Beyond the Jersey: Libby Cook-Black on Rugby League, Motherhood, Culture and Finding Purpose

For Libby Cook-Black, rugby league has never been just about what happens inside the white lines.

It has been about culture. Belonging. Opportunity. Motherhood. Identity. And, ultimately, discovering how the experiences that shaped her as a player could help create a better pathway for the generation coming behind her.

Speaking on the IN SPORT Podcast during the Arthur Beetson Foundation Future Immortals Tour in Mareeba, Libby shared an incredibly open conversation about her journey through the game and why returning to community has helped her reconnect with a part of herself she thought she had left behind.

Where the journey began

A proud Wannumka woman from Erub in the Eastern Islands of the Torres Strait, Libby’s pathway into rugby league wasn’t necessarily the one she expected.

Coming from rugby union and rugby sevens, an opportunity to play at the Queensland Murri Carnival introduced her to another side of the game.

She found herself surrounded by women who had helped pave the way for First Nations female players — and quickly began to understand the significance of the pathway she had entered.

The Murri Carnival became her opportunity.

From there came the Queensland Murri side, a tour of New Zealand and, remarkably, opportunities with the Jillaroos and State of Origin within the same year.

But what stayed with Libby was bigger than representative honours.

It was the realisation that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women had been helping build women’s rugby league long before the professional pathways available today existed.

There was history there.

And there was belonging.

Preparing athletes for more than football

The women’s game has transformed significantly since Libby’s playing days.

Young girls can now see pathways that previous generations could only imagine, while the continued growth of the NRLW is creating increasingly professional environments for female athletes.

But Libby believes preparing young players for that environment must extend beyond developing their football ability.

For young athletes — particularly those coming from regional and remote communities — entering an elite system can mean navigating an entirely new world.

Training expectations. Communication. Professional standards. Relocating away from family. Living independently. Managing contracts. Understanding club environments.

The talent might get an athlete through the door.

Supporting the person behind that talent is what can help them stay there.

It’s something Libby is particularly passionate about through the work she now does with emerging athletes.

Don’t coach the individuality out of the game

One of the most fascinating conversations in the episode explores what makes women’s rugby league different.

Many women currently playing at an elite level didn’t grow up playing rugby league exclusively.

They came through touch football, rugby union, netball, basketball and other sports before finding or returning to league.

Those different backgrounds have helped create athletes with different movement patterns, spatial awareness, footwork and instincts.

And that, Libby believes, is something worth protecting.

As professional systems become more sophisticated, there is always a balance between structure and allowing naturally talented players to express what made them exceptional in the first place.

The same conversation applies to First Nations players across the game.

Players are often identified because they possess something special. The challenge is developing the professional athlete without removing the individuality that made people notice them.

Sometimes the moment that breaks a game open isn’t the structured play.

It’s instinct.

The leadership women’s rugby league needs

As the women’s game develops, Libby also believes its leadership needs to evolve alongside it.

Technical knowledge matters.

So does emotional intelligence.

Every athlete arrives with a different story, personality and set of circumstances. Coaching effectively means understanding the person rather than expecting every player to respond to exactly the same leadership style.

For female athletes, those circumstances can also include experiences historically given very little consideration within professional sport.

Motherhood was one of them.

And for Libby, that part of the conversation is deeply personal.

When motherhood changed the game

Libby became a mother at a time when the support structures around female rugby league players looked very different.

While her son’s father could return to football training, Libby faced an entirely different equation.

Who looked after the baby while she trained?

Could she bring him into the gym?

Could she continue feeding him while meeting the expectations of the club?

Could she spend multiple nights each week training and weekends away playing while being the mother she wanted to be?

There weren’t easy answers.

Libby returned to the field only nine weeks after having her son, but eventually reached a point where continuing her playing career no longer felt sustainable.

The decision came with grief.

She could see women she’d played alongside continuing their careers as the women’s game grew around them.

The opportunities were getting bigger.

The pathways were becoming clearer.

And she wasn’t part of it in the way she once imagined.

It took time to make peace with that.

Finding an identity beyond the jersey

There is a side of professional sport supporters rarely see.

Eventually, the game ends.

For some athletes, that happens on their terms.

For others, it doesn’t.

Either way, stepping away from something that has dictated your routine, relationships, goals and identity for years can leave an enormous space behind.

Libby speaks openly about needing to understand who she was outside rugby league.

Rather than allowing that experience to disconnect her permanently from the sport, she eventually found another way back.

Today, she works alongside young athletes, particularly women and players from regional and remote communities, helping prepare them for the realities of elite sport.

She has also moved into player management.

Her approach is grounded in lived experience.

She knows what it feels like to need support.

She knows what it feels like when the phone isn’t answered.

And she understands that an athlete’s needs don’t begin and end with negotiating a contract.

Sometimes they need someone who understands what leaving home actually means.

Coming back to community

That sense of connection is also what made Libby’s first experience on the Arthur Beetson Foundation Future Immortals Tour so significant.

The tour brings former elite players and sporting identities into regional and remote communities, using sport as the connection point for conversations, education and inspiration.

For Libby, it has also created something unexpected.

A place to reconnect.

During the podcast, the conversation turns to what happens to athletes when the crowds disappear and the structure of professional sport is suddenly gone.

The training schedule disappears.

The teammates aren’t around every day.

The adrenaline changes.

Life keeps moving, but something that has been part of your identity for years has suddenly become your past.

That’s why opportunities to bring former players back together can matter just as much to the people travelling on the tour as they do to the communities they visit.

Libby describes rugby league as having been a foundation of her life for 15 years.

Moving from that environment into silence can be confronting.

Coming back together — sharing stories, spending time in community and being surrounded by people who understand that experience — can fill a cup that everyday life sometimes can’t.

The next chapter can still belong to the game

Libby Cook-Black’s story is not simply about a rugby league career that ended earlier than she once imagined.

It’s about what came next.

It’s about taking the difficult parts of her own experience and using them to make the pathway better for someone else.

It’s about helping young women understand that they can be powerful athletes without losing who they are.

It’s about ensuring First Nations players entering professional systems are supported as people, not simply recognised for their talent.

And it’s about discovering that leaving the field doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the game.

Sometimes it simply means finding a different way to contribute.

Coming Soon. Watch the full conversation with Libby Cook-Black on the IN SPORT App