Quickfire Q & A - Put your questions to York Valkyrie star Kelsey Gentles

[Rugby League World]

Up next in the Rugby League World Quickfire Q&A hot seat is York Valkyrie star, TV pundit and new mum Kelsey Gentles.

Leave us your questions below or email them to quickfire@totalrl.com and we'll publish the best in our next issue!

[sam4731]

I'll go with the obvious. When do you reckon we'll first beat the Aussies? 

[Futtocks]

I think most of the people on TRL are middle-aged blokes, so we have absolutely no idea how the physical changes involved in becoming a mother impact on playing sport in general and Rugby League in particular. Could you talk about your own challenges as you were coming back to action?

Edited September 10, 2023 by Futtocks

[The Masked Poster]

Here’s one: 

Women’s Rugby League is way better than their Football and RU equivalents., not my opinion, it’s a fact
 

So I’d like to ask if the girls feel slightly frustrated by the mainstream media and it’s sidelining of Women’s RL, as compared to other sports. Do they feel they get a fair deal? (Pro rata)
 

And before someone points out that women’s football is popular, this wasn’t always the case and it got a huge push. 

[BroncoFan]

Will you be doing anything differently to ensure you return a better player than you ever were before ?

[RBKnight]

Will Baby Ogden be a forward or a back ?

[JonT]

Do the Valkyrie squad get any input from Andrew Henderson and the Knights squad in the other direction from Lindsay Anfield?

[moorside roughyed]

Firstly, congratulations on becoming a mum. Questions - How old was you when you decided rugby league was your game? Who is your inspiration?

Edited September 12, 2023 by moorside roughyed

[Man of Kent]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how scary is Lindsay Anfield when she gets mad? Has she ever made you cry? 

[gingerjon]

What would you say to encourage girls to take up rugby league - as opposed to the other sporting options now available to them?

[The Masked Poster]

Also....Have they taken any steps to protect the name of the club? (If such a thing is possible).

It's a brilliant name and I wouldn't want to see it poached by other sports, like what happened to Salford. 

[daz39]

If we want the women's game to grow is it time we stopped telling potential international players they should move to one of the top 3 teams to enhance their prospects, thereby weakening every other team apart from the self serving top 3 clubs thereby allowing other teams to keep their best players and make the playing field more fair and equal?

[The Blues Ox]

13 hours ago, daz39 said:

If we want the women's game to grow is it time we stopped telling potential international players they should move to one of the top 3 teams to enhance their prospects, thereby weakening every other team apart from the self serving top 3 clubs thereby allowing other teams to keep their best players and make the playing field more fair and equal?

Thats a very good question in its own right. Its a conundrum because ideally you want talent to be spread out through the league but at this stage its very much a similar situation to when Wigan went full time back in the 80's. As a player you want to be at the very top and that means having the best training, facilities, and coaches and at this point most teams can't compete with the top 2 or 3 teams in that respect. Its a reality your team will face this winter as players like Brown, Naidole etc get chased by those elite clubs. It would be really interesting to hear Kelsey's view on this.

[daz39]

2 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Thats a very good question in its own right. Its a conundrum because ideally you want talent to be spread out through the league but at this stage its very much a similar situation to when Wigan went full time back in the 80's. As a player you want to be at the very top and that means having the best training, facilities, and coaches and at this point most teams can't compete with the top 2 or 3 teams in that respect. Its a reality your team will face this winter as players like Brown, Naidole etc get chased by those elite clubs. It would be really interesting to hear Kelsey's view on this.

Indeed, i've had 1st hand views from members of our setup who have all confirmed this 'persuading' does happen and has happened to us on a couple fo occasions already, but as long as the top 2/3 clubs are happy with going round battering everyone else then why would they want it to change?

Anyway that's all for a different topic at a different time.

[meast]

I had a conversation the other week and one of the things being suggested/rumoured for the women's SL is an American style roster system whereby each team are allocated 3/4 of the international players meaning the top talent is spread out.

I'd like to know what Kelsey's view on this would be if it happened.

[Chris22]

What was more nerve wracking, walking out at a Grand Final or being a television pundit?

[The Blues Ox]

I saw comments on Facebook but just wondered what your overall view is on the RFL moving the age limit of the Ladies open age from 16 to 17 potentially leaving a number of Year 12 girls that are too old for junior rugby but not old enough to play open age. With many teams even at Championship and above levels struggling to raise teams week in week out this decision seems ludicrous.