What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Women's NRL

DlEHARD

Juniors
Messages
823
Two Brisbane sides would be great and something has to service the amount of women players in the state. So there has to be more than one in SEQLD.
 

DlEHARD

Juniors
Messages
823
it's aligned to NRL club brands, so there cant be more than 1 Brisbane team.

Well that;s actually stupid. Because one team can not service the region. It's imbalanced. Unless the Titans are interested and I doubt it unfortunately.
 

Marlins

Juniors
Messages
1,417
Brisbane Broncos
Penrith Panthers
Parramatta Eels
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
St.George Illawarra Dragons
Auckland Warriors
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
15,889
It would be cool to start with a second Brisbane womens team under the Broncos protests and form a rivalry with the intention that that club then becomes the second Brisbane team in the mens NRL 3 or 4 years from now.
 

DlEHARD

Juniors
Messages
823
And what is the split with the current player base? It was my understanding that it was very strong in QLD, therefore would require more than one team.

We can't be stuck in the 80s trying to adapt to the flawed model of the NSWRL.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,960
I find the whole idea that's being suggested very disappointing, it reeks of the NRL using a women's comp as a cheap PR stunt (like the AFL and BBL did, the ARU and FFA attempted to do) when it could be so much more.

A national women's RL competition has heaps of potential to grow into something big in of it's self, but not if it's saddled to the men's competition. If the NRL goes down this road the women's league will become linked to the men's game not only in practise but in the public consciousness as well and it'll be treated as a poor after thought to the men's comp, once that becomes the perception it's hard to change it and it very negatively effects the potential growth of the competition in the long run as every women's comp connected to a prexisting men's comp around the world shows us, because the primarily men's clubs always treat the women's team as an after thought to the men's team that is a PR necessity (which is only natural considering that their main source of income is intrinsically linked to the men's team and not the women's team), instead of a viable product in it's own right.

If a women's comp is going to be successful in it's own right and not just ride on the men's coattails it needs to be separate from the men's competition and more importantly the men's clubs, it needs it's own identities and it needs to be allowed to sell it's self and grow on the back of those identities.
 

King hit

Coach
Messages
14,082
This is a great move. Women put as much effort into sport as men do and deserve to have their own competition and get recognised.
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
15,889
If a women's comp is going to be successful in it's own right and not just ride on the men's coattails it needs to be separate from the men's competition and more importantly the men's clubs, it needs it's own identities and it needs to be allowed to sell it's self and grow on the back of those identities.

I tend to agree but I think for that to happen it would have had to have happened organically - girl power driven. That would have taken decades, when part of what the NRL had to do here was get in on all the madness ASAP just so to try to go toe to toe with the AFL and all the PC PR they are getting.
 

Coparugby

Juniors
Messages
704
If Canberra gets a team they need to throw up some posts out at McKellar Park, where the W-League plays, and let them draw their own crowd. Many women and families with girls are used to attending that stadium.

I’d attend and so would many families. The tickets can also be cheaper.

If it’s before the men’s nrl game I’d only get there towards the end as my kids would get unsettled over 2 games.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,960
I tend to agree but I think for that to happen it would have had to have happened organically - girl power driven. That would have taken decades, when part of what the NRL had to do here was get in on all the madness ASAP just so to try to go toe to toe with the AFL and all the PC PR they are getting.

If the NRL backed it the way that they back the NRL clubs these days it could happen organically over night.
 

Saint Doc

Coach
Messages
11,098
There isn’t the money in women’s rugby league to pay the players, fly them around, pay support staff etc without being aligned to men’s teams at the moment.

Best case scenario is that the league takes off and after 10 years you have an A-League style reboot with new franchises. But for now without support of the establishment it wouldn’t get off the ground
 

grozzy

Juniors
Messages
163
Cronulla were the first club to offer a women's contract. They've also hosted all but the final of the women's RLWC. I doubt we will miss out on a team.
How much commitment have other clubs shown so far?
 

Saint Doc

Coach
Messages
11,098
Cronulla were the first club to offer a women's contract. They've also hosted all but the final of the women's RLWC. I doubt we will miss out on a team.
How much commitment have other clubs shown so far?

BA47F110-50E9-4807-8171-CB476F6B1420.jpg


5B507423-5219-4D30-ADB7-866E539F8CAF.jpg
 

Eion

First Grade
Messages
8,034
The more this grows the better. Managed to watch a game live at Shark Park this year and the skill and toughness levels really impressed.

Sharks, dragons and Canberra should be there as the only clubs giving an active stuff about it historically. Manly would certainly support it too with Gorman now there.
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
25,426
Doubt West’s will have a team, oh well I’ll just support whoever Isabelle Kelly plays for.

The Jillaroos/Ferns game was one of the best of the whole tournament, men’s games included. The women’s game reminds me of watching League in the 80s when I fell in love with it. No wrestling in the ruck and no block plays. They just play footy and some of the skill was unbelievable.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,960
There isn’t the money in women’s rugby league to pay the players, fly them around, pay support staff etc without being aligned to men’s teams at the moment.

Best case scenario is that the league takes off and after 10 years you have an A-League style reboot with new franchises. But for now without support of the establishment it wouldn’t get off the ground

I'm not suggesting that the "establishment" shouldn't support it, only that any women's comp shouldn't be connected to the men's comp, the NRL it's self should back it, but not as an extension of the NRL competition or clubs, they should start the women's comp with the intention that eventually it would be it's own self sustaining product that survives off it's own income and has it's own fans, has it's own TV rights and/or streaming deals, has it's own sponsors, etc, and doesn't need anything from the men's league to survive.

I also don't buy that the women's teams would need to be supported by the men's clubs in the beginning to be able to assemble the infrastructure necessary to be functioning clubs in a national competition, firstly there're are plenty of companies that'd be interested in sponsoring a women's competition/team that wouldn't traditionally be interested in supporting a men's competition/team, but more importantly with the extra grants that the NRL clubs will demand to run their women's teams you could start up a collection of modest new clubs in their own right, so why not cut out the middle man who's not really interested in growing or supporting the women's game apart from the good PR it provides them and give that money straight to a set of new women's clubs whos' only interested is in seeing the women's game grow and become as big as possible in it's own right, if it is really a concern that they won't be able to set themselves up to a reasonable degree with the money on offer then give them a couple of big grants to start with.

Another problem with the Women's comp being connected to the men's that hasn't really been discussed in any detail here, is that if the women's comp is connected to the men's clubs it inherently saddles the women's comp with all the problems that the men's comp has, but namely it completely unnecessarily saddles them with being restricted to the east coast of the country and over saturated in the Sydney market.
If we are starting a new national competition, then we should start it so that it has the best chance of being a success and that means starting out with teams representing the major capitals, not teams representing the suburbs of Sydney with some blow ins.
 
Messages
14,139
Warriors a certainty. They want Kiwi Ferns playing. So that's one. Qld, region nsw and Sydney also mentioned so that says Newcastle and Brisbane and or GC.
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
15,889
Will they play with the same rule. 40/20?
Was a single 40/20 kicked during the womens world cup?
 

Latest posts

Top