NRLW’s growing adulthood shows in players who are not afraid to face expectations | Megan Maurice

NRLW’s growing adulthood shows in players who are not afraid to face expectations | Megan Maurice

4 minutes, 21 seconds Read

THe schedules’ Jasmine Strange is frankly chatting on a podcast clip that is placed on Tiktok on her period. “Every fourth game we play, we are in our period,” she tells the shocked host of Burro’s Backyard, who confesses that he thought: “Maybe the sports chicks don’t understand them”.

Kennedy Cherrington and her sister Rueben are open on their own podcast about everything, from the Māori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi, to their thoughts on the Run It Right Challenge, to the grief of losing their brother.

Millie Elliott regularly expresses the inclusion of the disabled, body image and payment parity for women’s sport in the media and on her podcast with fellow player Keeley Davis.

With the NRLW ready for its eighth season, there is a maturity in the competition that has stretched past the field and rooted in the hearts and spirits of the players.

As the competition grows – from four teams in its inaugural season in 2018 to 12 teams in 2025 – the platforms of the players do too. The fact that they use these platforms to inform men about the reality of menstruation in Elite Sport and to share important messages about culture and sorrow shows the trust and safety they feel in their role – both as players and proponents of the rugby league of women and women’s sport wider.

Just like Rugby League itself, there is a shameless in-you-face attitude towards the NRLW players, who defies expectations that continue to bully many other women’s sports-that the players are experienced, grateful and “lady-like”.

Kennedy Cherrington of the Māori Women’s All Stars Performa. Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty images

But there is nothing politely about Rugby League – it is a sport born of mud and blood, which evokes the scents of sweat and deep heat. A game of people who have never put many stores through ways.

While the crowds continue to build, with the first game of the Women’s State of Origin series this year that still delivers a record, the attitude of the NRLW players seem to work for them. This season will also contain 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. Centralizing all teams in one location for the round will of course draw more media, making the players more opportunities to show their personalities and their skills, and to take opportunities in interviews to give their opinion and to emphasize problems that are important to them.

It is not only his players, but also in the competition itself where Rugby League remains his own way. While the ABLW and WBBL have been removed from double headers in their respective men’s competitions, the NRLW has seen them as opportunities, with the planning of 33 double headers in the 2025 season – of which 18 of which are the same home and teams in the men’s and women’s rates.

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Both approaches have advantages, but the NRL method is closer to a mentality of one club, where fans of the men’s team can be pulled to get to the ground earlier, more where you get money by seeing an extra game and understanding the excitement of the Rugby League for women where they may never have chosen to attend a game differently.

Millie Elliott van Roosters will be tackled during the NRLW Grand Final 2024. Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty images

This is especially 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 each have a team to standard, NRL Fandom is a multigenerational love affair, entangled in Family Lore and deeply woven into the souls of those who fill the grandstands at every game. Taking more fans in the women’s game requires the use of that passion and persuasion – which means that these fans understand that this team is also with them. Without double headers, the women’s teams can be stranded and locked up of a core that is not really aware of what it is missing.

With the 12-team era of the NRLW on to start, the maturity of the competition is worth becoming enthusiastic. It is one in which players understand their value and feel confident and safe in expressing what is important to them. Although they are not yet comparable to their male counterparts – and indeed their wages also fall short of the sports codes of many other women in Australia – the sustainable growth of competition and the way in which the ladies teams are integrated into the Rugby League eco system offers hope for the future. With this adulthood, a lot of strength and the emergence of an incredible legacy.

#NRLWs #growing #adulthood #shows #players #afraid #face #expectations #Megan #Maurice

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