New women's rl website

[BroncoFan]

10 hours ago, WRLFan said:

Me too….especially to see who replaces Amy at centre. 

 

This is my back 5 prediction unless new players are added.

1. Ebony Stead

2. Evie Cousins

3. Caitlin Beevers

4. Ruby Enright

5. Liv Whitehead

Sienna Sharp back up centre incase of injury.

Just not sure yet who will partner Ruby Walker in the halves.

[unapologetic pedant]

4 hours ago, BroncoFan said:

She is staying in Canberra, it hasn’t been announced yet.

Raiders also looking at Amelia Brown. 

Which NRLW club is interested in Paige Travis?

[BroncoFan]

6 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

Which NRLW club is interested in Paige Travis?

Last I heard was Parramatta.

She has an Aussie management company trying to sort something out for her.

[unapologetic pedant]

Half-time Australia 12 New Zealand 0.

Three tries, no goals. Kiwi Ferns paying the price for some positional defensive lapses. Not much shape to their attacking game. Haven't scored a point against the Jillaroos in 105 minutes of football.

[unapologetic pedant]

Full-time Australia 24 New Zealand 4.

Consolation try for the Ferns at the end. They looked tentative. Like a team who thought they had no chance of winning. Surprising and disappointing after last year.

[BroncoFan]

I watched Canada beat USA which means they will play Fiji, Ireland and Nigeria next year for a place in the WC.

Canada have a decent pack so I think they can get past Ireland & Nigeria but Fiji will have too much quality for Canada.

They need to get stronger in the halves and hopefully can gain a couple of top backs from Union.

[unapologetic pedant]

13 hours ago, BroncoFan said:

I watched Canada beat USA which means they will play Fiji, Ireland and Nigeria next year for a place in the WC.

These N. American games where the goalposts are not on the goal-line are disorienting to watch.

[Richard de la Riviere]

1 hour ago, unapologetic pedant said:

These N. American games where the goalposts are not on the goal-line are disorienting to watch.

Yep I didn’t know what was happening when Channy scored her first try! Totally confused. 

[The Blues Ox]

Hearing rumors that the RFL have back tracked on the u19's competition due to pressure from community clubs and the sheer number of players choosing community clubs over pro clubs. U19 Teams will now have the option of playing Wednesday nights in what will be an uncompetitive competition by the looks of it. Brilliant news for community clubs if true and for the female game in general in my opinion.

[unapologetic pedant]

11 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Brilliant news for community clubs if true and for the female game in general in my opinion.

I always trust community clubs over pro clubs as regards amateur and junior RL.

[unapologetic pedant]

17 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

rumors 

[RBKnight]

26 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Hearing rumors that the RFL have back tracked on the u19's competition due to pressure from community clubs and the sheer number of players choosing community clubs over pro clubs. U19 Teams will now have the option of playing Wednesday nights in what will be an uncompetitive competition by the looks of it. Brilliant news for community clubs if true and for the female game in general in my opinion.

Seems like good news - I liked the way that York Valkyrie's dual-reg with Sheffield worked last year, so that the best of York's U19s got to play competitive open-age Championship Rugby, and the Eagles got the benefit of coaching back-up and (in the case of Lisa Parker for instance) a pathway into one of the top teams.

[The Blues Ox]

1 hour ago, RBKnight said:

Seems like good news - I liked the way that York Valkyrie's dual-reg with Sheffield worked last year, so that the best of York's U19s got to play competitive open-age Championship Rugby, and the Eagles got the benefit of coaching back-up and (in the case of Lisa Parker for instance) a pathway into one of the top teams.

Yeah its a very fine line, in theory the York/Sheffield DR looks a great idea for the reason you highlight. The only reason I would be against something like that is if it meant say a Dewsbury Moor player who is York 19's books who then goes to Sheffield instead of been allowed to play at Dewsbury. 

I really like the coaching link though and it something that I think all pro teams should invest in to some extent with Community clubs. I know Leeds have been good on that front previously in my area but some other SL teams think the community set up is simply to supply them with an endless line of players when it is much, much more than that.

[RBKnight]

4 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Yeah its a very fine line, in theory the York/Sheffield DR looks a great idea for the reason you highlight. The only reason I would be against something like that is if it meant say a Dewsbury Moor player who is York 19's books who then goes to Sheffield instead of been allowed to play at Dewsbury. 

I really like the coaching link though and it something that I think all pro teams should invest in to some extent with Community clubs. I know Leeds have been good on that front previously in my area but some other SL teams think the community set up is simply to supply them with an endless line of players when it is much, much more than that.

Think you're right - I've been thinking before you posted this, where will Evie Sexton play the majority of her weekend rugby next year ? Would be strange to see her turn out on dual Reg for Sheffield against her home town club, who she famously got through to promotion with a five try display......

I also hope that - sooner rather than later - the Eagles have the resources, experience and roster to end Dual Reg with York, and win SL status under their own steam.

[The Blues Ox]

From what I have seen of Evie Sexton, it won't be something to think aboiut for too long. I reckon she will quickly become a regular in the York first team.

