Australia’s revered and longest-playing elite women’s rugby union player Louise ‘Cookie’ Burrows will announce her retirement today from representative rugby and outline plans for the future.
Her stellar career spans almost three decades starting at Canberra Royals Rugby Union Club when she was 16 years of age. In 1995 she got her first representative cap playing for the ACT women’s rugby team. In 1996 she was selected in the inaugural Brumbies women’s team and represented the Brumbies until 2022 having played over 150 games. In 2018, she was capped as #2 for the Brumbies women in the inaugural year of the Super W competition. Burrows made her international debut for the Wallaroos in 2001, has represented Australia at 4 World Cups: 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2017. Burrows was one of the inaugural inductees of the University of Canberra’s Sport Walk of Fame in 2022. She is a mentor to up-and-coming women rugby union players and has commentated and coached.
Burrows has managed her sporting commitments with her employment as a physical education teacher at Canberra Girls Grammar and mother of two children.
“I would like to thank my family and friends for their support throughout my career. A special shout-out to my husband Mick who has been my biggest supporter,” Louise Burrows said.
“I will be forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve had playing rugby. I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and make lifelong friends along the way.
“I’ve always had a sense of belonging when playing rugby. It gave me the strength and confidence to believe in myself and my abilities and realise through hard work I could achieve amazing things,” she said. “I’ve been a pioneer for the growth of women’s rugby and I am excited for the professional era.
“With unprecedented levels of interest in women’s sport, I will continue to champion that women elite athletes need to be paid the same as their male counterparts or at the very least have the gender pay gap significantly reduced.
“This means encouraging girls from a young age to follow their sporting ambitions and believe that anything is possible,” she said.
