NRLW free agency analysis: Every club\u2019s ins and outs, contract statuses, signing rumours<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI guess for the Dragons, I needed something new, I think I was at a bit of a stale stage there, I probably wasn\u2019t enjoying my footy as much, and not that I had an issue with the club or anything like that, but I lost a little bit of interest, a bit of love and passion for the game, and I felt like I needed a fresh start,\u201d McGregor said ahead of Sunday\u2019s Pacific Championships final at CommBank Stadium where the Kiwi Ferns play the Jillaroos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I spoke to Craig he had some really good insights to the Tigers and what I could offer them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I can offer a lot to that club, they have a really good pack and they\u2019re probably just missing someone with a bit of direction. I felt like I could add a lot to that team and bring some of those girls out of their shells.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited for a fresh start. I\u2019ll be good to be closer to home and get back to enjoying my footy again.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGregor\u2019s influence is expected to be a huge boost for the Tigers, who have finished with the wooden spoon for the past two years.<\/p>\n
It cost them inaugural head coach Brett Kimmorley, but they\u2019ve been steadily rebuilding with McGregor and the expected signing of Canterbury forward Holli Wheeler for 2026 as well as established Jillaroos stars Kezie Apps and Sarah Togatuki.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much potential there, and last year, they missed the mark a little bit but they definitely have a good squad. They\u2019re just missing some experience in the spine and I think I can get them around the park a bit,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a bit of that, I feel like that team can do some good things.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new coach too, it\u2019s a fresh start for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guiding the next generation is McGregor\u2019s sweet spot and she\u2019s in her element with the Kiwi Ferns. <\/p>\n
The 29-year-old made her international debut in the 2017 World Cup and over the past eight years has seen massive change in in the women\u2019s game. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality is the biggest change,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started playing, we probably had a couple of NRLW girls and a lot of the girls were homegrown talent, and to see that every single player in this team now plays NRLW, it\u2019s just changed so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
A simmering rivalry between Australia and New Zealand has only intensified. <\/p>\n
The Jillaroos won a close 10-4 poor game in Auckland last weekend and face off in Sunday\u2019s final in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first played the Jillaroos it was super tough, they had so many NRLW players and we had a small handful, so now that everyone is on the same page you can see we\u2019ve stepped up a whole \u2018nother level and hopefully we can show that this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come so far, hopefully we can put on a good show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally published as Raecene McGregor hoping Wests Tigers can reignite her football passion after \u2018stale\u2019 season with Dragons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiwi Ferns co-captain Raecene McGregor has revealed why she moved from St George Illawarra to Wests Tigers, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,154948,154945,154952,77698,154951,154947,132827,147853,154950,761,762,154949,158,154944,154946,11403,85,154954,154953,4515,11103],"class_list":["post-264809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-competitive-spirit","tag-craig-sandercock","tag-expected-signing","tag-fresh-start","tag-homegrown-talent","tag-inaugural-head-coach","tag-international-debut","tag-kezie-apps","tag-massive-change","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nother-level","tag-nrl","tag-pamela-whaley","tag-simmering-rivalry","tag-single-player","tag-sports","tag-stale-stage","tag-super-tough","tag-wests-tigers","tag-wooden-spoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}