RBKnight

Please Nooooooo - We could anglicise York Valkyrie's name, and become England Angels of Death

The key thing I think the UK women's game now needs to address is how we create proper player pathways for girls and young women who have taken up playing in the last couple of years (the increase in numbers is considerable) Will pro clubs who "adopt" a local community club - like Leigh have done with Leigh Miners recently - actually offer any real resources to help develop these players? The opportunity is there at a local level for clubs to get sponsorship for their women's team, riding the wave of media interest in women's team sports. Pleased to say that York Valkyrie will have their own, separate shirt deal next year with Nutrien, a local food supplement start-up, and will no doubt be looking to increase the individual cost of sponsoring players next year (last year it was £750 a pop). Their highest paying gate for a stand-alone women's fixture last year was over 850.

Hollie is just 19 years old - the future of the game

It's worth pointing out that this Kiwi team (the pack in particular) gave the Jillaroos a real headache in the group game - I'm guessing many on the thread didn't see it - forcing them into a large number of uncharacteristic errors, and ran them close. Given that, England did well to stay with them, but lacked a lot of composure on 4th and 5th tackle, which contributed to poor last tackle plays. The messy slow rucks didn't help them TBH. TJS is not a Centre - Kaitlyn Beevers is. Hollie Dodd is an 80 minute player, with speed and a superb offload game, but only played 40 minutes. The team set-up didn't do us any favours, IMO.

Craig Richards must be really confident in his starting XIII if he's leaving Hollie Dodd off the pitch for the whole of the first half

Actually, it started with York recruiting the ex-Castleford coach as Director of Women's Rugby, and offering a full coaching set-up, their own physio and strength and conditioning team, and a more serious training regime. Players travel costs are covered. That cost York money - it's proved a superb investment, unlocking funding from Sport England for our superb training facility, increasing interest and participation in our Foundation's programme for girls and young women. It's inspired the setting up two new age-range teams in one of our community clubs, and brought fresh supporters and sponsors into the club. Surprisingly enough, women players want to play for clubs where they can improve and are taken seriously. But it bores you and you don't watch it .....

But you're then making proposals on how the competiton should be structured ? Reducing it down to a community clubs comp, with smaller pitches, changing the rules TBH, it's a bit like having a Union troll discussing the RLWC......

To be fair, on the field, Wigan are a competitive team once they can get their best players on the field. They have always looked well-coached (especially defensively) to my untutored eye. Their problem is their lack of depth, which meant for three-quarters of last season they looked very poor with five or six players out. Huddersfield had a very young team out last year will some potential, despite getting stuffed every week. I'm not sure, retrospectively, that stepping up to the top tier last season instead of Warrington did them any favours.

It's almost as if you have never encountered the women's game before........ "They should remain as a community club competition for the foreseeable future" - err, the Women's Super League has been in existence since 2017 There has been an exponential grown in young women playing league in the last couple of years. The real issue is how we provide a proper pathway out of the community clubs towards the top level for these young women (mainly teenagers), which requires coaching, training and strength and conditioning resources. Very few clubs offer this, and until they do, the competition will remain lop-sided.

Here's the York shirts for 2023

The question is then, why aren't Wigan's team bringing in any money? By comparison last year, York Valkyrie, linked to a Championship club, had all their squad with shirt sponsorship at £750 a pop, and this year will have their own sponsorship deal, so that their shirt sponsor this year is not the same as the men's team. It really boils down to whether the sponsoring clubs want to take women's RL seriously, or just offer a pat on the back and a free post-match pizza .......

The Kiwis' Amber Hall (No 12) has been a rock for her side so far tonight

You're right, but Craig Richards' selections in both squad and positions haven't helped this team IMO.

No - TJS to Full Back, Beevers Centre, Goldthorp to Wing.

Around York, the Jillaroos have been fantastic ambassadors for the game in the past week (as well as a brilliant team). Visits to schools and community clubs have been very well received - this tweet from their visit to York Acorn is a gem :-