NRLW pregnancy clause: Players’ union push for landmark agreement to end drop-out rate

NRLW stars will unite in an effort to address the elite competition’s concerning drop-out rate.

A landmark NRLW collective bargaining agreement is set to be finalised later this year and the players’ union is pushing for a new pregnancy and carer’s policy to help address the elite competition’s concerning drop-out rate.

Thirty per cent of female players drop out of league’s premier women’s competition and the RLPA said the NRL’s lack of a parental and carer’s policy played a role.

The NRL and RLPA are hashing out a historic collective bargaining agreement for the women’s game, which will expand to 10 teams next year when Canberra, Cronulla, North Queensland and Wests Tigers join the competition.

There is no current CBA outlining minimum standards for female players, although it has long been the goal of the NRL to have one finalised, and the RLPA and players say a parental policy will ensure pregnancy no longer kills a ­career.

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Former Roosters star Yasmin Clydsdale said a parental and carer’s leave policy would be a game-changer for the sport. Picture: Brett Costello

At present, players wanting children are forced to choose between football and family, or delaying having children until their time on the field is done.

The RLPA has analysed policies from other sporting codes and their wish list has been adapted to include:

• Paid contractual protection for up to 12 months and option to extend parental leave further, if required (and player has a multi-season deal);

• Reasonable efforts to engage the player to perform other services in line with her contract to assist the team and club while pregnant;

• Appropriate facilities at clubs to ensure feeding and quiet space is available for mum, child and carer;

• Carer’s policy to enable an infant and a carer to travel with the player for away games until the infant is two years old or for as long as a player’s child is being breast fed;

• Support for players who choose not to, or cannot, travel with their child;

• Appropriate medical support and treatment for players throughout their pregnancy and following the birth of their child or pregnancy loss.

Lina Caccamo, the RLPA’s general manager for Elite Women, said the players’ union was also looking to get support for additional paid leave for players who experienced miscarriage and stillbirth.

“Our goal is to create an environment that can support a player through every phase of their life,” she said. “(And) our proposed parental and carer’s policy ... will also help the game recruit more players and retain our most talented.

“The average age of the playing group is very young, younger than the men. Once this policy is in place, we hope to see the average age of the playing group increase as the number of players leaving the game prematurely decreases.

“This will happen as the opportunity to remain connected and contracted is more available to them.”

The proposed return-to-play policy also encompasses a three-month train-and-trial idea for those still under contract.

It’s something that is new to the NRLW, and the purpose is to ensure that contracted players returning from childbirth are given time to work up to full fitness upon their return with the support of their NRLW clubs’ high-performance and medical staff.

Former Rooster-turned-Newcastle signing Yasmin Clydsdale said a parental and carer’s leave policy would be a game-changer for the sport.

A rugby union convert, Clydsdale, 28, said she had seen the direct impact a supportive pregnancy policy had on her former code.

“Emilee Cherry, one of the greats of the Sevens program, was one of the first to test it out and it allowed her to keep training and then come back for the World Series,” she said.

“It keeps players in the game for longer and also provides peace of mind. There are four extra NRLW teams next year ... that’s about 300 women playing league at the elite level.

“It shouldn’t have to be a choice between playing and having a family and it definitely has contributed to such a high turnover of players.

“I’m 28 ... married Adam (former NRL player) in April and naturally we are talking about family. When you start talking about family in the current climate ... it feels like you have to retire from the sport.

“That’s a lot of pressure ... and while we are yet to be full-time professional players, I think it’s important for the game, and the growth of the game, for players to feel supported.”

Establishing a pregnancy policy has been identified as one of the top 10 priorities for NRLW players.

Watch: 38 million eyes on NRLW

- Nick Walshaw

You likely know Jada Taylor as the young girl whose Origin try earned two million views on Facebook.

But that was five weeks ago.

Back on a cold, Thursday night when, in a quiet pub near Leichhardt Oval, drinking beers with her old man Luke, Taylor watched on — disbelieving — as social media increasingly melted over that length-of-the-field effort which, only an hour earlier, had won her NSW U19s the Origin shield.

