This time last month, no one knew what to expect in the inaugural season of the NRL Women’s Premiership.
What we did know was that there would be four clubs to start off with – the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors, St George Illawarra Dragons and Sydney Roosters.
Geography was a major factor in the decision to grant those four clubs a provisional licence, and it was obvious that the Broncos and Warriors were going to load their playing squads with the best players from Queensland and New Zealand, respectively.
The best players from New South Wales were going to be split between the Roosters and Dragons, who many could say represent the northern and southern halves of the state.
The Dragons were quick to snap up locals Kezie Apps and Sam Bremner as club ambassadors, while Queensland Maroons captain Karina Brown, who was touted as a potential Broncos skipper, ended up signing with the Roosters instead.
While the four clubs spent months building their lists, the fixture remained an uncertainty, as the only thing we knew was that the matches would be played as curtain-raisers to the men’s finals matches.
Once the men’s regular season came to an end, and the finals fixture was released, that’s when we knew who would play who in the first week of the tournament.
With the Broncos hosting the Dragons in a men’s elimination final, it made sense for their women’s counterparts to face each other in the curtain raiser; that left the Roosters and Warriors to face off at ANZ Stadium prior to the men’s clash between the Panthers and Warriors.
The Broncos celebrate their win over the Rosters (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
And so, the inaugural NRL Women’s Premiership season got underway.
Sixteen years after their men’s sides met in a grand final at the same venue, the Roosters and Warriors created history contesting the first professional women’s rugby league match in Australia. It was the Kiwi-based side that drew first blood, upsetting the highly-fancied Chooks by 10-4 with Hilda Mariu entering the record books as the first ever try-scorer in the league.
The other match saw the Broncos, fresh off a trial match win over the Papua New Guinea Orchids, defeat the Dragons by 30-4 in front of a healthy crowd at Suncorp Stadium.
In such a short space of time, the northerners, coached by Paul Dyer, would set the benchmark for the league, winning each of their three round robin matches and then going on to beat the Sydney Roosters by 34-12 in the grand final.
Unknowns such as Julia Robinson, who only took up the sport some five or six months ago, Kimiora Nati, who won the Karyn Murphy Medal for best-on-ground, and captain Ali Brigginshaw, among others, have now become household names.
They’ll forever go down in history as being part of the Brisbane Broncos team that’s won the inaugural NRL Women’s Premiership.
It also saw the club’s trophy cabinet expanded for the first time since 2006, when their men’s side won the most recent of their six titles at the expense of a Melbourne Storm side which no-one knew at the time had been illegally assembled.
The Roosters had only qualified for the grand final after beating the Dragons by 26-0 in the NRLW’s first Sydney Derby, but it had become clear they were on the back foot, having struggled to get anything going in the first two rounds.
New South Wales centre Isabelle Kelly, who was named her state’s best in their Origin win over Queensland in June, was their lone try-scorer in their first two matches, but the side learnt how to “spread the love”, so to speak, scoring six tries in their big win over the Dragons, a result which sentenced their southern rivals to the wooden spoon.
While a mostly-inexperienced Dragons side finished last on percentage, it wasn’t all that bad when you consider some of the talent in the side.
Club ambassadors Kezie Apps and Sam Bremner (who only played one match due to a foot injury) aside, centre Jessica Sergis, who is the girlfriend of men’s centre Zac Lomax, emerged as a player to watch in future years and deservedly took out the Rookie of the Year award.
On her 21st birthday, Sergis played the match of her life as the Dragons beat the Warriors by 22-10 in Round 2, scoring a try and saving two others as the side showed their full potential.
Apii Nicholls of the Warriors is tackled by Jessica Sergis of the Dragons (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
The club will be the most heavily-represented in the Jillaroos squad, with seven players (Apps, Bremner, Sergis, Hannah Southwell, Holli Wheeler, Annette Brander and Keeley Davis) named to face the Kiwi Ferns in a Test match next Saturday. The two Grand Final teams, the Broncos (six) and Roosters (five), will supply the other eleven players.
As expected, the New Zealand Warriors, which finished third after losing their final two matches by heavy margins, dominate the Kiwi Ferns squad, supplying nine players, with the Broncos next on seven.
The Test match will bring to an end the busiest year yet for women’s rugby league, which also saw the first women’s State of Origin match to be played under this banner.
Back on topic to finish off, and the performances of many of the players in the inaugural NRL Women’s Premiership will no doubt inspire many young girls to eventually play the sport in the future years.
