Reigning Woman of Steel Georgie Dagger is no stranger to adversity and is determined to overcome England’s humiliation in Vegas and help York Valkyrie maintain their position at the top of the women’s game.
A NEW name, a new number and a new role in the team… but the same attitude to succeed. That’s the message coming from York Valkyrie star Georgie Dagger as the club aims for an unprecedented third straight Super League title.
Dagger, who played under her maiden name of Hetherington last year, was a stand-out player for the club all season as they defied the odds to beat St Helens 18-8 in last October’s Grand Final.
In a season ravaged by injury and unavailabilities, many had written York’s chances off of becoming the first side to retain their title. But they did just that, and smart recruitment from director of rugby and coach Lindsay Anfield, and having the time in pre-season to get used to some positional changes, have left the Valkyrie in a strong position to strengthen their claim as Super League’s best.
Towards the end of last season’s successful campaign Dagger had to do something rarely, if ever, seen in rugby league – she took on two vastly different roles within games – defending at fullback, and attacking at hooker.
But with Sinead Peach now back at nine, Dagger has been handed the number one shirt and will focus largely on playing fullback in the continued absence of Tara Jane Stanley, who has a long-term knee injury.
While you might assume the stability of focusing on one role would be a preferred option for most, that is not necessarily the case for Dagger, whose exploits last year earned her the coveted Women of Steel title.
“We were written off last year, no one expected us to do anything, and I understand why, but we didn’t listen to any of that and became Grand Final winners once again,” said 27-year-old Dagger, who married York Knights fullback Will Dagger over the off-season.
“That was a valuable lesson we learnt – focus on us and block out all the outside noise and external opinions.
“We know what our standards are and what we want to achieve, so I don’t think looking to go three in a row puts any different pressure on us. We’ll just do what we know we need to do and we know that that is to be consistent and look to build on the successes of last year. We’re all hungry for more.
“Every club has recruited well so we will face even more challenges this year and that just adds to the excitement.
“One thing we have had this year is time in pre-season to work with those players, like myself, who will be stepping up into a new position. Last year I didn’t get the time I needed to work on key specifics of playing fullback, but pre-season has given me time to work with Tara and fix up little things that I need to work on.
“Playing that hybrid role was taxing on the body for sure, but I actually enjoyed the chaos of it all.
“It will be different this year. As much as it will be nice to know exactly where I am and have clear aims going into games this year, last season I felt like I was getting the best of both worlds – attacking at hooker, but then not having the forwards charging at me as one of the smallest on the pitch. It certainly worked in my favour last year, and also for the team. If I hadn’t gone with Lindsay’s crazy idea of playing two positions in one game we’d have been stuck, especially in the Grand Final.
“If I’m needed to jump into another hybrid role again, or even do a stint at prop forward, Lindsay knows I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
“I’m not really one for external attention – it makes me feel quite uncomfortable – so I didn’t know how to take it towards the end of last season. I just tried blocking it out and thinking about the job I was doing at York. That probably helped me stay focused and grounded at that important stage of the season.
“To end the year as the Woman of Steel, and being the first mum to win it, made me feel so proud. Not just for me, but for all young girls out there. When you’re a female that plays sport it is a difficult decision as to when to start a family, but hopefully this shows that it isn’t this or that, you can do both.”
As fullback, Dagger will form part of a strong-looking spine of the side alongside Peach, Sade Rihari and new recruit Ellie Williamson in the halves.
While Peach’s return to action following the birth of her son will be a major boost for the Valkyrie, for Dagger it is the signing of Australian Williamson, who has previously played for Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra, that could have the biggest impact on York’s chances of further success this season.
“We have had some new girls come in that have boosted our squad and given us some more strength-in-depth, which is something we needed after such a rocky year with injuries last year,” added Dagger, who has one young son with Will.
“One thing we pride ourselves on at York is always having a positive team culture and good energy. The girls that have come in have just added to that and fitted straight in.
“Ellie is a great addition. It means we have a really strong half-back, who’s got a great kicking game as well. We’ve seen how she plays and the flair she can bring to the side. Hopefully, as the season progresses we’ll see her come into her own and maybe that will give us that bit of spark we have maybe been missing the last few years.
“Myself, Sinead and Sade have all played together before but not in the current positions we’re all in, so it’s been a great opportunity in pre-season for us all to work together, along with Ellie, to work on these new combinations build those partnerships.
