The 21-year-old beat New Zealand’s Portia Woodman – widely regarded as the finest women’s sevens player on the planet – to the accolade, awarded at a ceremony in London. She was in good company on the night, sharing the stage with stars of the game like Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks and England’s Maro Itoje.
Her star is unquestionably on the rise, but all the youngster cares about is repeating the success in 2016-17 and helping create a legacy for Australian women’s rugby.
“We definitely want to repeat as champions on the World Series,” Caslick tells Sport360 ahead of the season-opening Dubai Rugby Sevens which gets underway on Thursday.
“We want to do back-to-back like the Kiwis have done before and prove we’re not a one-hit wonder. We want to back ourselves up and create a legacy.”
Caslick described 2015-16 a “dream” season but despite achieving so much so young, she has warned the rest of the field in Dubai that the Aussies are desperate for more silverware.
Meet @CharlieCaslick, @WorldRugby women's sevens player of the year pic.twitter.com/3NVrCXS1IX
— Olympic Channel (@olympicchannel) November 15, 2016
“It was incredible. We had a dream season. We set out to win all those tournaments, all our goals were achieved and it was just perfect for us,” added the Brisbane-born back.
“It was amazing winning the gold medal, made better by the fact all our friends and family were there. It was incredible to do it in front of everyone that has supported us along the way. Our team is very big on our family culture so it felt fitting they were all there to see us do it. For sure it was the highlight of my career so far but, personally, it makes me hungry for more.
“Our team loves playing rugby together, so if we continue to have fun on the field we’ll continue to perform. That’s when we seem to play our best and that’s what we’re going to do this weekend.”
Now entering its fifth campaign, Australia broke the stranglehold rivals New Zealand had exerted by winning the first three editions of the women’s series, and Caslick is sure the ladies from the Land of the Long White Cloud will be out to bring Caslick and Co back down from cloud nine.
“New Zealand will be hungry to get back to the top and they’ve got amazing players like Portia Woodman, so they’re always one to watch,” said Caslick ahead of Australia’s opener against South Africa this afternoon.
“England have a new-look team with some younger girls, so that will be interesting to see how they go and Fiji seem to be getting better every year so there’s a few to look out for too.
“I’m really excited to start again. We’ve been training really well and everyone loves coming to Dubai so all the girls are excited.
“We’ve got some new girls and some coming back from injury, so it’s quite a fresh team and we’re looking good. We’re ready for Dubai.”