[The Blues Ox]

First draft of the new league structure below SL is now out and as expected London and Cardiff have been invited to join the Championship which will be a 12 team League. Cas will keep their place despite finishing bottom, Hull have been promoted as League 1 winners and Swinton have requested to also be allowed to join the Championship which makes sense with the signings they have made so far. At the moment the proposal is that there are only 12 games which is 2 less than both competitive divisions below. Ive not a clue the thinking behind this although I would not be surprised if it is to do with Cardiff and London and their RU players not been available either for the start or the end of the season. I can't think of any other reason for this.

Stanningley have dropped down to League 1 while Workington were promoted from League 2 and Halifax also appear to have requested to go in to League 1. It will be interesting to see how they will work their fixtures with Amy Hardcastle the current coach and her commitment to Saints.

League 2 at the moment will have a totally new look to it. Thatto have requested to be relegated but I am hoping this will change with the mentioned changes to the u19's system as they will walk that division if they have anything like their current team which now could be possible. Ashton, Batley, Heysham, Rochdale Hornets and Mayfield, and Ulverston join Wigan St Judes as pretty new teams.

There are a number of development teams again this season but there will be a number of "A" teams included which are Bradford, Hull KR, Sheffield, and Swinton. I can't get my head around why that is happening especially when you consider Bradford could not even raise a full team at the end of last season although I do wonder if this is a way for them to get around not being allowed to run U19's teams.

[gingerjon]

23 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

 I would not be surprised if it is to do with Cardiff and London and their RU players not been available either for the start or the end of the season. I can't think of any other reason for this.

 

Despite being very pleased to see London moving up, this is simply not good enough.

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Despite being very pleased to see London moving up, this is simply not good enough.

What or who?

Players at Cardiff and London play League when they are not playing Union. They cannot be ordered to reverse their priorities on the grounds "this is simply not good enough". 

Playing fewer league fixtures is presently the only way to accommodate Cardiff and London in a national division. If you will the ends, you must will the means.

Northern clubs can adapt. Manage their injury toll, arrange friendlies and/or run smaller squads.

[gingerjon]

7 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

What or who?

Players at Cardiff and London play League when they are not playing Union. They cannot be ordered to reverse their priorities on the grounds "this is simply not good enough". 

Playing fewer league fixtures is presently the only way to accommodate Cardiff and London in a national division. If you will the ends, you must will the means.

Northern clubs can adapt. Manage their injury toll, arrange friendlies and/or run smaller squads.

It is not good enough for the sport that the only way to have sides from London and Cardiff in its upper tiers is to play within an other sport’s off season.

[The Blues Ox]

The obvious problem here is what happens when one of them gets promoted which I think there is a very good chance of happening. It also means a drop in income for every team in the Championship this season along with those extra costs of travel to London and Cardiff. I don't agree with this been the way to go if it is the reason.

[unapologetic pedant]

6 hours ago, gingerjon said:

It is not good enough for the sport that the only way to have sides from London and Cardiff in its upper tiers is to play within an other sport’s off season.

The alternative way to further the objective of competitive teams from outside the heartlands competing in a national structure is...

I'm sure you agree that saying "it's simply not good enough" is simply not good enough. So elucidation must be imminent.

In the meantime, bit of conjecture on what seems to be the critical question -

How do we persuade players in London and South Wales to commit themselves primarily to League? Would the persuasion take the form of an ultimatum? Something along the lines of "Prioritize League or Keep Out". If the response is a loud raspberry, what then?

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

I'm sure you agree that saying "it's simply not good enough" is simply not good enough.

I'm not in charge of anything so I'm happy with pointing out that it's not good enough.

 

[unapologetic pedant]

8 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

The obvious problem here is what happens when one of them gets promoted which I think there is a very good chance of happening. It also means a drop in income for every team in the Championship this season along with those extra costs of travel to London and Cardiff. I don't agree with this been the way to go if it is the reason.

I'm not wild about it either. Couple of pages ago, I posed a related question about the availability of Union players impinging on Welsh participation in the Women's WC 2026. 

However, considering the endless agonising over M62-corridor entrenchment in men's RL, it's understandable the RFL should try to geographically broaden the base of Women's RL before our divisional structure settles into a fixed pattern.

Which necessitates juggling and messy compromise. I threw in an axiom about ends and means. "Omelette" and "Breaking Eggs" also springs to mind.

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

I'm not in charge of anything so I'm happy with pointing out that it's not good enough.

Leader of the Opposition.

[The Blues Ox]

3 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

 

How do we persuade players in London and South Wales to commit themselves primarily to League? Would the persuasion take the form of an ultimatum? Something along the lines of "Prioritize League or Keep Out". If the response is a loud raspberry, what then?

In the end it will boil down to money as one of the main reasons and a payment of £50 per game will not get near to the likely money the ladies get for playing high level RU. There is also the argument that RU is so much less physically demanding than RL.

If the worry is about them not having a strong team later in the season then to me it just shows they are not ready for SL but theres no reason to not put them in and play a normal schedule, let them limp over the line, while other ambitious teams try and push themselves to the next level.