It’s a fallow week in The Rugby Championship calendar and the Wallabies have returned to Australian shores battered and bruised from two gruelling games over in the hostile, yet welcoming, environment of Argentina.
This does not mean a rest for rugby fans, however. With club finals, and the Wallaroos taking on their cousins from across the ditch, the Black Ferns, it’s a good time to consider the state of the female game in Australia.
Following much promotion and support gathering, the confirmation that the 2029 Rugby World Cup will follow on from the men’s equivalent two years prior, and be hosted in the land of Aus.
That gives Rugby Australia and the many prospective players and organisations seven years to get the machine humming and make rugby union one of the nation’s primary sports for female participants.
To this, the creation of the Super W tournament two or three years ago was a good starting point, despite the initial dominance of the NSW representative team.
But is simply copying the tried, or should that be tired, and tested model of the men’s game and have five representative teams spread across the land, having to play each other multiple times a year to simply have a sufficient number of games to make a competition worthwhile?
I propose a hybrid of Super Rugby and the NRC, with teams from country NSW and Queensland coming in to complement the Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies, Rebels and Force with potential for a Barbarians team that could either play home games in those areas not represented (South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania) or on the road throughout the tournament as a touring side.
In all likelihood, the latter team would probably come second on match days, but this could act as more of a development team which could include some of those crossover players from sevens and rugby league.
The other teams could act as true representative teams with players and fans able to buy in to those sides as they would have some tangible association or similarities with the players donning the jerseys.
The Waratahs and Reds should, in this case, change their names to Brisbane and Sydney, but that would, in turn, leave the calendar open to a State of Origin-type competition between NSW and Queensland.
The concept behind this tournament would be that rather than there being five teams that play eight games a year, plus some finals footy, there would be eight teams playing week in, week out with a minimum of 14 games.
There would be a first-past-the-post format, eliminating a finals series which would see repetition of games that have already been witnessed.
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
You could also have an efficient tournament which would avoid fallow weeks and enable players to either train in Wallaroos squads, represent sevens teams or go back and play for their clubs who they have performed for in the first place to get called up to the representative team.
A big argument will be about the number of players and the quality of the tournament, and I agree that in the first few years this would be an issue.
However, nobody said that players could not be recruited from overseas, provided a strict quota is adhered to or that third party ownership/investment in to the teams would need to be avoided.
Simply widening the base of the pyramid will provide future prosperity to the game, providing increased routes to top for talented individuals and increased competition for gold jerseys.
The structure of the men’s game is stuck between history and ambition. Why would the women’s game want to follow a model that only works for a select few when it could strike first and become the code for women’s contact sport?
Dave
Guest
its the same as Netball currently, tiptoeing the red line financially, they can't come out and say it's because they started paying fulltime wages to Suncorp players but they're not making enough money as a competition to sustain it
Dave
Guest
Not near as embarrassing as the amount of kiwis desperate to leave the place to live in Australia (sorry that was also mean)
Joe King
Roar Rookie
We need to professionalise ASAP. The quickest way to do that is to have 2x Oz teams (Aussie Green and Aussie Gold for want of better names) + Fijiana Dura join with the 5x Kiwi teams in a combined 8 team competition. Home and away + finals to run alongside SRP. This way we keep two professional teams worth of players from which to pick the Wallaroos. Move Super W to the back end of the year. All the professional women should still be available to play in it. Super W becomes the step between club and the new competition above.
Joe King
Roar Rookie
Not embarrassing at all! I reckon most Aussie fans were really happy for Fijiana. I know I was :-)
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
I know it's embarrassing to once again not have an Australian winner of the Aussie domestic comp (sorry that was mean) but Australia isn't going to catch up to England and France by lowering the standard of the rugby its top players are playing. As for funding Fijiana, they're already funded by someone so we'd just extend that. I am sure that World Rugby and maybe even the Fiji government would see benefits in funding them too, and NZR couldn't sit on its hands if RA is spending anything.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Correct NHF, and it's also the biggest area of growth in player numbers. Promoting the women's game will make money in time.
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
We are sadly going to lose a lot of our best talent to 7s, NRLW, AFLW etc so what we need to have is the most cohesive team as possible. I would make the Wallaroos a fulltime squad with one base. For the short period of Super W they would be based back at their home states and appropriate measures to prevent them all playing for the same state as the Wallaroos base. Outside of Super W the squad would play in bound and out bound tours with midweek games to get as much game time for the whole squad as possible. Unfortunately even this would cost a couple million dollarsore then they are spending on the squad and and super W now. The other option might be to spend market rate on a couple of marquee players similar to what they've done for the wallabies for decades.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
We certainly shouldn't be giving Fiji Ruby union any more money right now
ClassAct
Guest
I thought the Reds were a women’s rugby team :shocked:
Hugh_96
Roar Pro
I know they could never do it. While it would show transparency it would be a total PR nightmare.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
A reasonable start would be to expand the current schedule to a double round robin so that they have a 10 game season as opposed to the current 5 game set up. Which will be necessary anyway seeing as the likes of the NRLW will be expanding to 0 teams next season and will likely play a 9 game season. In terms of other teams last year they did run a BaaBaas squad to fill out the schedule when the Force pulled out from the event held in Coffs due to Covid. So it could be done. What would be good would be if we continue with SRP that we see a Womens equivalent put in place alongside the mens. This would actually justify the spend on these programs and place pressure on RA etc. to actually start paying their athletes.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Can you imagine if they did? The public would pressure them into diverting funds from the already struggling money maker which is the men’s game. And that public would be the non rugby watching public
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Women's sports is the new buzz thing. Some local/state governments might be willing to help subsides teams. Train is pulling out of the station for professional women's rugby. It's not going to be getting any cheaper, in a few years and may be too late. Could run SR women's in the second half of the year to give Reds etc. fans a place to keep going to while the men's SR team is not playing.
Hugh_96
Roar Pro
I think the vast majority of the women's 7s funding comes from the Government as Olympic funding. without it I doubt there would be a 7s program at all. Actually would like RA to come out and say they don't have the funds to fund women's 15s as they would like but will when their is more money. Don't try and spin it any other way.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
You would think it would be a logical step. Doesn't have to be a full SR but could be some crossover or cup.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Rugby Australia has no money to do anything with the game. I do believe however they get healthy funding from the federal government for women's Rugby?
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
We should build our own team before we help other countries. Build our own team and skills first, if the goal is to win or be competitive at the world cup why would we support other teams to get better?
Hugh_96
Roar Pro
Agree some different thinking is probably required for the women's game.. In 2020 they introduced a Presidents XV a mix of players from each of the States. Also as JD referred to must include the Fijiana. To differentiate rugby think there needs to Be some form of maybe top 2 play off against the NZ teams after their domestic comps. But the biggest hurdle is probably not ideas, it is $$$. Rugby AU it appears has no funds to do anything for the women's game.
JD Kiwi
Roar Rookie
Good effort NP, but you forgot the team that beat the Tahs in the final of Super W this year! It would be a travesty to leave the Fijiana Drua out in the cold. The logical next step is probably to bring together in some way the Super W teams and the Super Rugby Aupiki teams, but it's tough when most of the players are amateurs.