TAMIKA Jones has barely had time to settle into rugby league, but she is already preparing for one of the biggest opportunities of her young career.
The 23-year-old will wear the Bulikula jersey at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup after making the switch from rugby union to rugby league this year and making her NRLW debut with the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs.
Her selection gives Fiji a centre with experience in Australia’s high-performance rugby system and exposure to professional rugby league, adding a different dimension to the Bulikula backline as it prepares for the World Cup.
For Jones, the opportunity is also a chance to represent her Fijian heritage.
Her mother is Fijian and, according to her uncle, former Fiji football international and Fiji FA Legends Club inductee Abdul Mannan, the family’s connection to Fiji runs deep.
Mannan said Jones’ grandmother was from Nayavu village in Tailevu. She later raised Jones’ mother and her siblings in Toga, Rewa, before Jones’ mother moved to Australia about 40 years ago.
“She had a choice all this time, but she wanted to pursue her career with Australia. Then she decided, you know, it’s once in a lifetime, she wanted to represent Fiji, her motherland country,” Mannan said.
Jones’ rugby journey began in Western Australia, where she developed through the Joondalup and Wanneroo rugby systems before progressing to the Western Force.
She enjoyed a standout 2022 season, winning the Force’s Rebecca Clough Medal and Super W Members’ MVP award, and later earned selection in the Wallaroos squad.
Her progress was later interrupted in 2023 when she suffered a serious leg injury, breaking her tibia and fibula. Complications following surgery extended her recovery before she returned to the field in 2024.
The setback did not derail her career.
Jones switched to rugby league this year, joined the Bulldogs and made her NRLW debut against the New Zealand Warriors on July 5.
Within months, she had progressed from adapting to a new code to earning a place in Fiji’s World Cup squad.
