“Guilty”.
As she prepares for a record fifth NRLW grand final with Sydney Roosters, Brydie Parker admits to fearing she had cost her team a shot at history after being sinbinned during the dying stages of last weekend’s semi-final against Cronulla.
“If there is one to describe how I felt it would be guilty. I just felt so guilty,” Parker said.
“Obviously it is a team sport, and you never want to let your team-mates down, so to leave your team down that one player for such a crucial period of the game, it is something I never want to go through again.”
A foundation Roosters player in 2018, Parker was forced to watch from the dressing room as the Sharks levelled the scores at 16-16 before halfback Jocelyn Kelleher stepped up to break the deadlock with a late field goal.
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Brydie Parker comes up big for the Roosters
“I was still so nervous, I was sitting on the bike warming up ready to get back when Joss kicked the field goal,” Parker said.
“I knew when I got back on the field I really needed to create an impact for the last three minutes and make sure we held onto that lead.”
The 17-16 win has the Roosters needing just one more victory in the grand final to complete an unbeaten season, while Parker has the opportunity to claim a third premiership after playing in the club’s successful 2021 and 2024 teams.
Rival fullback Tamika Upton, the 2025 Dally M Medallist, is also playing her fifth grand final and has achieved premiership glory with Brisbane in 2019 and 2020 and Newcastle in 2022 and 2023.
Parker, who was scouted at an NRLW talent ID on the Gold Coast along with Broncos centre Julia Robinson, is the only other player to have played in four previous grand finals – losing the 2018 and 2020 deciders to Brisbane.
Significantly, all of have been with the Roosters, for whom she has played almost every backline position before setting into the No.1 jersey this season.
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Parker sent to the bin
“It is pretty cool. It is something I am really proud of, to have done it at the Roosters. If you had told me younger self I’d play five NRLW grand finals I would be like ‘you’re kidding’. It is a big achievement.
“In 2018, there were only four teams and we won the semi-final against the Dragons. That was my debut game and the next game was the grand final, so that was a surreal moment.
“To play a grand final in the inaugural year of the NRLW was pretty special. There have been so many changes since then.
“There has been an increase in teams, increase in exposure, increase in investment in the women’s game, so I am really excited by where we have got to and where we have still got to go.”
Brydie Parker celebrates her NRLW debut in 2018 with Sarah Togatuki and Nita Maynard-Perrin.
©NRL Photos
Growing up in Muswellbrook, Parker played touch football but there wasn’t a league competition for girls in the Upper Hunter.
“My older brother and younger brother both played for the Muswellbrook Rams so I was always following them around and supporting them,” she said.
“The tables have now turned and they are being the fan girls in the stands. My family are my biggest supporters.”
Only Parker and captain Isabelle Kelly remain from the inaugural Roosters team which lost to the Broncos in the 2018 NRLW decider.
Five-eighth Corban Baxter also signed with the Roosters but suffered a shoulder injury playing for NSW in the 2018 State of Origin and missed the entire season.
“I actually signed up for a talent ID day which was held on the Gold Coast in early 2018. It was from that talent ID day that I was scouted and given the opportunity to play for the Roosters,” she said.
“I hadn’t even played a full competition of rugby league before securing that contract so to be playing with the likes of Ruan Sims I knew I was going to become a better player by being in this system.”
Since 2018, Parker has transitioned from wing to centre to five-eighth to fullback, where she will line up in the grand final after playing 10 of her 13 matches this season under Roosters coach John Strange.
“I am really excited that Strangey gave me the opportunity to own that role and he had so much belief in me to take on that role,” she said.
“He is a man that helps really upskill you and develop you in whatever role you might play so I never felt out of my depth because I always knew that I had his backing and he would help me to get to where I needed to be.”