Warriors NRLW: Black Ferns Sevens’ Michaela Blyde joins renewed franchise

Black Ferns Sevens superstar Michaela Blyde has signed for the New Zealand Warriors NRLW side in a major code-swap coup for the club’s return to the competition next year.

The 28-year-old Taranaki-raised speedster will join the Warriors on a one-year deal.

Blyde comes with a stellar CV as back-to-back World Rugby Sevens women’s player of the year in 2017 and 2018 - the first to achieve that feat - was in the gold medal-winning Blacks Ferns squad at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games and won Commonwealth Games gold in 2018.

Blyde was also in the Rugby World Cup Sevens winning team in 2018 and has helped the Black Ferns to six World Sevens series triumphs since 2013.

She has scored nearly 250 tries across over 200 appearances in the New Zealand sevens side.

Blyde said she was a little surprised to sign for the Warriors, but was looking forward to her code switch to rugby league.

“A lot of excitement has been going through my mind,” she said.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for the last few months. To sign with the Warriors was a little bit of a surprise for me to be honest but nonetheless I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity the One New Zealand Warriors are offering me.

“I’m excited to be a part of something that’s growing super, super quickly and you’d be silly not to want to be involved in it.

“The Warriors are a team I grew up watching on TV. My family are rugby but when we knew the Warriors were playing on TV we’d change the channel to watch them and support them.”

First drafted into the New Zealand Sevens team as a 17-year-old in 2013, Blyde followed her mother Cherry who played for the Black Ferns in 1992.