West Coast Eagles AFLW veteran Kellie Gibson and Australian rugby star Charlotte Caslick link up once again

It has been quite some time since West Coast AFLW star Kellie Gibson and Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick crossed paths on the rugby sevens field. Now, over a decade later, the pair have reunited after excelling in separate codes. For Gibson, things could have ended up very differently had she never made the choice to put a halt to her rugby career and pursue AFLW. The 29-year-old was a champion junior in sevens and represented Australia at the 2014 youth summer Olympics in China, winning gold. The pair crossed over as part of integrated sessions between both the junior and senior squads back in the day, and Gibson looked back on her time in the sport and the opportunities that arose fondly. “I kind of snowballed into it and found myself in the right time doing that when I was 18.... I was lucky enough and said yes to a lot of opportunities, and it got me where I was with the Olympics, and I’m very proud of it,” she said. “I was lucky enough to meet Charlotte back in the day, and I was quite surprised she remembered me, to be honest.” The Eagles veteran even credited her rugby background for helping her in aspects of her AFLW career. “They’re definitely very different games….sevens is short, sharp and quite explosive, and footy is a lot bigger field, but the toughness and the nitty-gritty is pretty similar.” After a decorated rugby sevens career, Caslick has since turned her attention back to the 15-a-side game. An ankle injury ruined her chances of a fairytale Women’s Rugby World Cup appearance in 2025, but the 30-year-old has turned her attention to 2029. “I’ve really enjoyed it so far, it’s a little bit different, more people on the field, but I love both formats,” she told The West Australian. “Hopefully, I can continue to play both for as long as I can. We’ve got a home World Cup in 2029 for the Wallaroos, so that’s really exciting to look forward to.” The triple Olympian is in town as part of the rugby sevens at HBF Park this weekend, and Caslick backed in her former team to redeem themselves after a grand final beat-down at the hands of New Zealand in Singapore last week. “I’m really excited, I think they have had a really good season so far, the girls, they’ve won one tournament in Cape Town and had two seconds. They’ll be obviously playing on home soil, pretty rare for the girls, so they’ll be all for it,” she said. Caslick also declared another AFLW convert as the one to keep an eye on for the hosts. “It’s hard to go past Maddison Levi, she actually has played AFLW for the (Gold Coast) Suns, she’s one of the best finishers in the world, and she’s been one of the best for years now.”