It would be an under-statement to say that 2017 was a bit of a rough year for University of Queensland (UQ) AON Uni7s star Shenae Ciesiolka.
Shenae returned home to Toowoomba after two years full-time in the Australian Women’s Rugby Sevens program that saw her get limited opportunities, playing one World Rugby Sevens series tournament. With the inaugural AON Uni 7s series around the corner, Shenae took an opportunity to really showcase her wares and stay on the national radar, but disaster struck.
“When I moved home, I was probably at my absolute fittest and strongest and I was so keen to play footy and keep improving in the first AON Series,” she tells RUPA.
“Then I hurt my knee in a tackle at a tournament, and I knew straight away from the three massive snaps that it wasn’t good. I’d never felt anything like it. I couldn’t walk or put any pressure through my toe or my foot and my knee was locked in a bend position.
"I went to see the surgeon and it turned out I’d ruptured my ACL, torn my MCL, LCL and meniscus all in the one tackle – I’d basically completely shattered my knee. I ended up being out of Rugby for fourteen months.”
Ciesiolka missed the entire AON Series, as UQ went through the tournament undefeated and won the championship, watching on as the sport continued to grow in her absence.
“In 2017 Rugby Sevens was developing so quickly and I missed a lot of that stage as the game continued to evolve. I was still around the sport and doing my rehab but it’s obviously very different from playing and picking up game fitness so that was pretty difficult.”
2018 finally saw her return to action, with Ciesiolka taking a measured approach to the second AON Uni 7s series as Griffith University came out on top, before an opportunity to play abroad was presented to her.
“I used it to build confidence to get back to 100%. I didn’t focus too much on how I performed, for me it was more about getting confidence in my knee and playing as much footy as I could. Earlier this year I then got offered an opportunity to head over to Japan and play in their Taiyo Seimei Women’s Sevens series.
“I was initially reluctant to go but they pressed and said that they really needed somebody in my position and I eventually thought, ‘why not’. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to another country and do something I love doing for two and a half months.
“I had about a week to get everything sorted and before you know it, I was over there. It was a great experience to see a different culture and play a completely different style of the game.”
Upon her return, it was straight into pre-season for the 2019 AON Uni 7s, with UQ determined to win the trophy back. For Shenae, that meant driving the 240km round trip from Toowoomba to Brisbane for training two or three times a week, being picked as 13th player for the opening of four rounds, before securing a spot and playing in the remaining three.
“We got off to a good start, winning the first leg,” she said. “The Coach wanted to shift my mindset a little and make me keener to earn my spot and perform at my best, which it absolutely did.
“We made the final in both Rounds Two and Three, where we went down to Griffith and Sydney Uni, and heading into the last round in Canberra we knew we were out in front and that if we performed, we could win the overall series title.
“We secured it when we beat University of Adelaide in the Semi Final, but we wanted to finish on a high against Griffith in the decider. They’d knocked us off by a fair bit in the pool game that morning, so there was a little bit of revenge on our minds, and fortunately we managed to score a try right on fulltime to win– it definitely felt a little bit more rewarding to do it that way!”
Shenae herself scored the winning try, no surprise considering she was one of the tournament’s leading try scorers, not that she judges her game on how many times she crosses the chalk.
“I don’t necessarily look at how many tries I’m scoring, but I definitely think my footwork and speed are key elements of my game so I know that if I do get the ball in hand I’m going to have a crack at somebody one on one and see how I go. Everybody works so hard to set up our tries and I was lucky to finish a few over the season. I did enjoy scoring that winning try though!”
Shenae signalled that she was back to her best this year, potentially sending a message to national team coaches and selectors in the process, and for the (still just) 22-year-old her ambitions remain the same.
“Looking at the future, the Olympics next year remains a short-term goal but really I just want to try and take on board as much feedback as I can, and grow and develop my game as best as I can and hopefully opportunities within the national program become available. I feel like by the end of the fourth leg I was playing at my full potential which is really pleasing.
“I don’t have any regrets (from my time in the program) but moving down to a full-time program in Sydney at seventeen years old having just left school was pretty daunting.
"Being so young, I was quite timid within the group, especially with the calibre of established girls in there. My personality is quite out there, so perhaps I could have been a bit more open and vocal; I was asked to be there for a reason, so maybe I could have had a little bit more self-belief and backed my own ability.
“I definitely believe that the way I have developed my game since then means that I would be able to make the most of my ability if I got another chance on the World Series. I just need to make sure I stay as fit as possible, because that makes it a lot easier for yourself. I’d grab another chance with both hands and make the most of it and follow my strengths.”
Shenae’s teammate Georgia Hannaway was selected as the player of the tournament, highlighting a big future and yet another uncontracted player shooting for national honours.
“Georgia is somebody I have been playing alongside for a while and watching her grow as a player over the past two years has been awesome,” Ciesiolka said. “She puts in so much hard work, spends a lot of time at the gym and takes on board everything she is told. It’s great to see somebody so young have the confidence in her ability to get where she wants to, and I think she will keep developing and growing as a player and go a long way.
“The calibre of players in AON is continuously growing, and it’s good to see that Rugby Sevens in general is really growing. I coach at some schools here on the Darling Downs and pretty much every school in Toowoomba has a team. Every single team in the AON was a challenge to play against this year, and we knew every single match was going to be tough, so it’s definitely grown across the three seasons.”
2019 AON Uni 7s Series Standings
1. UQ - 76 pts
2. Griffith Uni - 68 pts
3. Sydney Uni - 62 pts
4. Uni of Canberra - 54 pts
5. University of Adelaide - 50 pts
6. UTS - 46 pts
7. Bond Uni - 28 pts
8. UWA - 22 pts
9. University of Melbourne - 20 pts
10. UNE - 14 pts
