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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n
<\/span> <\/div> Highlights of the mid-season international between England Women and France Women.<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Highlights of the mid-season international between England Women and France Women. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“I didn’t know how it was going to pan out, how much game-time I was going to get, but I worked hard to get into the squad and continued to work hard to retain my spot,” Roche said. “I was lucky enough I managed to do that.<\/p>\n
“The environment they’ve created at Newcastle is second to none. The girls are great, and it was a great experience being among some of the best in the world, and it has definitely been a year to remember.<\/p>\n
“I was very fortunate to be among a group of girls where we all had one goal and all took our goal seriously, and we got it done in the end.”<\/p>\n
Moving to the other side of the world to pursue her rugby league ambitions was not without its challenges though. The most time Roche had previously spent away from home was three weeks and she arrived in a new country not knowing anyone there.<\/p>\n
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I didn’t know how it was going to pan out, how much game-time I was going to get, but I worked hard to get into the squad and continued to work hard to retain my spot…it has definitely been a year to remember.<\/h2>\n Georgia Roche<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Then there was having to adapt to the full-time environment, having been used to training twice a week around her day-job in the construction industry while playing for the Rhinos, and previously Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Roche took all of it in her stride and is in no doubt she returns to the England set-up for this week’s international – part of a double-header with the men’s team, who face Tonga – as a much-improved player.<\/p>\n
“It certainly wasn’t easy,” Roche said, reflecting on adapting to life in the NRLW. “The training load – we train two days a week, so that was doubled, and over there you’re in three, four or sometimes five times a week ticking boxes and doing what you can.<\/p>\n
“I had to get a lot fitter. It was the pace of the game, the intensity of the game, and the key things were getting a lot fitter and faster to fit in. Obviously, there’s the climate and things with their winter being 23 degrees.<\/p>\n
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Georgia Roche’s kicking skills are just one area she has been able to develop with full-time coaching in Australia <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
“There are a whole load of things [I improved]. I was fortunate enough at Newcastle to have a kicking coach and towards the back end of the year, I do believe my kicking improved a little bit, which was good for me.”<\/p>\n
Roche’s former Leeds team-mate Fran Goldthorp and ex-York Valkyrie back row or centre Hollie-Mae Dodd both spent the 2023 season in the NRLW as well with North Queensland Cowboys and Canberra Raiders respectively, underlining the opportunities for English players in Australia.<\/p>\n
On these shores, reigning Betfred Women’s Super League champions York, who along with Leeds became the first teams in the competition to offer payments to players in 2023, have taken the first steps towards full professionalisation by signing Woman of Steel Sinead Peach, Tara-Jane Stanley and Liv Wood to full-time contracts.<\/p>\n
For now, though, much of the rest of the BWSL remains amateur and Roche is optimistic the competition will progress to the same stage as the Australian competition where every team has their players on full-time contracts for the season.<\/p>\n
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![\"Highlights](\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/e0.365dm.com\/23\/04\/768x432\/skysports-rugby-league-england-women_6138118.jpg\")
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/e1.365dm.com\/23\/10\/768x432\/skysports-georgia-roche-england_6343159.jpg\")
![\"Georgia](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/e1.365dm.com\/23\/11\/768x432\/skysports-georgia-roche-rugby-league_6344256.jpg\")
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