NRLW 2022: The 10 biggest signing of the season
The Broncos are deserved favourites heading into the NRLW season, but here’s why they will have things far from their own way.
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The much-anticipated NRLW season will kick off in less than 100 days and the six clubs have already pulled off some massive signings in preparation.
From an Olympic gold medallist to a Dally M medallist, plenty of big names have been secured for the postponed 2021 season.
It’s set to be a bigger and better NRLW season as well, with more games, more clubs and more talent on show in the elite women’s competition. We’ve taken a look at the 10 biggest signings for the upcoming season.
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Maddie Studdon (Eels)
Position: Halfback
One of the toughest players in the NRLW, Studdon adds a wealth of experience to one of the new clubs in the competition. The 27-year-old Studdon has represented both the Blues and the Jillaroos and has the ability to take control of a game through her clever playmaking skills and kicking game in the halves. A valuable asset for coach Dean Widders’ side who will provide plenty of structure for the Eels.
Emma Tonegato (Dragons)
Position: Outside back
The Olympic gold medallist is one of the most exciting signings in the NRLW off-season so far. The Australian Rugby Sevens star is fresh off her Tokyo Olympics campaign and is making her return to rugby league in the famous Red V jersey. Tonegato adds plenty of depth to the Dragons backline on either the wing, centre or a replacement fullback for Sam Bremner – who is set to miss the 2022 season through pregnancy.
Jessica Sergis (Roosters)
Position: Outside back
One of the biggest signing coups ahead of the 2022 NRLW season, superstar Sergis has joined the 2020 runners up, the Roosters, after three seasons at the Dragons. The 2019 Dally M Medallist is considered one of the best outside backs in the game, her dynamite combination of speed and power bolsters an already formidable Roosters squad who will fancy their chances of going all the way this season and ending the Broncos’ dominance.
Hayley Maddick (Broncos)
Position: Outside back
The speed machine was the 2019 NRL Touch Premiership Player of the Year and adds yet more talent to an already star-studded Brisbane squad. Maddick helped steer the Broncos’ NRLW touch side to a premiership in the same year before making the transition to rugby league in 2020. Her electrifying pace makes her box-office gold for footy fans and one of the most exciting players in the competition.
Destiny Brill (Titans)
Position: Dummy-half/ lock
She might not be the biggest player in the competition but Brill plays well above her weight. The youngster made her Origin debut for the Maroons in 2021, scoring Queensland’s only try in their 8-6 defeat of the Blues. It will be the dynamic Brill’s first foray in the NRLW but she has shown already she is capable of handling the big game pressure the competition will bring each week whether charging out of dummy half or shoring things up at lock for the Titans.
Tazmin Gray (Titans)
Position: Backrow
The Queensland Origin representative and Jillaroos star packs plenty of punch into the Titans pack as they look to make an impact in their first NRLW season. Gray was the Player of the Match in the 2021 Origin series for her barnstorming efforts and will look to continue that dominance in the upcoming NRLW season. The 26-year-old is one of the Titans marquee signings as they hunt down success in their inaugural campaign.
Isabelle Kelly (Roosters)
Position: Outside back
It’s a return to the red, white and blue for the strike centre after playing for the Dragons in the 2020 NRLW season. The 25-year-old is one of the game’s best centres, and with fellow outside back Jessica Sergis also joining the Roosters this season, the pair adding plenty of strike for the tricolours who are expecting big things from the dynamic duo.
Tiana Penitani (Eels)
Position: Winger
One of the marquee signings for Parramatta this year, Penitani is all class on and off the field and is out to deliver the club a premiership trophy in their inaugural NRLW season. The 25-year-old code-hopping star has represented both New South Wales and Australia as a tough, hard-running winger who is always hard to stop and a real crowd pleaser who is expected to give Eels fans plenty to cheer about.
Caitlan Johnston (Knights)
Position: Prop
The Indigenous All Stars player became the Knights’ first-ever NRLW signing – and it’s not hard to see why. Johnston is a local Newcastle junior who has enjoyed a meteoric rise in rugby league over the past two years. In just 10 games for the Central Coast Roosters in their 2021 season, Johnston scored five tries and made 56 tackle breaks.
Emily Bass (Broncos)
Position: Outside back
A former top-class hurdler, Bass adds yet more speed and agility to the NRLW reigning premiers side which already boasts a plenty of pace out wide. The youngster has been playing rugby for the Queensland Reds and will come into the Broncos squad and will be pushing hard for a spot in the backline.
Knights boss spruiks club as ‘biggest in the game’
- Fatima Kdouh
Phil Gardner has declared Newcastle as the ‘largest development club in the game’ as the Knights CEO officially launched the side’s NRLW outfit.
The Knights are one of three new teams, including Parramatta and the Gold Coast, to join the NRLW in 2022.
Gardner said the pathways now available to both male and females rugby league players in the region make the club a standout when it comes to developing local talent.
“What we are now the Newcastle Knights is the largest development club in the game,” Gardner said.
“ We have Laurie Daley and Andrew Johns sides, we have Harold Matts, SG Ball, Jersey Flegg [sides]. We have the NSW cup. We have the Harvey Norman and Tarsha Gale, the NRLW and NRL men sides.
“We are the biggest developer of rugby league talent both male and female in the game.
“Our area is from Gosford to the Queensland border. Everyone that aspires to play rugby league, whether male or female, can come and play for the Knights, we have a pathway.”
The Knights announced the signings of seven local players, including Bobbi Law and Jayme Fressard, ahead of the side’s inaugural season, which will kick off against the Eels on February 27.
Law, a centre, joins the Knights from the Roosters having represented the Indigenous All Stars and Prime Ministers XIII.
Former Brisbane centre Fressard was part of the Broncos’ 2020 premiership winning season.
As well as Law and Fressard, the Knights have added local miner Phoebe Desmond, 30, to the NRLW squad. Desmond, a front row forward, has been a mainstay in women’s rugby league in the Newcastle and Hunter Region.
Gardner also said the Knights are committed to growing the women’s game and building towards pay parity between male and female players at the elite level.
“There is a goal in our game to have parity between males and females. The women are currently part timers. So they are making huge sacrifices to play our sport. They are working, they are trying to build career and play football as well. It is much harder for the women than it is for the men,” Gardner said.
“It’s a real inspiration to all of us.
“One of our goals is to see parity right across male and females in our sport. Given the growth and the support from the sponsors that have come on board, I think we’ll see that in a short period of time.”
NRLW signings: Bobbi Law, Caitlan Johnston, Jayme Fressard, Georgia Page, Chantelle Graham, Kyra Simon, Phoebe Desmond
Development players: Bree Chester, Jesse Southwell, Kayla Romaniuk, Matilda Jones, Sophie Clancy and Tylah Vallance
Coach: Casey Bromilow
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Originally published as NRLW 2022: The 10 biggest signing of the season
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