NRLW's growing maturity shows in players unafraid to defy expectations

The Guardian

3 days ago

The Roosters' Jasmine Strange is chatting candidly on a podcast clip posted to TikTok about her period. 'Every fourth game we play, we are on our period,' she tells the shocked host of Burro's Backyard, who confesses that he thought 'maybe the sport chicks don't get them'.
Kennedy Cherrington and her sister Rueben open up on their own podcast on everything from Māori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi, to their thoughts on the Run it Straight challenge, to the grief of losing their brother.
Millie Elliott regularly speaks out on disability inclusion, body image and pay parity for women's sport in the media and on her podcast with fellow player Keeley Davis.
With the NRLW poised for its eighth season, there is a maturity to the competition that has stretched beyond the field and taken root in the hearts and minds of the players.
As the competition grows – from four teams in its inaugural season in 2018 to 12 teams in 2025 – so too do the platforms of the players. That they are using these platforms to educate men about the realities of menstruation in elite sport and to share important messages about culture and grief, shows the confidence and security that they feel in their roles – both as players and as advocates for women's rugby league and women's sport more broadly.
Much like rugby league itself, there is an unashamedly in-your-face attitude about the NRLW players, which defies expectations that continue to plague many other women's sports – that the players are polite, grateful and 'ladylike'.
But there is nothing polite about rugby league – it is a sport born from mud and blood, that invokes the smells of sweat and Deep Heat. A game of the people that has never set much store by manners.
As the crowds continue to build, with the first game of the women's State of Origin series this year delivering yet another record crowd, the attitudes of the NRLW players appear to be working for them. This season will also feature the very first Magic Round for the competition, held in the rugby league heartland of Newcastle, which will offer further growth and recognition for the players. Centralising all the teams in one location for the round will naturally draw more media, providing the players more chances to showcase their personalities as well as their skills, and take opportunities in interviews to speak their minds and highlight issues that are important to them.
It is not just its players, but also in the competition itself where rugby league continues to go its own way. While the AFLW and WBBL have shied away from double headers in their respective men's competitions, the NRLW has seen them as opportunities, scheduling 33 double headers in the 2025 season – 18 of which will feature the same home and away teams in the men's and women's fixtures.
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Both approaches have benefits, but the NRL's method aligns more closely with a one-club mentality, where fans of the men's team can be drawn to arrive at the ground earlier, get more value for money by seeing an extra game and understand the excitement of women's rugby league where they may never have chosen to attend a game otherwise.
This is particularly important because rugby league fans are usually born, not made. While cricket fans in NSW and Victoria choose a BBL club to support and other states have one team each to default to, NRL fandom is a multigenerational love affair, entangled in family lore and deeply woven into the souls of those who fill the stands at each game. Bringing more fans into the women's game requires harnessing that passion and pulling it over – making these fans understand that this team belongs to them as well. Without double headers, the women's teams can be left stranded and locked out from a core that isn't truly aware of what it is are missing.
With the 12-team era of the NRLW about to begin, the maturity of the competition is something worth getting excited about. It is one where players understand their value and feel confident and secure in speaking out about what matters to them. While they are not yet paid comparably to their male counterparts – and indeed their pay also falls short of many other women's sporting codes in Australia – the sustainable growth of the competition and the way the women's teams have been integrated into the rugby league ecosystem provides hope for the future. With this maturity comes a great deal of strength and the makings of an incredible legacy.