North Queensland Cowboys’ surprise bid to be part of second NRLW competition in 2022

A ball is yet to be kicked in the first of the two NRLW competitions this season, but the women’s game has already received a shot in the arm with more expansion on the horizon.

North Queensland Cowboys have launched a women's academy for 2020, for a future chance at a NRLW team. Romy Teitzel 20. Picture: Alix Sweeney

The NRLW has received another shot in the arm with the North Queensland Cowboys formally launching a bid to enter the 2022 premiership.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the Cowboys have lodged an expression of interest with the NRL to join Queensland rivals the Broncos and Titans for the fifth instalment of the premier women’s competition later this year.

The NRLW’s delayed 2021 competition will officially kick-off this Sunday with six teams — Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Parramatta, Newcastle, St George Illawarra and Sydney Roosters — all involved in a triple-header at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium.

Cowboys Women's Academy players Jo Kerr and Kaiyla Ward. Picture: Anna Rogers

But if the Cowboys get their way, they will be the seventh team added to the NRLW after urging League Central powerbrokers to rubberstamp North Queensland for the 2022 campaign.

Cowboys chief executive Jeff Reibel confirmed the 2015 NRL premiers are ready to be a force in the NRLW — three years after the creation of the club’s Women’s Academy.

“Our preference is to be part of the 2022 season, not the competition that kicks off this weekend, but hopefully for the next round of expansion within the NRLW,” he said.

“We’ve spoken to the NRL and made them aware that when they are ready to expand, the Cowboys should be part of the footprint for the 2022 NRLW competition.

“The formation of our club in 1995 was to fulfil a vision of keeping North Queensland talent in North Queensland and giving them the opportunity to be part of and succeed on the national stage.

North Queensland Cowboys women’s academy player Jasmine Peters. Picture: Alix Sweeney

“With the blessing and backing of our board, now is the time that we again pay homage to that original vision.

“Giving our local female talent a chance to play for their region on the national stage is the next evolution of the Cowboys as a club.”

The Cowboys Women’s Academy has already paid dividends, with eight homegrown talents clinching NRLW contracts for the delayed 2021 premiership kick-off this weekend, including Newcastle Knights captain Romy Teitzel.

Romy is the daughter of ex-Cowboys forward Craig Teitzel, who played 12 games for North Queensland in their foundation season in 1995.

Reibel is confident an inaugural North Queensland side could be competitive in the NRLW after the Cowboys Gold Stars reached the semi-finals of last year’s QRLW season.

“We have plenty of talent,” he said.

North Queensland Gold Stars inaugural skipper

“We’ve worked hard from a development perspective and that’s reflected in the number of players from the Cowboys Women’s Academy that will play in the NRLW this weekend.

“We are confident from a commercial perspective that we can fund a women’s team and provide a pathway for girls in this region to represent North Queensland.

“The NRLW already features two Queensland teams in the Broncos and Titans so the Cowboys would love to be part of the action.”

Originally published as North Queensland Cowboys’ surprise bid to be part of second NRLW competition in 2022