Kimmorley thrilled with Knights recruit after big day out

Wests Tigers coach Brett Kimmorley willingly admits he made a great purchase in luring winger Jakiya Whitfeld from the Knights to his team for their inaugural NRLW season.

“We made a decision to invest in seven players who weren’t at the Wests Tigers and she’s one of them. They have all been outstanding purchases for us,” he said.

Underlining that investment came with Whitfeld’s performance in the 10-0 Wests Tigers win over the Sharks on the weekend to maintain their unbeaten start in the NRLW in 2023.

The 22-year-old in just her fourth NRLW game produced a performance for the ages. In fact it had many scrambling for the record books after she made 21 runs for 292 metres.

She now moves into overall second on the all-time list behind Raiders co-captain Simaima Taufa who ran 307 metres for her former club Parramatta in Round 5 of the 2022 season.

“It’s no surprise to me, she carries the ball tough and she trains hard,” Kimmorley told NRL.com

"She takes everything on board that we tell her. She’s a perfect example for the girls in our team – they are sponges for information.

“They want to get better; they want to learn; they have lots of questions.”

Whitfeld is second on the NRLW try-scorers list this year with three, behind Dragons fullback Teagan Berry who leads the way on four. 

She followed two tries in the club's inaugural win over the Eels with a gem at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday.

She picked up a loose ball and raced 85 metres, outpacing Jillaroos and fellow former rugby sevens player Emma Tonegato.

“She’s super fast and a great passer of the ball,” Kimmorley said.

“I put a lot of that down to being in that full-time rugby program, where they’ve got time to really practise their skills.”

Whitfield had been in the rugby sevens program since 2019 but missed out on gaining Tokyo Olympic selection in 2021 due to an ACL injury.

“When we had our initial conversations when we recruited her, she told me she’d like to play wing but also wanted the possibility of playing centre,” Kimmorley said.

“Time will tell what she’ll be best suited at. We don’t want to do is say ‘no’ to anyone. We want to encourage them and see what they can do.

“She has an athletic background, and she moved away from home to chase her dream. She’s been outstanding for us. She always looks like she’s going to make a line-break on every carry.”