“Those connections are maybe something we were missing at times last season, so hopefully that means we can push on and have a better year on the field than we did last season.”
Despite all their league success over the last three seasons, with League Leaders’ Shield success in 2022 and 2023, plus the Grand Final trophies of 2023 and 2024, one thing that has so far eluded York is the Challenge Cup.
After making the final and losing to St Helens in 2021 York have missed out at the semi-final stage in each of the three seasons since – losing to Saints twice and firstly Leeds, by two points, in 2022.
Having picked up big wins against Huddersfield and Featherstone in the group stages of the competition and then disposing of Leigh Leopards in the quarter-final, York are once again dreaming of finally making their debut at Wembley Stadium in June.
But as much as they would like to run out under the arch in the capital, Dagger insists that their previous disappointments will not weigh on their minds as they face another semi-final against St Helens in mid-May.
“Anyone would be lying if they said playing at Wembley wasn’t an aspiration of theirs,” added Dagger.
“Of course we want to do that but we just have to take each game as it comes and keep building. Hopefully those elements will then take care of themselves.
“We have fallen at that semi-final hurdle in the last couple of years when we have not performed as we’ve needed to.
“But it doesn’t feel like a monkey on our back. Last year we went into the semi-final really depleted because of a sickness bug that had ripped through the team, so it was a really tough afternoon for us, and the year before that we were unlucky to miss out by a late drop goal.
“We want to improve on that this year, but we just need to stay focused and see what happens on the day.”
Last year’s success on a personal front also saw Dagger handed her England debut when they played France in June, before having to miss the Autumn test against Wales due to her wedding.
After the highs of a try-scoring debut in the 42-0 win in Toulouse, Dagger’s second cap brought her crashing back down to earth.
The 27-year-old started at fullback as England faced Australia in Las Vegas earlier this year, in a game which saw England crash to a 90-4 defeat and left many questioning the future of women’s rugby league in the UK.
And while the nature of the defeat was tough to take, that was nothing compared to some of the online abuse Dagger and her team had to face upon their return to the UK. Abuse so bad it prompted Dagger, along with a couple of her teammates, to release a statement condemning such comments in the hope they could use the negativity of the situation to install changes both in the game and the wider society.
“When I look back Vegas it’s bittersweet,” she added.
“I went from the highest of highs of making my England debut to the lowest of lows.
“As a group we’ve not experienced that kind of low or that kind of defeat for a very long time, some of us never have. So it was unfamiliar territory and it was difficult to navigate when we got home.
“We were in a really dark place, not just on the back of the defeat, but also because of the disgusting comments being left on social media. That was something new for most of us to deal with. I’ve seen it in the men’s game with teams Will has been involved with, but when you see things like that being said about you and your teammates it’s heartbreaking and soul-destroying.
“I couldn’t just sit there and say nothing. I wasn’t going to be silenced by people who haven’t walked in our world and sacrificed the things we’ve sacrificed.
“I’d just written my thoughts down as a way of having a rant rather than posting it, but I read it to Eboni and Tamzin (Partington and Renouf – York and England teammates) and they said we needed to do something and encouraged me to put it out.
“We didn’t go out there to lose and we could take the criticism of ‘she dropped too many balls’, ‘their skill level wasn’t good enough’ and things like that. We know we weren’t good enough on the day, so comments like that are a knock to the ego, but we take it on the chin.
“But it was the comments that were totally below the belt that you can’t justify.
“Comments like ‘this is why women shouldn’t play rugby’ and ‘get them all back into the kitchen’ were bad enough but it got even more vile and some were picking apart our appearances. Some were saying that we were all fat or that we looked like we’d just stepped out of a kebab shop.
“We have fought so hard to put our game on a level playing field with the men’s game but we still have people trying to tear us back down and saying we shouldn’t be doing it.
“We’ve come too far to not have a voice. As much as the personal attention I get from being Woman of Steel makes me feel uncomfortable at times, I felt that if I could use that tag for anything then it’s got to be to stand up for the girls.
“I am pleased I did it. It felt like it helped take control of the season back. And we got so much support on the back of it from so many different places including Jillaroos players and current men’s Super League players.
“It spread far and wide and so many people stood with us. That loss didn’t define us and it was refreshing to see that many people do support us and see what we are trying to do.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 508 (May 2025)
