The NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) also known as the Telstra NRL Women's Premiership due to sponsorship is a
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
competition in
Australasia
Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
for
female players. The league is run by the
National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. Currently, the league contains clubs from
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
.
The current Premiers are the
Sydney Roosters
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
.
History
In 2016, the
Cronulla Sharks and
St. George Illawarra Dragons contested a Women's Nine's match, which served as a curtain-raiser to the NRL match between the Sharks and
Sydney Roosters
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
, at
Southern Cross Group Stadium. The Sharks won the match 16–12.
In March 2017, the Cronulla Sharks played another Women's Nine's match, this time defeating the
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
by 28–10.
2017 – 2020: Establishment
On 6 December 2017, shortly after the conclusion of the
2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup, which concluded with the
Jillaroos defeating the
New Zealand Ferns by 23–16 in the final, it was announced by the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
that the inaugural NRL Women's season would operate in a round-robin format, and be held in August 2018, towards the back end of the
men's season, with some matches to be played as curtain-raisers to NRL finals matches. The Grand Final, would be contested between the top two teams at the end of the round robin stage, and be played on the same day as the men's Grand Final. It was also announced that a stand-alone
State of Origin match would also be contested during the representative weekend, in June.
The
Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...
,
St. George Illawarra Dragons,
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
,
New Zealand Warriors
The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
,
Sydney Roosters
Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
,
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...
and
Cronulla Sharks all declared their interest in applying for a licence to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's competition. Other clubs, such as the
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
,
Manly Sea Eagles
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...
,
Gold Coast Titans
The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...
,
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
,
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
,
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...
,
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
,
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...
and
Canterbury Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...
, all decided to delay bidding, citing money and time constraints.
On 27 March 2018, the National Rugby League announced that the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors, St. George Illawarra Dragons and Sydney Roosters had won bids to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's competition, commencing in September 2018.
The Brisbane Broncos were the most dominant team in the opening three seasons winning all three minor premierships and all three premierships.
2021–present: Competition expansion
In June 2021 the NRL announced that the NRLW competition would commence expansion and increase to six teams. Initially this meant adding an additional two teams to the competition; however, the New Zealand Warriors announced that they were withdrawing from the competition due to difficulties of moving through borders during the COVID pandemic and an exodus of players and officials. This created an additional spot in the competition, with the NRL announcing that the Gold Coast Titans, Newcastle Knights and Parramatta Eels would be joining the competition for the 2021 season to keep numbers at six.
In March 2022, the National Rugby League and
Australian Rugby League Commission
The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...
announced that NRLW competition would further expand over the course of the 2023 and 2024 seasons by adding two clubs in each season.
Clubs were invited to make submissions to join the league and were required to by April 2022, six were received. The clubs that made submissions for an NRLW licence in the expanded competition were:
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Penrith Panthers and Wests Tigers. The New Zealand Warriors had previously indicated their desire to return a team to the NRLW competition, but they did not place a submission at this time.
In June 2022, the NRL changed their stance and decided to bring all expansion sides in together with the four teams all be admitted in the 2023 season and that those four clubs were Canberra, Cronulla, North Queensland and Wests Tigers.
Following the announcement both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Penrith Panthers released statements congratulating the clubs that had been chosen and that they both would be interested in joining the competition in future seasons.
The 2023 NRLW season ran for 11 weeks with 9 rounds, Semi-finals and a Grand Final with the Newcastle Knights claiming their second premiership and the first of the expanded 10 team competition.
On 28 March 2024, the NRL announced that the competition would expand by two teams in the 2025 season, with the addition of Canterbury Bulldogs and the return of the New Zealand Warriors.
Clubs
The NRLW currently consists of twelve clubs. Six clubs are based within the Greater Sydney area (including one that also represents the
Illawarra
The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...
region south of Sydney), another in regional
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, three in
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, and one each in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
, and New Zealand. The league operates on a single group system, with no divisions or conferences and no
relegation or promotion.
Current clubs
Players
The club's playing lists were constructed from scratch through the later stages of 2018. All participants in the 2018 season were required to be over the age of 17.
Initially, clubs were asked to nominate a list of desired players, with the NRL assigning two of these
"marquee" players to each club. In addition, clubs were able to sign a number of players with existing connections to the club, or with arrangements for club sponsored work or study.
Salary
NRL Women's Premiership hands contracts to 40 elite women players.
The top level salary in 2022 is $60,000 (excluding marquee deals). Representative Origin payments are $6,000 per game.
Season structure
Pre-season
Prior to the commencement of the NRLW home-and-away season teams use this time to organise trial matches to test playing combinations.
Premiership season
The season operates using a
Round-robin format, until 2024, the top four finishing teams contested two
Semi-final
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
matches, first versus fourth and second-place versus third with the winners meeting in a
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
which was typically held on the same day as the men's
NRL Grand Final
The NRL Grand Final is an annual rugby league match to determine the premiers of every National Rugby League season. It is a major sport event in Australia and regarded as the biggest showcase of rugby league football in the world. Since 1999 ...
.
From 2025 with the expansion to twelve teams, the format changed to a six team series over three weeks. Winners of 3rd place versus 6th place and 4th place versus 5th place in Week 1 meet 1st place and 2nd place in Week 2 semi-finals. Winners of the semi-finals meet in the Grand Final in Week 3.
