Kesey Apps will become the 15th player to play at least 15 games for her country on Saturday, 10 years after watching the Jillaroos win the Women’s World Cup in England.
It’s been quite a journey for the 32-year-old Wests Tigers co-captain. It all started when a light bulb went on in a lounge room on the New South Wales south coast.
Apps was inspired to take action after watching Australia win their first World Cup on television. So she decided she wanted to wear green and gold too.
Australia won the match 22-12 in northern England, ending New Zealand’s long domination of the tournament, which included three consecutive World Cup wins.
The event, 17,100 kilometers away from App and her couch in Vega, inspired the then 22-year-old to pursue her dreams and rekindled her love of rugby league.
Quite notably, just 12 months later, Kezie wore his country’s colors for the first time, becoming Jillaroo player number 126 when they played against the Kiwi Ferns at Wollongong’s WIN Stadium in 2014. Ta.
Ten years later, Apps, like Saturday’s captain Ali Brigginshaw, has become one of the greats in women’s competition.
The Bega Roosters junior has ticked almost everything off his rugby league bucket list except the NRLW premiership.
She was named Dally M Player of the Year in her first NRLW season in 2016, won the past two World Cups with the Jillaroos and this year became NSW’s most capped home state player.
Just as the Kangaroos recognize milestones for the Australian men’s team by marking each of their 20th, 30th and 40th Test appearance with a different colored chevron, so do the Jillaroos.
To commemorate his 15th game with the Jillaroos, Kesey will wear a white milestone patch on the left side of his uniform on Saturday night.
Briginshaw, who was part of the World Cup-winning team that inspired Apps more than a decade ago, is the only player on the current Jillaroo team to reach this milestone.
The Broncos veteran has played in 22 games and counting for the Jillaroo.
Jillaroo Fifteen Plus Club
Tahnee Norris 33
Karyn Murphy 28
Natalie Dwyer 26
Teresa Anderson 25
katrina fanning 24
Ali Brigginshaw 22
steph hancock 21
loretta o’neal 20
Erin Elliott 19
veronica white 17
tracy thompson 16
Renae Kunst 16
Tara Westera 15
Tasha Gail 15
debbie merritt 15
As for the town that brought us Kezie Apps, it has a population of just over 4,000 people and certainly has a strong rugby league pedigree.
Best known for its dairy farms and famous Bega cheese, it has also produced a number of elite soccer players.
Kesey’s Bega Roosters junior teammate Dale Finucane, Newcastle Knights forward Adam Elliott, former Canberra Raiders outside back David Boyle and the list goes on.
Boyle’s daughter Millie, who recently married Elliott, is one of the best forwards in women’s soccer who played with the Apps for the Jillaroos.
But at the top of Bega’s list of “most notable” people is Kezie Apps. You can find out by looking at Google Bega’s Wikipedia page.
Sure, the list is alphabetical, but don’t let that get in the way of the story. In fact, Kezzi is Bega’s biggest export, along with cheese.