The women’s NSW and Queensland State of Origin teams are now more popular than the Matildas.
Free-to-air TV ratings last week are the proof.
The
women’s Origin game on Thursday night attracted 1.165 million viewers nationally on Channel 9 free-to-air and streaming.
On Friday night the Matildas v Argentina in Melbourne on Channel 10 got only 404,000.
These figures are not just a one-off.
All three State of Origin games have rated one million-plus while Matildas games over the past 12 months against Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Uzbekistan have averaged just under 500,000.
So what can we put this all this down to?
No Mary Fowler and no Sam Kerr would affect the Matildas numbers.
The bad publicity around Kerr’s poor behaviour in the UK would also have been a turn off.
Obviously, the Matildas numbers are far bigger at a World Cup.
But there’s no stopping the incredible growth of women’s rugby league in recent times.
“The level of skill in the women’s game has evolved so quickly,” said independent commission chairman Peter V’landys.
“I’ve never seen growth in any sport like the NRLW. We gave them the opportunity and they’ve delivered with extraordinary skill. It’s really exciting. I’m not surprised that their TV ratings have been so good.”
Imagine how big the NRLW will be in 10 years.
There are now 30,000 women playing rugby league in NSW alone. They make up 27 per cent of total registrations.
Young girls who have previously grown up to play netball or soccer have been inspired by what they have witnessed during the three State of Origin games.
They want to be the next Jessica Sergis, Isabelle Kelly, Jesse Southwell, Kezie Apps, Olivia Kernick, Kennedy Cherrington, Tiana Penitani Gray or Jaime Chapman.
