NRLW stars torn between family and rugby league despite parental leave changes

At 27, NRLW star Jessica Sergis is already thinking about retirement, as she attempts the almost impossible juggling act that is wanting to have both a family and an elite rugby league career.

Jessica Sergis, with Sam Bremner’s son Reef. Picture: NRL Imagery

With each passing season Jessica Sergis can hear the footsteps of time gaining on her.

At 27, the Sydney Roosters premiership winner has already begun thinking about NRLW retirement to focus on a family.

“Each year I’m realising I don’t have a lot of time left. So I’m really just being selfish at the moment,” she says.

“The next chapter is family and kids and enjoying that side. So, who knows, I’ve probably got a good three or four years. But yeah, that’s all going to come around quite fast.

“I’m just trying to take every minute and soaking it up as it comes.”

And she’s not alone.

Just this week, Cronulla star Caitlan Johnston-Green announced her pregnancy that could rule her out for the entire 2025 season.

She’s due to give birth in May.

Jessica Sergis, with Sam Bremner’s son Reef. Picture: NRL Imagery

For a group of Australian representative stars now into their late 20s and early 30s, the pressure to have it all – a family and an elite rugby league career, is becoming an impossible balancing act.

It’s a feeling women of a certain age know well, but for female rugby league players who need strong bodies and a certain level of selfishness to stay at the top, there’s an added layer of complication.

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Jillaroos teammate and Newcastle champion Yasmin Clydsdale is in the same boat.

The 30-year-old married former NRL player Adam Clydsdale two years ago and has been thinking about planning for a family since.

What worries her, and other parents or parents to be, is how to balance what is viewed as competing sacrifices.

“Just not being there for your family as much, and then on the flip side not being in team stuff enough,” Clydsdale says of the anxieties around having a family.

Yasmin Clydsdale. Picture: NRL Imagery

A landmark collective bargaining agreement signed in 2023 now covers NRLW players for parental leave, both paid and unpaid, as well as wellbeing support for parents who need to travel with their young children to games.

But Clydsdale thinks it can go further so players don’t feel they have to choose between a family or a football career.

“Age is probably a factor too, but if you’re in your mid 20s, I think there are girls that still probably feel like they’ve got to make the choice whether to have a family or keep playing,” she continues.

“It should be just a given that they’re going to be supported, there’s going to be a return to rugby league protocol that they have to all follow, it’s not just a choice that they have to make.”

BOUNCING BACK

Roosters stars Corban Baxter and Sam Bremner have shown what’s possible, but they’re freakish athletes with incredible support networks.

Both sought extensive help for their post-partum recovery and return-to-play needs, but that knowledge isn’t readily available in most elite female environments just yet.

Bremner and Baxter also relied heavily on their close circles to meet the demands of an NRLW contract, but not every player has the same access to help.

Many players also need to relocate for a playing contract, which adds further complications.

The dream would be a creche in every NRL club, for male and female players to bring their kids to work.

Trailblazers like Sam Bremner has proved its possible to play on after having kids, but they also needed a lot of help.

“I haven’t had a child, but I have lots of friends with children and the mental and physical isolation of it is a big issue,” Clydsdale says.

“I’d want to make sure players are socially and emotionally supported, so at training there is daycare available, or something available, so they can come to training and not have to bring their child if their partner is working.

“There’s a lot of dimensions to it that need to be covered.”

As well as a more comprehensive return-to-play policy so players can navigate the physical toll of pregnancy.

“It’s hard to put in policies when everyone is so different, and every pregnancy is different too,” she says.

“It’s just going to take time and people pushing and making sure that they ask the right questions.

“But it would be something cool to see in the future.”

TIME CRUNCH

All of this is why Sergis pushed herself to return from what could have been a season-ending MCL injury to win the NRLW premiership with the Roosters this year.

Whether or not it’s true, she feels time is running out.

Last year she missed four games with a toe injury, and while she’s getting better at mental recovery, physically she is wearing out.

While time is still on her side for now, but Sergis fears that it is running out. Picture: NRL Imagery

“I’m getting older. It’s not getting easier. If anything it’s getting harder,” she says.

“My body recovers a little bit slower and I think it’s just a bit of a wake up call that there’s girls coming up and they’re absolutely amazing and they’re going to want the jersey that I’m in, and that’s just inevitable.”

The former Dally M Medal winner is aiming for another Jillaroos jersey at the 2026 World Cup, but expects to be retired within the next five years before moving on with her partner, Manly winger Tommy Talau.

“I want to win a couple of more premierships. I want to get to the next World Cup and who knows where we go from there, but I’m just really loving life at the moment, loving my support network, and my family and my partner, and I’m just very happy,” she says.

“If my personal life is great, I’m great on the field and we’ll see how many years I can get with that.

“I’ve just got to fight for my spot because I’m not ready to give it up yet.”

Originally published as NRLW stars torn between family and rugby league despite parental leave changes