Having starred at junior representative level and in her first season of the Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership in 2021, Teagan Berry will make even greater strides this year when she returns to the NRLW with the St George Illawarra Dragons.
In 2019 – with little rugby league experience – the former Australian All Schools 100m silver medallist took the competition by storm when she joined the Illawarra Steelers’ Tarsha Gale Cup side, whose dominant season led them to a Grand Final victory.
Berry finished that season as leading try scorer and was later selected in the successful U19s NSW Women’s Origin team, crossing for a trademark 90-metre try with express speed to help her side to victory.
While the 2020 junior representative calendar was cancelled due to COVID-19, Berry’s outstanding 2019 season was enough to earn a Dragons NRLW debut in the final round of the 2020 competition, scoring the opening try against the Warriors.
That was the last time she appeared in the NRLW, but Berry’s return to the Red V is only getting closer with the postponed 2021 season kicking off in February 2022.
In the meantime the speedster has still been causing havoc for oppositions from all parts of the field.
Berry, 19, hit the ground running – at pace – in 2021 as she returned to the Tarsha Gale Cup, recording a remarkable 11 tries, eight try assists, eight line-breaks, nine line-break assists and 42 tackle busts from nine matches.
The Shellharbour junior then joined Helensburgh Tigers for three games in her debut HN season, scoring six tries and having six line-breaks at an average of five tackle busts and 162 run metres per match.
Berry capped off her season with a second appearance for the NSW U19s, scoring a double with a near-identical long range effort from 2019 to seal a 16-12 win over Queensland as part of the back-to-back Origin victories.
Berry – as well as a host of young prospects – can’t wait to return to the NRLW arena.
The Dragons new head coach Jamie Soward will be hoping his side, with Berry and company on fire, can get back to the finals series in 2022.
