This year Waterman played as Fullback for the 2024 Hurricanes Poua team in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition and later moved to Australia to play League for the Newcastle Knights.
Waterman played the majority of the league season as winger for their second grade team competing in the Harvey Norman cup, she says the physicality was the most challenging thing about the transition “the level was really good for me to develop my game, but it felt much more physical than union,” says Waterman.
Isabella says one of her highlights was making it to the Harvey Norman Cup finals and debuting for the Knights NRLW (National Rugby League Women’s) team.
“When I got contracted I wasn’t really sure if I was even going to play, so to debut was awesome and I got to really learn the standard of League if I want to play in NRLW” she says.
Isabella’s mum, Linda adds that she is immensely proud of her achievements and sees a bright future ahead for her in League, “her improvement from the beginning of the season to the end is nothing short of phenomenal, I personally think she has huge potential in a leadership role in the game,” says Linda.
Now that the season is over Isabella is back in New Zealand and says she is keen to return to Australia and give League another go with hopes to eventually cement herself in the NRLW.