Women’s game is on an upward trajectory – Peter Smith

WHEN IT is a genuine contest between two well-matched teams, women’s rugby league can be better to watch than the men’s game.
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The athletes aren’t as big or fast, but also haven’t been coached in the dark arts which afflict the sport at professional level.

There’s much less wrestling, for instance. Standards may vary, but the players, certainly in Women’s Super League (WSL), tend to just go out and play the game.

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Until recently, women’s rugby league was reliant on enthusiastic volunteers at community clubs, but since Super League sides got involved five years ago, it has gone from strength to strength.

Leeds Rhinos’ Chloe Kerrigan is tackled by St Helens’ Paige Travis, Isabelle Rudge and Tara Jones in last year’s Betfred Super League Grand Final. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.Leeds Rhinos’ Chloe Kerrigan is tackled by St Helens’ Paige Travis, Isabelle Rudge and Tara Jones in last year’s Betfred Super League Grand Final. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.
Leeds Rhinos’ Chloe Kerrigan is tackled by St Helens’ Paige Travis, Isabelle Rudge and Tara Jones in last year’s Betfred Super League Grand Final. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

This year’s WSL includes 12 teams. That’s a 200 per cent expansion since the first, four-team, competition in 2017.

One-sided matches have been an issue over the years, but a new format addresses that with the league split into two groups.

Group one includes Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers, York City Knights, Huddersfield Giants, Wigan Warriors and last year’s treble-winners St Helens.

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Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity are in group two, alongside Bradford Bulls, Warrington Wolves and promoted team Barrow Raiders and Leigh Miners Rangers.

St Helens lift the Betfred Women's Super League Grand Final trophy at Headingley last season. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.St Helens lift the Betfred Women's Super League Grand Final trophy at Headingley last season. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.
St Helens lift the Betfred Women's Super League Grand Final trophy at Headingley last season. Picture: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

There will be one-up, one-down promotion/relegation between the groups.

Rhinos have a point to prove after losing their status as the game’s top team to Saints.

For the first time since their debut in 2018, Rhinos did not win a trophy last year, but they have strengthened in the off-season. Former Woman of Steel Georgia Roche is a particularly exciting addition.

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She was signed from Castleford, whose decline since the end of 2019 – when they topped the table and finished as runners-up to Leeds in both finals – has been a sorry sight.

Coach Lindsay Anfield decamped to York and a host of Tigers’ best players followed, transforming their new club from also-rans to big guns, but having the opposite effect on Castleford.

Tigers, playing in front of healthy four-figure gates three years ago, are now in a transition phase, though the strength of rugby league at Castleford High School ensures they won’t be short of young talent coming through.

Rovers, Grand Finalists in the competition’s first season, reached last year’s Shield decider and, along with Trinity, will have an opportunity to win more matches this term in the second tier.

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Last year’s Shield-Grand Final double-header at Headingley attracted a record crowd of more than 4,000 and World Cup organisers have high hopes of selling out women’s matches at this year’s tournament.

The first Grand Final, five years ago, was staged at an amateur club in York. This year’ all Rhinos’ home matches will be played at Headingley, including some double-headers with the men and Leeds begin their Challenge Cup campaign away to Huddersfield on Saturday in a curtain-raiser to Giants men’s Betfred Super League showdown with Castleford.

Realistically, the women’s game in this country is still at an early stage and well behind Australia and New Zealand. There’s a long way to go before the game can think of becoming even semi-professional, but it is heading in the right direction.

Now, young girls standing on the terraces at Headingley or the Jungle can realistically dream of going on to play for the club they support, which is a wonderful development for the code.

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Rhinos have an impressive figurehead in Lois Forsell, who was an outstanding player for club and country before injury ended her career and is now an up and coming coach. She’s not alone and it isn’t unthinkable that female coaches may eventually begin to filter into the men’s game. It will only take one forward-thinking chief executive or director of rugby to give someone like Forsell a chance at academy level.

Inclusivity is one of modern rugby league’s strengths; the rapid rise of the women’s game is a shining example of that paying off and long may it continue.

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