Tyla King opens up on NRLW ‘change’ and reasons for SVNS return

Tyla King isn’t going to forget the last week of October anytime soon. After helping New Zealand win their first rugby league Test over rivals Australia in seven years, the two-time Olympian jumped on a plane from Melbourne with Paris set as her final destination.

King, 29, attended the prestigious World Rugby Awards at the Paris Garnier less than 24 hours after the Springboks’ thrilling triumph in the men’s Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France.

The New Zealander was one of four nominees for World Rugby’s Sevens Player of the Year accolade after a stellar campaign with the Black Ferns Sevens before leaving the sport for rugby league.

King – whose maiden name is Nathan-Wong – was granted a release from her contract with New Zealand Rugby to pursue an opportunity with the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRLW.

Teammate Michaela Blyde, Australia’s try-scoring machine Maddison Levi and Fiji’s Reapi Ulunisau were also nominated for the award, but King was crowned the world’s best that night. The playmaker became the fifth New Zealander to claim the women’s sevens honour.

But if you search ‘Tyla Nathan-Wong’ on Google, she’s still listed as a ‘New Zealand rugby league player.’ Tyla King is one of the biggest names in sevens, but with three tries in nine games for the Dragons, the New Zealander was also briefly one of the standouts in the NRLW.

“I absolutely loved it. I’ve been in this game for what, this is my 13^th year now so since I was 16 in this team and in this environment so I definitely needed a bit of a change,” King told RugbyPass at the SVNS Perth on Sunday.

“Go out (and) have a different environment, a different coach and just rejuvenate myself and bring some of that energy into it all and it definitely did that.

“Going to the Dragons, linking up with Jamie Soward and the girls there, being right by the beach.

“I didn’t have any intention of representing our country New Zealand in the Kiwi Ferns but it ended up happening. An absolute honour being able to do that and represent the Kiwi Ferns and our country.

“That was pretty cool, a special moment too – especially that win against Australia though, in old Melbourne, that was pretty cool. Then jumped on the plane to the World Rugby Awards not long after.

“It’s good to be back with the sevens crew, fighting my lungs again in this beautiful Perth weather.”

King revealed that she would be “back in black” in 2024 with an Instagram post in December. The comments were filled with hundreds of fans celebrating the superstars' return.

The season started in Dubai and Cape Town without King, but the goal-kicking ace was back in action during last weekend’s SVNS Perth at HBF Park. It’s the start of King’s journey to potentially a third Olympic Games.

But that’s just one goal. With plenty of “little things” that she wants to tick off, King fended off the idea of staying “in league” by donning the Black Ferns Sevens’ jersey once again.

“That was always the original attention,” King said. “I didn’t know, though, I was just going to leave it open.

“I could’ve just absolutely loved it and stayed in league but I had a few small things I still wanted to achieve in the sevens jersey and obviously playing under the King name was one of them.

“Obviously (the Olympics) is there,” King added. “That’s the pinnacle of most sports… to able to achieve that goal again of going to my third Olympics and hopefully going back-to-back with that gold medal, being the women’s team to do so, that would be a pretty incredible moment.

“But at the same time there are little things that I want to tick away at over these next few tournaments; obviously get those lungs back, keep building the combinations with the girls and continue to represent my whanau (family).”

Next up for King and the Black Ferns Sevens is an event in Vancouver from February 23 to 25. Those interested in watching some of the world’s best rugby while enjoying the best party in town can get tickets HERE.