Prolific Wallaroos try-scorer opens up about new sevens challenge

Wallaroos flyer Maya Stewart is relishing the chance to better her skills on the international sevens circuit after earning a surprise call-up to Australia’s wider travelling squad.

Stewart, 25, has been training with Tim Walsh’s Australian side alongside Wallaroos teammates Desiree Miller and Waiaria Ellis since returning from the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.

While Stewart won’t be pulling on gold for a SVNS debut just yet, she’s set to don the Australia A jersey against Belgium, Kazakhstan, Brazil and China in this weekend’s Dubai Invitational Women’s tournament.

“Coming off the back of the World Cup, I was dissatisfied from an individual and a team perspective,” Stewart told RugbyPass.

“I want to be a better athlete, so I think being able to come into a really competitive fulltime environment like this will help me improve so hopefully I can then make the Wallaroos a better team.

“In sevens, everything’s really concentrated, the intensity goes all the way up with those back-to-back efforts. It’s testing on the lungs and brain but it’s also been really great to find that instinctive rugby again.

“We’ve seen those sevens girls coming across to Wallaroos and it’s a great step from us now to see other girls putting their hands up and coming from fifteens to sevens – I think it helps the organisation as a whole and just being able to train as fulltime athletes as well.

International sevens presents an entirely new challenge for Australia’s leading Test try scorer (16), but Stewart insists her goal isn’t a SVNS debut.

“Honestly, playing Australia A is a bonus and while I’d never close off an opportunity to put on the gold jersey, I just want to become a better athlete,” Stewart said.

I’ve been doing a bit of everything and it’s great to train things you don’t often do in fifteens – there’s new skills around aerial stuff, footwork – just different areas to work on.

“I’ve even been packing down a few scrums and my boyfriend’s a frontrower in fourth grade so I’ve been getting some advice there too.”

Stewart won’t be the only Wallaroos flyer taking on international sevens with Ellis named in the Australia A squad, and Australia’s Global Youth Sevens outfit.

Global Youth Sevens bring the next generation of HSBC SVNS Series stars together, allowing them to showcase their skill in an international arena. This event serves as a key pathway for senior sevens programs around the world.

90 per cent of the full-time Australia Sevens program played in Global Youth Sevens during their rise to the SNVS Series, including captain Isabella Nasser, try-scoring machine Maddison Levi, and 2025 Shawn Mackay Award winner Faith Nathan.

Ellis has been selected, about two months on from the Wallaroos’ quarter-final exit at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. While Ellis didn’t take the field during the event, coach Jo Yapp did select the rising star in the squad.

The 18-year-old debuted for the Wallaroos earlier in 2025, having been named to start on the right wing against the Black Ferns in Wellington. Ellis has been named in the Australian Under 18s squad along with Darci Turinui, who was the top try-scorer in the recent Next Gen 7s competition.

“The Australian Under 18s team will be looking to go one better than last year after losing the final to Japan,” Rugby Australia Head of Women’s Pathways, Lachlan Parkinson, said in a statement.

“This has become a great rivalry with the Japanese girls after they won in 2022 before we regained the title in 2023 and they won it back in 2024.

“The Australian Schoolgirls Under 18s program is also a major part of the 7s pathway in Australia, providing additional opportunities for our elite youth players to participate in an international tournament.

“The two programs work closely together to support the development of the athletes.”

The Australian U18s side will go into Global Youth Sevens as one of the teams to beat yet again, with a talented squad looking to repeat the title-winning heroics of those who have worn the jersey in the past.

Australia won Global Youth Sevens in 2018, 2019 and 2023, and has finished as the runners-up on three occasions. They placed second in 2017, 2022 and 2024, with Japan’s women’s side taking out last year’s decider 26-15.

This Australian squad was chosen from a wider pool of 45 players who were selected for three camps throughout the year. Ellis is one of seven from New South Wales, and there’s six representatives from Queensland in coach Shannon Parry’s team.