Amber Pilley of the Broncos is tackled during the Round 2 Women’s NRL match (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
It is something we didn’t think would happen as recently as early last year, when the league was still months away from being formally announced.
The inaugural season is set to be reviewed in the coming weeks, with a wide range of topics to be discussed including expansion, what worked and what didn’t, and getting more women involved in the sport.
Broncos coach Paul Dyer has warned against the former, saying the integrity of the competition would suffer.
“I am sure there are a lot of girls sitting back there watching this competition at the moment,” he said.
“But I am one of those people who says we shouldn’t be rushing into this and increasing the teams.
“You don’t want to find yourself in two years’ time in a competition where you have 60-4 results – the integrity of the competition falls out the window.
“I just hate to think because of all the hype, we are in a position where everyone jumps through hoops and adds another two or three teams because it will end up in that position.”
With the inaugural season already over, focus is now turning to next year’s competition, where the Broncos will be the team to beat as the other three teams attempt to knock them off their perch.
Bring on 2019.
Albo
Roar Rookie
I enjoyed the inaugural women's season too. I am not sure how the teams were assembled but it seems the Broncos sure had the best squad. They had the best pack, the best spine and best bench, whilst the other three teams relied on an odd centre or winger as their main hopes for success. Whether by luck or good management, the Broncos reflected the NRL's proven ingredients for being a dominant team.
Rob
Guest
"Melbourne Storm side which no-one knew at the time had been illegally assembled." My take is the Broncos also simple assembled the best Women's team possible to win the Comp. I'm not sure what the reference the Storm team required in the article, but seeing as you made reference to it being illegal wouldn't that have been also relevant given the players the Broncos bought into dominate the women's Comp? The NZ Warriors could claim the title by default as they supplied the majority of talent which was more relevant to success in the women's comp IMO.
Avatar
Roar Guru
I was talking about the Broncos men's side who won their most recent premiership in 2006.
Rob
Guest
Well done to the young women who were part of the inaugural comp. They certainly played the game with passion and a lot of enthusiasm. I suggest they have plenty of support from the Rugby League clubs and grow the women’s comp at a local level before getting to far ahead of themselves. Please, As for the Broncos being a team of Brisbane (QLD)based girls? The Storm 2006 reference about being illegally assembled has nothing on the Broncos women’s team. They are a contingent of the best NZ, NSW and Northern Qld talent available. Well done to the Might Brisbane club.
catcat
Roar Rookie
Agree to wait a few seasons before expansion. They definitely need more than 3 rounds- play each other twice home and away.
Avatar
Roar Guru
As you may know, most other women's leagues (W-League, AFL Women's etc.) are played as standalone competitions away from their male equivalents (in this case, A-League and AFL respectively), giving those leagues somewhat of its own identity and their own space. Though I would agree that having matches played as curtain-raisers to men's matches is one way of attracting supporters and "advertising" the competition, it won't be long before the NRL Women's Premiership gets its own exposure (i.e. matches are not played as curtain raisers to men's matches, etc.), much like the women's Origin was played at a separate time to the men's Origin earlier this year. If it is to be played away from the men's season in the future, I propose that it could take place either during the men's pre-season (thus putting it directly head-to-head with the AFLW) or post-season (i.e. October-November). Only when expansion occurs would this then be possible.
Avatar
Roar Guru
So did I, it was great to finally see up to 70-odd women finally realise their dream of playing in a professional women's rugby league competition this year, something we didn't think was possible over 18 months ago. I think that only once the league becomes more competitive can we then think about expansion, because the last thing you want is any team continuing to dominate the competition for a prolonged period of time, as well as some lopsided scores. I have heard that the Melbourne Storm are looking to get a team in by 2020, but IMO that's a bit too soon.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Was looking forward too it, but unfortunately when you only have 7 games in a whole 'season', played at a time when focus is on the NRL Finals and hence most fans work their days to make sure they can watch the Finals, it made it hard to catch any of the games. So I was sad that I didn't get to watch a single minute.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
I really enjoyed the inaugural women’s season. I agree with the Broncos coach that we may have to run with four teams for a couple more years until the talent pool increases. I thought the Broncs team was a class above the others , skill wise. They looked well coached and played a lot smarter than the other teams . I would wait for the gap in standard to narrow before bringing in another two teams Having said that there is no reason not to play three more rounds imo.