At 16, Sauaso is a rugby prodigy. Can she be kept in the game?

The scene was set in a blaze – literally – as Australia’s leading women in rugby congregated to usher in the season; a campaign full of promise, potential and the hope of imminent change.

But once the fire display at Ballymore surrounding the Super W captains quelled, newly unveiled Queensland Reds skipper Cecilia Smith stood in the dark with a plea to the powers that be: keep the code’s talent in the game.

Smith, stepping into the massive shoes of Wallaroos champion and Olympic gold medallist Shannon Parry, sees a wealth of potential in her young squad.

Super W captains (from left): Siokapesi Palu (ACT Brumbies), Melanie Kawa (Melbourne Rebels), Piper Duck (NSW Waratahs), Trilleen Pomare (Western Force), Cecilia Smith (Queensland Reds), and Asinate Serevi (Fijian Drua). Credit: Brendan Hertel

Wunderkinds whose true potential has barely been tapped – 16-year-old centre Shalom Sauaso among them – who needed to be given greater chances to shine, or risk being lost rival codes.

A potential collaboration with the New Zealand competition, the Super Aupiki, could hold the key, as Australia prepares for the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup on home soil.

“She’s well known in the [Rugby] 7s circuit now, and she’s a prodigy. She’s a future star of the game and definitely for the coming years,” Smith told this masthead of Sauaso.

“I think for us keeping players in and from leaving as well is really important. I think there’s four of the young ones coming through the system … it’s important to keep these young ones in our team and not let them go away for other codes to grab.

“With the Pasifika team joining in the next season it’s really cool to see those small nations joining in the competition as well, and it only makes us stronger.

“Adding them to it, and I guess in the future combining with Super Aupiki, that’s a massive thing for us. It’s progress, right?

“We have so many Test matches coming up, it’s building the rugby in Australia. It’s getting there, maybe slowly, but we have to start somewhere, and it’s important we keep this competition going and keep these Test games for us to prepare for the World Cup.”

Closing the financial gulf

Where rugby league and Aussie rules have set about broadening their pathways and avenues for women to compete on the big stage, rugby union has been left to play catch-up, and several prospects have already sought perceived greener pastures.

The Reds have lost four players from their grand final charge last year. Ellie Draper, Terri-Anne Egan and Skyla Adams are pursuing NRLW honours, while Heleina Young has moved to Fiji’s Rugby 7s program.

Cecilia Smith will captain the Reds this Super W season.Credit: Brett Hemmings/Getty

The NRLW has continued to strengthen the financial security of its players, with the expansion to 10 teams coinciding with multi-year contracts and an average income of $34,000.

The latter figure will increase each year – up to $50,600 by 2027 – while athletes will have access to other resources such as the Injury Hardship Fund.

In the Super W, players who are not contracted to the Wallaroos comparatively receive a minimum of $4000 from Rugby Australia, with any salary additions coming at the discretion of the clubs.

Australian women’s sport pay breakdown

• Rugby: $4000 minimum for non-Wallaroos contracted Super W players, plus additional club pay at their discretion. Those in the Wallaroos squad will command up to $72,458 a year, including Super W payments.
• NRL: Current average club pay of $37,500 - and a minimum wage of $30,000 - which will spike to an average of $63,250 and a minimum income of $50,600 in 2027. This is outside of State of Origin ($15,000 a game in 2023) and Jillaroos payments ($30,000 during the 2022 World Cup). The length of the season will be considered 23 weeks by 2025, and the current CBA (2023-2027) ensures the competition will become a 12-team format in that period.
• AFL: Average pay of $60,000 in 2023, and expected to rise to $82,000 by 2027. 12-month contracts have been implemented, as well as the opportunity to sign multi-year deals.
• Soccer: A-League Women’s minimum salary for the 2023-24 season sits at $25,000. In November, it was announced Matildas players would earn between $120,000 and $200,000 before prize money was taken into consideration. Overall income can then increase when players are able to ply their trade in more established competitions such as in England.
• Rugby 7s: The Australian rugby 7s side earns an average of $110,000 a year.

Sauaso, who played her first 15-a-side game in the Reds’ trial against the Waratahs, and will come off the bench against the Fijian Drua on Sunday, could prove a game changer come the 2029 Rugby World Cup on Australian shores.

But such is her talent – her high school achievements including player of the tournament honours at the State Schoolgirls Rugby League Championships in 2022 – a poaching raid could be a threat.

RA chief Phil Waugh announced last month that phase two of the body’s staggered plan to strengthen financial avenues for Wallaroos contracted players had begun, revealing “a 61 per cent increase in funding for the Wallaroos program”.

