Katelyn Vaha'akolo

Katelyn Vaha'akolo (born 18 April 2000) is a New Zealand rugby league and union player. She played for the Kiwi Ferns at the 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup and for the Newcastle Knights in the NRL Women's Premiership. She joined the Blues for the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

Background
Born in New Zealand, Vaha'akolo is a New Zealander of Māori (Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua descent) and Tongan descent. She is the younger sister of Freedom Vahaakolo who played for the Highlanders in Super Rugby.

Rugby league career
In 2020, Vaha'akolo played for the Te Atatu Roosters and Akarana Falcons. In November 2020, she represented the Kiwi Ferns. In December 2021, she signed with the Newcastle Knights to be a part of their inaugural NRLW squad.

In February 2022, Vaha'akolo played for the Māori All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars. In Round 1 of the delayed 2021 NRL Women's season, she made her NRLW debut for the Knights against the Parramatta Eels. She played in 5 matches for the Knights, scoring one try, before parting ways with the club at the end of the season. She then joined the Pt Chevalier Pirates club in the Auckland Rugby League competition for the 2022 season. She scored at least 10 tries for them, though there were several matches without scorers submitted.

In October, she was selected for the New Zealand squad at the delayed 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup in England.

Rugby union career
In April 2021, she played for the Moana Pasifika rugby union side in the Takiwhitu Tūturu rugby sevens competition. It was announced in November 2022 that she would be joining the Blues Women for the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

2023
On 17 April, Vaha'akolo was given a fulltime Black Ferns contract after a standout season for the Blues Women. She was one of 34 contracted players for the year.

She made the Black Ferns 30-player squad to compete in the Pacific Four Series and O’Reilly Cup. She made her international debut against Australia on 29 June 2023 at Brisbane. In July, she started in the Black Ferns 21–52 victory over Canada at the Pacific Four Series in Ottawa. In September, Vaha'akolo scored two tries in the Black Ferns' 43-3 victory over Australia.

Vaha'akolo was awarded World Rugby's Women's 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year in November.

2024
Vaha'akolo featured for the Black Ferns in the Pacific Four Series, scoring tries against the United States, Canada and the Wallaroos. She scored four of nine tries in her sides 62–0 drubbing of Australia in the second test of the Laurie O'Reilly Cup.