While some of her closest friends and former teammates prepare to attend the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, Georgia Hannaway will be in Australia, making her NRLW debut by sprinting onto the pitch.
In an attempt to establish herself in the rugby league scene, Hannaway will play in the NRLW tournament for the first time in less than a day with the Cronulla Sharks NRLW, alongside former Rugby Sevens players Tiana Penitani and Emma Tonegato.
The playmaker, formerly a prodigy in Australian Rugby Sevens, returned to rugby league and signed a three-year contract with the Sharks after an incredible season with the North Devils in the BMD Premiership.
Before Hannaway made her debut in the NRLW, Zero Tackle met up with her as her parents and grandmother flew down from Brisbane for the historic occasion.
Hannaway discussed her challenging road to the present in an exclusive interview with the journal. During her injury, she underwent shoulder reconstruction and was fired from Rugby Sevens.
“It definitely put me in a dark place and really made me rethink what I wanted to do with my life,” she stated to Zero Tackle.
With setbacks and all, the six months of recovery were intended to last only about as long as one, but I had some amazing individuals in my corner who helped me get through it.
“My physical therapy Since I was around 14 years old, Lisa Cairns, my physiotherapist, has been by my side, doing everything she could to support me.
“One of the other females at the time had the same surgery as me, so we were kind of going through it together. Kelly Penfold took care of all of my rehab and really looked after me.
Many times I would just kind of think to myself, “I really want to get back, and I really want to play,” but I was so exhausted from pushing myself to the limit that I didn’t really give myself the mental rest I required.
“I had my surgery and learnt that I had been fired from Sevens after being cleared to play. Following that, I simply took a mental health leave.
“There were many ideas (of staying away). After having shoulder surgery, you don’t have much range of motion, so you basically have to regain all of your mobility.
“An incident occurred.”