For the first three seasons 2018, 2019 and 2020 the draw was structured around the men's finals series and the top two of the then four teams contested the
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
. Due to measures in place to mitigate the
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...
in September-October 2021, the 2021 NRLW season was postponed until February 2022, with the Grand Final held as a stand-alone match on Sunday, 10 April 2022. For the actual 2022 season, the NRLW Grand Final reverted to being held on the same day as the NRL men's Grand Final, which was Sunday, 2 October 2022. The two Grand Finals women's and men's were also held on the same day and venue in 2023, and (as scheduled for) 2024.
The rules and regulations are mostly the same as in the men's game, with a few exceptions:
* original matches were sixty minutes long, with thirty minutes in each half. 2022 season revised to seventy minute matches, consisting of thirty-five minutes per half.
* ten interchanges in each match, with an additional two during golden point; and
* a
40/30 kick advantage providing for tactical kicking and unpredictability during matches.
Postseason
In October 2018, NRL announced the inaugural edition of
Rugby League World Cup 9s
The Rugby League World Cup 9s was an international tournament played in the rugby league nines tournament.
The inaugural World Cup 9s took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at the Bankwest Stadium in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The women ...
in Western Sydney on 18–19 October 2019, featuring 12 international men's teams and 4 women's teams. This would be around one month after the
Women's Grand Final and preseason tournament
Auckland Nines
The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus.
Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Per ...
in previous years was replaced.
Seasons
* The 2021 season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
; the season started on 27 February 2022 and was completed on 10 April.
Grand Finals
Awards
The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season:
*Best & Fairest Trophy – to the
best and fairest
In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...
player in the league, voted by the referees
*Leading Try Award – to the player who scores the most tries during the home-and-away season
*Rookie of the Year –
*Veronica White Medal –
*Karyn Murphy Medal – the best player on the ground in the
NRL Women's Grand Final
The NRL Women's Premiership Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of women's rugby league's NRL Women's Premiership competition.
History
After the formation of the Women's NRL League in 2018 it was announced that the title would be de ...
, not voted by a committee of media members
Records
Tables last updated 7 October 2024 (after the Grand Final of the
2024 Season).
Most Appearances
The following players have made 25 or more appearances in NRLW matches.
Most Individual Points
The following players have scored 25 or more points in NRLW matches.
Most Points in each season
Most Tries in each season
Most Tries in a Match (Try Hattricks)
Most Goals in a Match
Premierships
Most consecutive
*3 –
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
(2018 to 2020)
Runners-up
Minor Premierships
Most consecutive
*4 –
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
(2018 to 2021)
Matches played
Last updated: 7 October 2024
Share % is the percentage of points For over the sum of points For and Against.
Media coverage
Television
In its inaugural season all matches will be televised live by affiliate partners the
Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
and
Fox League
Fox League is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to screening rugby league (both domestic and international) matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia on Fox ...
.
And NRLWRAP
Online
The official internet/mobile broadcast partner of the NRL is
9Now
9Now is a live stream, video on demand, and catch-up TV service run by the Nine Network in Australia. The service launched on 27 January 2016, replacing Nine's previous service 9Jumpin. 9Now offers online live streaming of Channel 9, 9Gem, 9G ...
and
Kayo Sports
Kayo Sports is an Australian over-the-top video streaming service owned by Hubbl, a subsidiary of Foxtel. Launched in November 2018, the service is oriented towards sports, carrying live and on-demand content from Foxtel's Fox Sports networks ...
.
Outside Australia, the inaugural season is available on
WatchNRL
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
.
Corporate relations
Sponsorship
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...
is the league's past and inaugural naming rights partner.
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...
is the league's naming rights partner.
All playing and training equipment as well as all licensed apparel and hats for the league's four clubs are manufactured by
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...
.
Other league sponsors include
Rebel Sport
Rebel (formerly Rebel Sport), stylised as rebɘl, is an Australian sport equipment and related apparel chain. It is a subsidiary of Super Retail Group. The company has 159 stores across Australia and over 6,000 employees.
History
Original ...
,
Harvey Norman
Harvey Norman is an Australian multinational retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned by ASX-lis ...
and
Kellogg's
Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets con ...
.
The official ball supplier is
Steeden
Steeden Sports is an Australian sports equipment manufacturing company. The company is mostly known for its rugby league footballs. Steeden was established in Queensland in 1958, when twins Eric and Raymond Steeden opened a factory in Brisbane, ...
.
Merchandising
Official match day attire together with other club merchandise is sold through the NRL's stores and website as well through the clubs and through some retailers.
See also
*
List of sports awards honoring women
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Australia women's national rugby league team
The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league.
They played their first formal international in 1995 und ...
*
Women's rugby league in Australia
Women's rugby league is a popular women's sport in Australia. The sport has a high level of participation in the country both recreational and professional. Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) is the national governing body of the sport in A ...
*
Australian Women's Rugby League
The Australian Women's Rugby League was the governing body of female rugby league in Australia and other parts of Oceania from its establishment in 1993 until December 2013, when its operations were integrated into the National Rugby League, unde ...
*
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
*
Women's Super League
The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...
*
NZRL Women's National Tournament
References
External links
*
Dragons Lair – NRLW Fan Discussion Forum
{{Women's sport in Australia
National Rugby League
2018 establishments in Australia
Sports leagues established in 2018
Women's rugby league competitions in Australia
Professional sports leagues in Australia
Professional sports leagues in New Zealand
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby union: 15 players per side
*** American flag rugby
*** Beach rugby
*** Mini rugby
*** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side
*** Rugby tens, 10 players per side
*** Snow rugby
*** Tou ...