Wallaroos captain on which 7s star she’s ‘excited’ to see shine in 15s

Australia captain Michaela Leonard has highlighted Teagan Levi as a player to watch during next season’s Super Rugby Women’s campaign, with nine HSBC SVNS Series stars set to play 15s in hopes of playing at the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England.

Rugby Australia announced last Thursday that a star-studded group of players from the nation’s sevens team had committed to SR Women’s clubs for 2025. It’s understood that these nine women will have the chance to play two matches between SVNS Series stops in March.

Levi is off to the Queensland Reds along with sister Maddison, three-time Olympian Charlotte Caslick, sevens captain Isabella Nasser, and Paris Olympian Khali Henwood. The Reds will welcome these additions after finishing last on the ladder in 2024 with one win from five fixtures.

Sariah Paki is the only sevens player off to the NSW Waratahs, while the trio of Demi Hayes, Tia Hinds, and Bienne Terita have linked with the ACT Brumbies. While Leonard joked that “west is best” during this RugbyPass interview, no sevens players have committed to the Force.

But the Wallaroos skipper was still supremely supportive of all nine women who set to make the move across rugby union’s codes. Leonard repeated that it’s an exciting time for the Wallaroos before the World Cup, which the Levi sisters both hope to be involved in.

“It is a tough one because as you mentioned they are really quite different games in terms of space, in terms of tactical approach. Even though some of those skillsets, the fundamental skillsets, are there and similar, the way that we implement is so different,” Leonard told RugbyPass last week.

“Personally I’m really excited to see how Teagan Levi comes across and transitions and how she works in the 15s side of the game as potentially more of a game-driver… I think that’d be an interesting one to see.

“[Maddi] is an incredible finisher, she’s shown incredible talent on the edges in getting over the lien, showing physicality in her carries. I think she’ll be really exciting to see too, coming in with a little bit less space to work; potentially a little bit more front-on physicality in the 15s game.

“To see how that competes and how players like her and [Desiree Miller] and [Maya Stewart] can challenge each other and grow from each other and work together to improve their game in that way.”

Maddison Levi has been a class above once again during the opening two rounds of the 2024/25 SVNS Series season. Levi opened the season with a record-breaking haul of tries, with the 22-year-old running in 15 five-pointers during a stunning weekend at the Dubai Sevens.

Levi is World Rugby’s reigning Sevens Player of the Year who has a background in AFLW, and she was also linked with a move to NRLW a few months ago along with younger sister Teagan – but Maddison shut down those rumours at the Rugby Australia Awards in October.

Both Levi sisters are among the world’s best on the international sevens circuit and they’ll bring some X-factor to SR Women’s now they’re making the move. Australian rugby fans will no doubt be intrigued to see how they fare when they’re given a chance to play 15s for the first time.

Whether or not they make the Wallaroos’ squad for the Rugby World Cup remains to be seen, but as Leonard commented on, it’ll be huge for SR Women’s either way.

As seen up north, Ilona Maher has had a big impact on England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby before even playing a game after signing for new club Bristol Bears, and these sevens stars could potentially have a similar impact in Australia’s domestic competition.

“It’s really exciting. Typically when you look at rugby in Australia, I think the majority of people who aren’t already 15s rugby supporters… probably do think about that sevens space,” Leonard went on to explain.

“Particularly since the 2016 Olympics, they’re probably the athletes that have been that little bit more in the media or a little bit more profiled around the rugby space in Australia.

“Things with like Ilona going to Bristol, I hope it does bring that little bit more awareness, that little bit more excitement to the 15 side game here in Australia as well, and potentially grab a few more people who were already watching to jump on and start becoming involved.

“I think that’s huge potentially to bring that little bit more awareness, little bit more fellowship [for] people to be excited to see how it does work, how they transition, what their skills are like in our game compared to the sevens game.

“I think it increases depth, it increases the level of professionalism, it increases the number of top-quality athletes that we have playing in the Super W and hopefully as a result of that, the quality of some of the games as well.

“The tricky element will be availability and how that works and how many games people are available for. With such a short season, how that impacts results and standings across the season, but I guess we’ll see as we go along over the next few months.

“But overall, I think it’ll be positive and I’m excited to see how they can have an impact in the games and the teams that they’re brought into.”