Tamika Upton signs three-year deal with Brisbane Broncos | NRLW Market Watch 2025

NRLW superstar Tamika Upton has shunned offers from Gold Coast and North Queensland, signing a monster deal with the club she helped win multiple premierships.

NRLW superstar Tamika Upton has shunned offers from Gold Coast and North Queensland for the chance at a homecoming with Brisbane in 2025.

The 27-year-old Australia and Queensland fullback has agreed to a three-year deal with the Broncos after she was released from the final years of her contract with Newcastle last month.

As revealed by this masthead, Upton, who was released from her contract and full-time job in Newcastle on compassionate grounds to be closer to her family in Rockhampton, will reunite with the Broncos where she won two premierships in 2019 and 2020.

While the Cowboys were interested in luring her to Townsville, it’s understood the Titans and the Broncos were heavily competing for her signature and were the main considerations for the 2023 Dally M Medal winner.

However, on Wednesday morning she called Titans coach Karyn Murphy to tell her the news.

Upton’s return to the Broncos will rocket the club into immediate favourites for the NRLW premiership in 2025.

Tamika Upton (R) returns to Brisbane on a three-deal deal. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

During her three years at the nights Upton cemented her reputation as the best player in the women’s game, winning two premierships with the club, the Dally M Medal and back-to-back Karyn Murphy Medals on grand final day.

She joins the Broncos as a fullback, but offers the club versatility given she has been earmarked for a switch to five-eighth in the future.

Current Broncos No.1 Hayley Maddick, who played her best season in the NRLW in 2024, will make way for Upton in 2025 and could be shifted to a bench utility role given Julia Robinson and Stacey Waaka star on the wing.

TIGER ON THE MOVE

Wests Tigers coach Brett Kimmorley is resigned to losing fullback Botille Vette-Welsh for next season.

The former New Zealand international is off-contract with the club but is exploring other options for 2025 and beyond.

Newcastle and Canberra have flagged their interest, with both clubs losing their representative No.1s next year.

At the Knights, Vette-Welsh would be a replacement for Upton, while the Raiders are yet to replace Api Nicholls who will return to New Zealand with the Warriors in 2025.