Already, friends from back home in Tamworth were texting to say how – gasp — she was trending on Twitter. Which surprised the 18-year-old.

“Because I don’t even have an account,” she laughs.

Jada Taylor has been promoted to the Roosters’ NRLW squad this season. Picture: Justin Lloyd

But the real kicker?

That came somewhere between drink one and two with dad.

When on an Instagram account which would quadruple to more than 8000 followers by breakfast next morning, there pinged a DM from the greatest rugby league player who ever lived.

“Joey Johns … incredible,” Taylor says now 35 days on, and in a tone suggesting she still cannot quite believe the memory is hers.

“He messaged saying congratulations, and how awesome he thought the try was.

“I was so shocked. Didn’t know what to write. I was thinking ‘am I supposed to reply? Will I look like a fan girl?’. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Which is why come next morning, Taylor had still done nothing.

“Which is when dad said ‘mate, reply’,” she laughs. “So I thanked Joey for the message and said, ‘I’m so glad you liked the try, although it felt like I was on a treadmill at the finish.”

Jada Taylor went viral after her stunning solo try in the Under-19s Origin match in June.

Yet still that wasn’t the end of it.

“I had friends saying ‘please get off my Facebook feed … you’re the only person I’m seeing’,” Taylor said.

“And I still see new TikTok edits now. Even little kids are making them. It’s crazy.”

So as for the girl with two million Facebook views?

Not anymore.

No, after checking with the NSWRL, Taylor is now the girl whose stunning solo try boasts 14 million views on Facebook — with another two million coming via NRL channels.

According to NRL analytics, the touchdown sits top 15 for rugby league’s most viral moments ever. Which isn’t only incredible for a try aired live on TV, but smashes corresponding numbers for NSW Origin’s best male this year — with a clip about Matt Burton’s bomb topping out at 500,000 views.

Yet still, Taylor isn’t even the best female video on the NSWRL website.

With top spot belonging to Yillara Widders — the daughter of retired NRL favourite Dean Widders — and a run which, in February, earned both South Sydney’s inaugural Tarsha Gale Cup try, and nearly 24 million Facebook views.

Which combined, takes these two NRLW hopefuls to almost 40 million views.

With daylight third.

Yillara Widders (daughter of Dean Widders) makes history and scores the Rabbitohs first ever try in the Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup with this HUGE effort 💪 pic.twitter.com/xV31mpPnPw

— NSW Rugby League (@NSWRL) February 9, 2022

Which matters. Especially given not so long ago, female footballers were invisible.

With matches like Origin once played before immediate family and empty seats.

“So I’m incredibly lucky to be growing with the game,” said Taylor, also now gunning for a Roosters NRLW debut. “My family, we’re a rugby league family.

“Dad played, my brother played, and because I’ve always idolised them, I wanted to play too.

“Problem was, I was a girl …”

Which meant aged 12, little Jada was forced to quit the Dungowan Cowboys and shift focus towards Sevens Rugby and a dream of Olympic gold.

Indeed, the morning after scoring that viral try against Queensland, Taylor jetted out for a Gold Coast training camp with the Australian Rugby Sevens squad, with whom she is also remains contracted.

Yillara Widders’ try last season attracted 24 million Facebook views. Picture: Nikki Baird

“And eventually I’ll have to choose,” she said.

But not yet. No, for now, Taylor remains training with the Roosters, studying a teaching degree and, on rare days offs, heads home to help dad, a bush footy development officer.

“And first clinic after the try, little girls were asking me for photos,” she said. “That was special. Because when I was little, there wasn’t female players you looked up to. It was NRL players you asked for photos.

“Which is why the attention the women’s game is getting now, it’s great. But it’s about more too. For us, this is really about being involved in the game we’ve always wanted to play.”

Originally published as NRLW pregnancy clause: Players’ union push for landmark agreement to end drop-out rate