that have great ideas and great skills as well.
“I think it’s really a shared role and I’ve been really fortunate that there’s been such a good group around this squad and a group of experienced players that have been here to offer their insight, their experiences, their help and I guess to help take the load.”
That group of players has had access to semi-professional contracts since the start of this year, something that, according to Leonard, has allowed them to focus on rugby more than ever.
“There’s a big sacrifice that comes into playing rugby as most players that are below full professional level understand,” Leonard says. “Whether that be time, whether that’s spreading between uni commitments, work commitments and I think the introduction of a payment base… has just added a bit of security.
“That little bit of support allows you to take the time off to travel and to tour and to say to work, ‘Look, maybe I need to amend these hours here or adjust these hours here’. To not have to stress about balancing your work and your study life allows you to commit just that little bit more of your energy and more of your time into doing what we love.”
Rugby Australia announced last week that the recruitment process for a full-time Wallaroos coach was under way, as part of the union’s participation in World Rugby’s Accelerate programme.
Leonard welcomed the development and is hopeful that funding can be found to make full-time contracts a possibility for the players too.
“I [hope] that investment can continue coming into the game because I can only imagine what this team can do and where it can go with that opportunity to potentially train full-time or be together for longer periods,” she adds.
Leonard has recently completed a distance learning post-graduate course in veterinary physiotherapy with a view to translating her “love for sport” into a post-playing career helping both people and animals.
For now, though, she is focused on the job in hand and leading the Wallaroos into the various challenges of WXV 1 on the back of a first-ever win against the Black Ferns.
“I think you’re crazy if you don’t go into every game believing in yourself and believing that you have a good shot at winning,” insists Leonard, who has faced New Zealand seven times in her short test career.
“Obviously, that’s the reason we play and the reason we get out there and want to play and put on this jersey and represent what it means to be Australian and to be a Wallaroo.
“For us, I think it’s going to come down to the simple things. So, executing our set-piece, setting a platform that we can play off and create the opportunities that we want to attack.”
Whatever happens in Hamilton, though, it’s clear that Leonard made the right decision to attend that trial back in 2018.
“I always thought I was going to grow up and go to college and play basketball in America and hopefully play for Australia in a different sport. So, I guess one little decision or one little turn in your life can really set you on a new path,” she says.
“I’m definitely grateful that I showed up for that league training that day and definitely grateful that there was a group of girls there that knew what the union world could offer and how good the rugby community could be.
“I owe it to them and I owe it to everyone that I’ve met every day since then that’s made me want to stay in and keep going ahead because some of the things that we get to experience being part of this sport, and part of the rugby family as it is all over the world, it’s just nothing that I can compare to the experience I’ve had in other sports or other workplaces.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ja, why do Bulls get flack for not bringing their best but Leinster never bring their best and it goes “unnoticed”?
3 Go to commentsIt’ll be very interesting to see how Razor’s AB’s handle the new England rush D. It’s basically the Bok recipe they copied, so if England goes well then we know most likely the Boks will go well too. If England cops a hiding then we’ll have to study and adapt.
6 Go to commentsTypical trait of an australian is to moan. Goes well with there lack of humbleness as evident by the Reds bench on the weekend.
2 Go to commentsSBW’s bro’town commentary and lazy default to hyperbole should be ignored, a technical analyst he is not. Sotutu is a good player when games get goosey loosey, high skill set that fans of Zinzan recall with starry eyes. But you need power and mongrel at no8 in the Test arena and Sotutu gets found wanting there, much like Akira Ioane. No8’s like Zinzan and Ardie have bucketloads of mongrel and power and tenacity which allow the skill sets to flourish.
11 Go to commentsAn inside pass to attacker on the angle can make a drift defence look lead footed. Relies on fleet footed forward/s to get across from the breakdown. An argument for the smaller faster 7 perhaps?
6 Go to commentsSensational tackle. The reds one was late and rightly penalised. The other two were simultaneous with the pass. If nitpicking TMOs can’t find fault there clearly isn’t any.
2 Go to commentsBrumbies fully deserved their win on the back of their physicality and desire to control the ball. Xavier Numia, Asafo Aumua and Tyrel Lomax should be the ABs starting front row when we start our test schedule. They have “come of age” and have bested all they have faced as well as been dominant with ball in hand in making the gainline. With De Groot, Tamaiti Williams and Fletcher Newell backed up by Taukei'aho and Cody Taylor there's not an international front row that can trouble us. Can't wait to face the Boks over there, won't be no one point game this time.
7 Go to commentsKinda strange that he wasn’t with a premiership team or a higher level of rugby? Start playing late or something? With that kind of size and athleticism you’d think someone would have picked him up?
2 Go to commentsShows how much attitude matters. Last week the Brumbies got done, this week they dominated the tournament leaders, who were likely thinking they could cruise to victory.
7 Go to commentsA Turtle has more pace and leg drive than Owen Franks, so it’s a good thing he only had to run 90 metres for that try.
2 Go to commentsOh Tamati Tua was in the vastly over-rated Leon MacDonalds Blues system? Well, no wonder he was wasted, much like Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens under MacDonald. now look at them. Good thing Tua isn’t eligible, the Aussies latch on to any player who isn’t tied down.
7 Go to commentsMark Telea is a lot of things, but a defensive juggernaut has never been one of them. There will be far bigger tests in that regard for the youngster.
11 Go to commentsLove and respect to Fiji but not a chance outside of 7s
4 Go to commentsGood summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
7 Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
5 Go to commentsBrilliant article! Harry of 8/9
6 Go to comments‘UK athletes' have been in the NFL from the start.
2 Go to commentsIt’s going to be Scott Barrett. He’s the coaches mate and captain of a previously elite team. Ardie a great option but scooter has worked with the coach and Ardie still as big a leader as needed.
23 Go to commentsI commend Colin Scotts bio All Balls. He was the first Aussie to make it to NFL. But he was poached and did a full apprenticeship at the University of Hawaii. He was 130kgs surfed played 1st grade cricket etc. big guy by normal but not NFL standards and a top athlete. Even then the nfl were picking up Tongans and Samoans for their natural size and explosive power. They want explosive power not cardio from the big boys so a guy like Taniela Tupou would have been good if picked up young enough. He has fast twitch and they’d bulk the little lad up and give him something to do. soccer teams set up academies and look for Over Sara’s talent eg Messi was at Barcelona since a teenager and harry kewell went to Leeds as a teenager like 16 or something.
11 Go to commentsThe article alludes to the fact that this isn’t about picking a captain. But picking a great captain. So who would make for a great All Black captain - not just an obvious or safe shoo-in? I’m not sure Ardie’s the guy and Barret doesn’t stand out either.
23 Go to comments