'They are my sounding board': Matildas stars back Gallagher's NRLW move

Sheridan Gallagher was back in the Matildas' inner sanctum as the World Cup hosts triumphed 2-0 against Denmark at Accor Stadium on Monday night in a sign of the support from the Knights winger’s friends and former team-mates for her NRLW switch.

Gallagher, who captained the Young Matildas at last year’s U20s World Cup, is one of the most interesting and intriguing stories in Australian sport as just months ago she was playing A-League, rejected an approach to play AFLW and is now starring for the Knights.

The 21-year-old also has a background in horse racing and before moving to Newcastle she was getting up at 4am each day to train trotters and gallopers, while her brother, Josh, drove the 2021 Inter Dominion winner Boncel Benjamin.

Having grown up around horses and with a soccer ball at her feet, Gallagher had never played league before her manager Anthony Field organised for the Western Sydney Wanderers forward to attend a training session with Mounties.

After making an immediate impression on Mounties coach Darrin Borthwick and captain Simaima Taufa, who are now performing the same roles for the Raiders in the club's debut NRLW season, Gallagher has never looked back.

In her first three games for the Knights, she has scored three tries, made seven line-breaks and ran 398m with the ball, while amassing five Dally M points and twice earning selection in the NRLW Team of the Week.

“I was playing at the Wanderers, and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I thought I would be, so I thought why not give league a go,” Gallagher told NRL.com.

“I’m not one to shy away from contact and all of that sort of stuff, but the transition has definitely gone better than I could have imagined.

“I had to learn from the start, I sat down with all the rules and had to learn all the skills that come with it.

Playing with the ball at your feet my whole life to then having it in your hands is very different.

“It is different fitness and different ball skills, but I really enjoy it and it has really made me think and switch the brain back on so that has been really cool.”

Say it again, Sam

Yet the obvious question remains. How does a player who was talking with Sam Kerr just 12 months ago about the honour and responsibilities of captaining an Australian team feel watching many of her former team-mates star in a home World Cup?

“That was a pretty cool experience with Sam,” Gallagher said.

“She said ‘it is not everyone who gets to captain your country at a World Cup so take the experience in and just keep being you. Don’t let the captaincy change the person who you are’

“But there are no regrets or what if moments or thoughts that if I had kept playing I could be at the World Cup. I just am happy to watch my friends who I grew up with playing and achieving their dreams. They are the same with me.”

Gallagher is close friends with defender Courtney Nevin and cheekily commented on her Instagram post after Australia’s elimination of Denmark: “Wear a Knights jersey, you’ll look better”.

She has also played with the likes of Kyra Cooney-Cross, Clare Hunt, Mary Fowler and Charli Grant and remains in regular contact with the Matildas stars as they support each other in their sporting endeavours.   

“I have played with five or six of them over the years and it is pretty cool to get a phone call off them saying that they would like me to turn up and watch them play, or vice-versa,” Gallagher said.

“I give them a call too and say, ‘hey we are playing in Sydney next week’ and they turn up to watch.

“We keep in touch, and we are on the phone to each other a few times a week.

“When the decision [about NRLW] came across my table I rang them and said I have this opportunity and they said, ‘that’s so cool, we support you every step of the way’.

They are my sounding board and the people I turn to help me make those decisions so knowing that made it so much easier.

“Going to school with them and playing with them you get to know the ins and outs of each other’s lives and we are supportive of each other.

“I have been to their two Sydney games, and it was unreal. The atmosphere was really good, and it was just cool to see the girls achieve their dreams of playing in a World Cup in their own country.”

No horsing around

Gallagher is considered one of the best trainers at the Knights and she had a similar reputation at the Wanderers, which may be attributed to a work ethic developed through her jobs with harness racing stables.

“I have driven in trackwork and ridden a few gallopers around the track in my day, that is not something many people know about me,” she said.

It was tough, it's long hours and hard yakka.

"You are up at 4am or 5am and not finishing to lunch time, then you go to the races, and you get home at midnight. Then you do it all again the next day.

“Coming to play NRLW, it really makes you appreciate what you have got and it does take that hard work to get there.”

Her family has a long association with harness racing and brother Josh created his own sporting highlight when he drove Boncel Benjamin to a controversial win in the 2021 Inter Dominion, with the result decided on protest.

“That was great for Josh, but I always like to have one up on him and I think I have now by coming to the Knights,” Gallagher said.

The route to Newcastle involved a stint playing soccer in the United States for William Carey University after earning a scholarship with the Mississippi college followed by two seasons at the Wanderers.

Able to kick with both feet and possessing remarkable eye-hand co-ordination given she wasn’t allowed to touch the ball in soccer, Gallagher also did some AFLW testing and was offered an opportunity to play but preferred league.

After playing just two matches for Mounties, she was ineligible for the Harvey Norman NSW Premiership finals but impressed enough at fullback to attract the interest of four NRLW clubs before choosing the Knights.

“I don’t have too many personal goals for this year; it’s team first for me and I just want to be part of the team,” Gallagher said. “I just want to keep improving week by week and make sure we are there or there abouts at finals time.

“I played fullback in my two games for Mounties, and I’d definitely love to play fullback at some stage but I am a big believer in doing my apprenticeship and there is no-one better to learn off than Tamika Upton here at the Knights.

“I am happy to bide my time and just watch her flourish and help me along the way. I am like a sponge, coming in with no idea what I am doing and lapping it up where I can and taking in as much information as I can along the way.

“I just want to put my head down and work as hard as I can, and see what happens.”