NRLW expansion: NRL bosses meet players advisory group to set agenda for women’s game

After three seasons of a four-team competition, the NRLW will move forward with extra teams this season, with the ultimate goal of every NRL club fielding a team also definitely in reach.

The Broncos won last year’s NRLW grand final. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

All 16 NRL clubs will have a women’s team.

That is the governing body’s “ultimate” long-term goal as powerbrokers and the new women’s players advisory group met for the first time on Wednesday.

As the men’s game tackles expansion and a revolutionary conference system, the RLPA’s women’s group held a Zoom call meeting with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and ARLC chairman Peter V’landys to set the agenda for the future of the women’s game.

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NRLW stars Kezie Apps, Karina Brown, Millie Boyle, Chelsea Lenarduzzi, Hannah Southwell, Tallisha Harden, Keeley Davis and Amber Pilley all took part in the groundbreaking meeting on Wednesday.

On the agenda was the expansion of the NRLW beyond the current four-week, four-team (Sydney Roosters, Brisbane Broncos, St George Illawarra and New Zealand) competition, which has been in place since the inaugural 2018 season.

The Broncos won last year’s NRLW premiership. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Fans can expect an expanded season in 2021 but the finer details of length and the number of teams is yet to be finalised.

The NRL and ARLC are expected to announce the details in the coming weeks.

“Our ambition is to increase the number of teams and matches,” Abdo told News Corp.

“It would be great for all of our clubs to have a women’s team eventually, that’s certainly the ultimate vision.

“The Commission have the growth of participation and pathways for females as a strategic priority and we therefore need to invest from the bottom up and at all levels.

“We have some great ideas on how to make the NRLW competition even stronger and today was another step in sharing the considerations and the process we are following … we will be sharing the plan with key stakeholders in the coming weeks.”

Chelsea Lenarduzzi was among the NRLW stars who took part in the meeting with Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

With interest in the women’s game, ratings on the rise and an abundance of talent in the Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup and Women’s Premiership, the women’s game has now outgrown the NRLW format.

News Corp understands the NRL recently canvassed the appetite among clubs to register a women’s team in the NRLW competition — where the Broncos have reigned as premier’s since its inception.

It’s understood a number of Sydney clubs, including Canterbury and Parramatta, are eager to join an expanded NRLW competition.

The NRL has taken a conservative approach to growing the women’s game at the elite level, but with female participation now the game’s biggest growth area and female players developing skills earlier than ever before, the governing body is committed to implemented a holistic strategy taking in the grassroots through to NRLW level.

Kezie Apps said the meeting was a positive step for the NRLW. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“We are all very passionate about our game and the meeting with Peter and Andrew allowed us to bring forward some of our insights and feedback,” Apps said after the meeting.

“We now have a better understanding of the NRL’s plans moving forward, so that is a positive takeaway for us. Importantly, the NRL have committed to keeping open the lines of communication with this group in the future.

“We also made it clear that we are willing to help drive positive outcomes as a collective through collaborating with the NRL and RLPA.”

On Wednesday, St George Illawarra announced former Dragons playmaker Matt Head as the new NRLW coach for the upcoming season.

Originally published as NRLW expansion: NRL bosses meet players advisory group to set agenda for women’s game