England women’s coach Stuart Barrow wants more players to follow former Leeds Rhinos duo Fran Goldthorp and Georgia Roche into Australia’s top competition.

Barrow’s side went out of the World Cup when they were beaten 24-6 by Samoa on Friday and he reckons that illustrated the growing gulf between the southern hemisphere NRLW and Women’s Super League.

Full-back Goldthorp and stand-off Roche have both thrived since moving from Rhinos to Australia. Goldthorp was North Queensland Cowboys’ player of the year in 2026 and Roche recently secured a new long-term deal with Newcastle Knights.

Ex-York Valkyrie forward Hollie-Mae Dodd, now with Canberra Raiders, was also in England’s team against Samoa, alongside Canterbury Bulldogs’ Hope Millard, who was born in Widnes when her father Shane Millard - who later joined Rhinos - played for them in Super League.

England's Georgia Roche offloads during the defeat by Samoa. Picture by David Neilson/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — England's Georgia Roche offloads during the defeat by Samoa. Picture by David Neilson/SWpix.com.

The rest of the team were drawn from Women’s Super League and Barrow stressed: “I think we need more players playing in the best competition in the world.” He said: “If we have more players playing over here [in Australia] they are only going to get better.

“The challenge is because of the growth in Australia with the women’s game it is probably harder to get picked up now by an NRLW side. They have got players crossing from other sports and a really wide pool of players now, but I think there’s players in our England group who could definitely get an NRLW contract. I think that would enhance our national team.”

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Barrow also called for “more investment in the women’s and girls’ game”, stressing: “It can’t just be a token gesture, we need to put more more into it.

England's Fran Goldthorp is tackled by Samoa's Pauline Piliae-Rasabale. Picture by David Neilson/SWpix.com.

“I don’t mean into the players’ pockets, I am talking facilities, training hours etc to try and keep pace, otherwise we’ll just be a really good domestic competition that struggles on the international stage.”

The coach feels the southern hemisphere league is now pulling away, despite improvements to the women’s arm of the sport in this county. “I think the game in England has progressed and Super League has progressed to a certain level,” he reflected.

“We are bringing new, young players through and that creeps into the national team. We have a young team and I think that’s really good and refreshing, but it is probably accelerating quicker on this side of the world.

“The investment into the NRLW is not only making the Jillaroos [Australia] better, it is making all the Pacific nations better as well. Nearly every player who played for Samoa tonight was probably playing NRLW at some stage.

Samoa perform the Siva Tau before their World Cup win against England. Picture by David Neilson/SWpix.com.

“That competition is improving everyone at a rate of knots on this side of the world so we will have to go back and look at what we can do in our domestic competition. We put the Super-4s in this year and that improved and helped.

“It is not for me to make those decisions, but I think we have got to try and keep pace with what’s happening over here. We definitely need to do something because the acceleration of the game over here at the moment is phenomenal.”