Jesse Southwell (rugby 7s) was the youngest member of Australia’s gold-medal winning women’s team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 aged 17.

The Newcastle teenager was named Commonwealth Games Australia’s emerging athlete of the month for May 2022 after making her debut in the Canadian leg of the World Series where she helped power her side to victory in the final against New Zealand.

Jesse played touch football during her early teenage years and was a member of the Australian under-15 Girls All-Schools Team, but when she tried rugby sevens, she absolutely loved it.

The former Hunter Sports High School student signed a four-year contract with the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women’s Premiership in August 2021 and played a starring role in guiding the Knights to back-to-back premierships in 2022 and 2023 alongside older sister Hannah Southwell.