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh sees a bright future for the women’s game, but admits full-time professionalism is still some way off.Credit: Nick Moir

“We talked about three phases for women’s rugby investment in the 15-a-side … it’s exciting, there’s still a lot of work to do, but we’ve seen the growth of women’s sport, and we certainly want to be a big part of that,” Waugh said.

“Once we get to phase three, that is full-time professional athletes in the Wallaroos program. We’re still some way off that, but in our top tier now we’ve gone from 15 to 23 players in the top tier, and those athletes can earn well over $70,000 a year now.

“We’re not too far off full-time professionalism, but we still have some way to go.”

Opportunities to thrive a must

But according to Wallaroos and NSW Waratahs captain Piper Duck, the blueprint for retaining the nation’s finest prospects in the 15-woman game extends beyond the monetary.

Alluding to 16-year-olds Ruby Anderson and Waiaria Ellis, Millie Parker and Caitlyn Halse, Duck sees the nucleus of future Australian sides within the Waratahs’ ranks – describing the ethos of the club as one determined to usher in the next generation of international stars.

Caitlyn Halse has impressed in her Super W appearances.Credit: Steve Siewert

Now, she says they needed greater exposure to the elite level to ensure they remain engaged and competitive against athletes hailing from more established competitions such as England, whose season encompasses 18 rounds and two weeks of finals, and has led to the country featuring in eight of nine World Cup finals.

Conversely, Australia’s highest placing at the showcase is third, the only time the Wallaroos have made the top four.

“We have probably four or five girls under 18 who are within our group, and those young girls coming through are so extremely talented,” Duck gushes to this masthead.

“By the time we hit the 2029 World Cup they are going to be a force to be reckoned with, and I am extremely excited for what that means for Australian rugby because the depth is just so large.

“I actually think it’s really exciting there are so many opportunities for women within contact sport, and there’s always going to be competition in the sport that does cross over so closely with such a dominant sport within Australia, such as the NRL.

“It’s literally just growing the game, and I think Rugby Australia, especially in these last six months, has really stepped forward and doing that with contracts and creating more game time for the girls, especially heading into this 2025 World Cup with the appointment of a whole new coaching staff.

Wallaroos captain Piper Duck.Credit: Getty

“But it’s also investment in the game, and investment not just financially but investment of people loving the game, people getting involved, opportunity to be seen by the public.

“Of course the more we can expand and the more games we can get under our belts it’s beneficial for everyone, so I’m extremely grateful for any expansion.”

Where the NRLW now hosts a nine-round season plus finals, and the likes of South Sydney, Canterbury and New Zealand expressing a desire to enter the fray, the Super W remains as five rounds, two weeks of sudden-death football and an official three-week preseason.

Rugby league also has statewide competitions to coincide with the Queensland Cup in the lead-up to the national format, and State of Origin will at last feature three games.

RA opted against Super W expansion this year in a bid to enhance its grassroots pathways, and build a player base to sustain the game long-term.

Last year, 16,000 girls took to the game in Queensland, and among the changes included the creation of an under-19s Super W season to facilitate a progression to elite levels.

Wallaroos captain Piper Duck hopes the success of the Matildas’ home World Cup proves the blueprint for success rugby can emulate.Credit: Getty

“Some of the areas we are doing well is supporting the community game in the grassroots, and that’s where I started as a four-year-old,” Waugh says.

“I’m deeply passionate about that, and I think over time what’s happened is we’ve had dislocation between the amateur game and the professional game.

“That’s certainly my intent, to bring those closer together, so investment and support into the community game is absolutely pivotal.

“It’s about how do we make the local rugby club the beating heart of the community, and in our really good clubs around the country that’s exactly what it is.

“I do think it’s a differentiator for rugby over other codes.”

But now, Duck says the time has come to put the best of the best up in lights, to highlight to the next generation the benefits of persevering in the still-developing code, like the Matildas did in 2023 when the FIFA Women’s World Cup stole the nation’s attention.

The build-up to the 2029 Rugby World Cup on home soil could be the code’s carrot, and preparation for that needed to hit overdrive.

“It’s a massive carrot. What the Matildas managed to do, anyone within women’s sport can’t be grateful enough and thankful enough for what they’ve done. They’ve basically changed the game and the atmosphere in women’s sport,” Duck says.

“They demonstrated and showed that women’s sport is something to be watched and something that is genuinely so competitively entertaining. We believe we can do the same.

“Any opportunity we get to do that, we want to, because we love this game and that’s why we play at the end of the day, because we have such a passion for it. So if we can share a little bit of our passion with the community of Australia, we’d love to.”

Watch the Super W competition on Stan Sport.