{"id":444924,"date":"2026-01-29T10:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/444924\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:22:08","slug":"mckenzie-signs-for-childhood-club-in-latest-wallaroo-code-swap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/444924\/","title":{"rendered":"McKenzie signs for childhood club in latest Wallaroo code swap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Wallaroos fly-half <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/arabella-mckenzie\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arabella McKenzie<\/a> has signed a one-year contract with NRLW outfit St George Illawarra Dragons.<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old has won 28 caps for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/australia-women\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australia<\/a> and represented her country at the 2021 Women\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/rugby-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rugby World Cup<\/a> in New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>She was omitted from Jo Yapp\u2019s 32-player squad that went to the quarter-finals of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/womens-rugby-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p>The playmaker follows her former international teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/layne-morgan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Layne Morgan<\/a> in swapping 15-a-side rugby for the 13-player code at the start of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>A lifelong Dragons supporter, McKenzie joins a Nathan Cross team aiming to improve upon their 10th place finish in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been a Dragons supporter my whole life, so when Crossy reached out I knew it was right,\u201d McKenzie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no club I\u2019d rather be a part of. I\u2019m excited to challenge myself in a new sport and new environment. I\u2019m looking forward to meeting all the girls and ripping into training.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie spent just over a year with Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby outfit Harlequins. She departed the London club in December 2023 and later cited homesickness as a reason for her exit.<\/p>\n<p>A four time Super W winner with the NSW Waratahs, the 26-year-old grew up playing rugby league in Lightning Ridge and has previously spoken of her fondness for the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArabella is a really exciting addition for us,\u201d Cross said. \u201cShe\u2019s such an accomplished athlete already and I\u2019m really looking forward to being a part of her transition to rugby league.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe possesses a skillset and variety of physical attributes which I\u2019m really confident will make the process smooth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is one of the most competent kickers of the football I have ever seen in the female game. We are excited for her to meet the rest of the squad and staff and really hit the ground running as she takes on a new challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McKenzie\u2019s NSW teammate Tatum Bird has signed a one-year contract with NRLW\u2019s Sydney Roosters. Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/new-zealand-women\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Zealand<\/a> Sevens athlete Grace Kukitai has signed for the Canberra Raiders after two seasons with the Newcastle Knights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallaroos fly-half Arabella McKenzie has signed a one-year contract with NRLW outfit St George Illawarra Dragons. The 26-year-old&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-444924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444924","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=444924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}