Stacey Waaka

Stacey Jamie Aroha Kirsten Waaka (born 3 November 1995) is a New Zealand rugby league player who plays at for New Zealand Warriors in the NRLW.

She formerly played fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, and was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team and New Zealand Women's National Rugby Union team. Waaka was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team which won gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She was also a member of the New Zealand fifteen-a-side team which won the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup and the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup. Following the Paris Olympics she spent the Sevens off-season playing rugby league during an injury-disrupted 2024 season with the Brisbane Broncos.

Early life Waaka was born on 3 November 1995 in Papakura, New Zealand to Raewyn (née Allan) and Simon Waaka. She has four older siblings, Shannon, Bronson and Beaudein and was the only one born in New Zealand as her parents moved the family back and forth between Australia and Auckland several times. One Christmas, she and her brother Beaudein spent time with their grandmother Kiri on the farm and didn't want to leave. As a result, her parents decided to move back permanently in 2005 to farm in Ruatoki in the eastern Bay of Plenty. The impact was sufficient to throw her from her seat, and she came to lying in the aisle of the bus, on top of other children. Using her cellphone she called the police for help before assisting some of the injured children off the bus, including her niece and nephew. She then walked to a nearby Matariki Early Childhood Centre to telephone her mother before returning to the crash site where she helped other children. In all 36 people were injured with 28 taken to hospitals, many of them with broken bones. Waaka received lacerations to her legs which prevented her playing sports for a few months.

Rugby union career By the age of 15 Waaka was a New Zealand touch youth international. It wasn't until she began playing for the Waikato women's team in the 2014 Farah Palmer Cup that she was noticed in 2014 and was invited to attend a couple of Sevens training camps.

In 2016, she was selected for the development squad for the women's sevens and made her international debut in that form of the game.

In 2017 Waaka was again selected for the Black Ferns fifteen-a-side New Zealand Women's rugby team and played in eight games during their victorious 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup campaign. That year she graduated from the University of Waikato in the Bachelor of Sport and Leisure Studies with a major in Sport Management.

She played four games in August and November 2018 for the fifteen-a-side New Zealand Women's rugby team.

With Portia Woodman out of commission since October 2018 as a result of an Achilles tendon injury Waaka filled her shoes to become the dominant try scorer during the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series season. It was during this period that she acquired the nickname "The Smiling Assassin".

On 20 March 2022 she played a game for Chiefs Manawa against the Blues in the Super Rugby Aupiki.

Waaka was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She won a bronze medal at the event. She later won a silver medal at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.

2021 Rugby World Cup Waaka made the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the 2021 Rugby World Cup. She played in five games, scoring a try in the tense 25–24 semi-final clash with France.

In the final against England she scored a try at the start of the second half and later made a skilled offload that allowed Ayesha Leti-I’iga to score in the 72nd minute. After incurring an ankle injury during this action she was forced to leave the field. The Black Ferns went on to claim their sixth Rugby World Cup title. For her efforts she was named player of the match. The recovery from the injury delayed her return to sevens duty until the Hamilton tournament, which was the third in the 2022–23 season.

2023 Premier Rugby Sevens In May 2023, Waaka announced she was going to play for Premier Rugby Sevens in the United States. Waaka signed with the New York Locals where she played alongside Black Fern teammates Manaia Nuku and Tenika Willson.

Waaka and the Locals finished the 2023 PR7s season in second place after going 3–3 on the year. Waaka captained the Locals, totaling 15 points, 14 carries, 13 tackles, 4 steals, and 3 tries.

The Locals took second at the Eastern Conference Kickoff at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Tx. and the Eastern Conference Finals at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa. where New York punched their ticket to the PR7s Championship Tournament in Washington, D.C.

At the Championship, they defeated their Eastern Conference rival the Southern Headliners to advance to the title match. The Locals fell 21–10 to the Northern Loonies in the finals, ending the season in second place.

Return to New Zealand sevens duty She returned to the New Zealand sevens team for the 2023–24 season and played in the first three tournaments before a calf injury forced her to miss the Vancouver and Los Angeles tournaments.

Waaka announced in early March 2024 that after the Paris Olympics she had agreed to play rugby league for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL Women's Premiership. As she is contracted to New Zealand Rugby through to 2026 she would remain available to play sevens as the respective codes' seasons didn't overlap.

During the pool play game against Great Britain at the Madrid tournament held on 31 May–2 June 2024, Waaka scored her one hundredth try in the seven series.

2024 Paris Olympics On 20 June 2024 it was announced that she had been selected as a member of the New Zealand Women's Rugby Sevens team for the Paris Olympics. Waaka scored six tries over the course of the Olympic sevens competition to make her the third equal highest try scorer. One of her tries was in the final against Canada which was won by New Zealand 19–12 to give her back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

Rugby league career After arriving back in New Zealand from Paris on the morning of 2 August 2024 Waaka departed two days later to take up her rugby league contract with the Brisbane Broncos playing in the NRL Women's Premiership rugby league competition which was already underway, having started on 25 July. She had previously announced in early March 2024 that she was taking up rugby league after the Paris Olympics. As two years remain on her New Zealand Rugby contract she is still available to play sevens.

Waaka scored six tries in her first six appearances before her debut season was bought to an end when after scoring a try in Brisbane Broncos’ 20–16 victory over the Cronulla Sharks on 14 September 2024 she had to leave the field at half time with what later turned out to be a fractured fibula in her right leg. As a result, she was unavailable for selection for both the New Zealand women's national rugby league team for their 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championship campaign and the New Zealand Sevens team for the first two tournaments of the 2024–2025 season. Despite her limited number of appearances Waaka's performance was sufficient to see her named in both the NRLW's Dally M Women Team of the Year and the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) Women's Dream Team. She was also named the Brisbane Broncos’ NRLW Rookie of the Year.

Return from injury Waaka initially thought it would take six to eight weeks to recover from her leg injury but it took longer, forcing her to miss the first two tournaments of the international sevens series in Dubai and Cape Town. She began light running over Christmas/New Year period. She missed the Perth tournament, instead opting to gain some match time by captaining the New Zealand Women's Development team at the Coral Coast Sevens tournament held on 16–18 January at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka, Fiji. The team featured several national under 18 sevens representatives as well as Black Ferns contracted players Louise Blyde, Justine McGregor and Olive Watherstone.

Fully fit she was named in New Zealand sevens team for the fourth tournament of the season held in Vancouver on 21–23 February 2025. She celebrated her return by scoring a total of nine tries over the course of the tournament. In July 2025, she was named in the Black Ferns squad to the Women's Rugby World Cup.

New Zealand Warriors Women On 26 October 2025 it was reported that she had signed for New Zealand Warriors in the NRL Women's Premiership on a 2-year deal.

Television career Alongside Liam Messam and Erena Mikaere, Waaka was presenter in 2021 on Te Ao Toa, a weekly sports show on Maori TV.

Because of the courage she had shown during a bus crash in 2011, Waaka was selected in 2019 by World Rugby to be a member of The Unstoppables XV. This was a team of women who've overcome barriers to participate in rugby. It was part of the year long initiative to boost the profile of the women's game globally.

At the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Series Awards, Waaka was named as a member of the 2023 women's dream team.

Personal life Of Māori descent, she affiliates to the Ngāi Tūhoe iwi. She married Ricky Fluhler in late 2019. They separated in early 2023, and Waaka now uses her birth name again.