The South Sydney Rabbitohs congratulate the four clubs who were awarded an NRLW licence for the 2023 season today, and the club looks forward to working with the NRL executive to ensure its entry for the 2024 NRLW season as prefaced by NRL CEO Andrew Abdo in today’s press conference.
The Rabbitohs entered a bid for the 2024 season, including an all-female coaching staff, opportunities for females to hold key roles throughout the football department and in administrative roles around the NRLW team, and a strategic partnership with the Auckland Rugby League to support the New Zealand Warriors in providing pathways for New Zealand-based female players into the NRLW.
The Rabbitohs are building a brand new, state-of-the-art community and high-performance centre at Heffron Park in Maroubra with specific female changerooms and facilities for an NRLW team being part of this build. The Rabbitohs have invested heavily in their Harvey Norman NSW Women’s team, Tarsha Gale Cup team, Lisa Fiaola Cup team, and junior competitions right down to under sixes, over the past decade, making it one of the strongest pathways for female players in Rugby League, coupled with the relationship with the Auckland Rugby League and the New Zealand Warriors for the NRLW competition for the foreseeable future.
All of the above points cover the criteria outlined by the NRL in its press conference today, including geographic spread, participation in the female pathways, and facilities and investment in female pathways both on field (players) and off the field (coaches and administration).
Mr Abdo said in his press conference: “We’re looking for further expansion in 2024 and onwards. Those clubs that submitted proposals to be ready from 2024, the next step for us is to engage with them and work with them so that we can make that announcement as soon as possible… I’m pretty confident that we will be announcing a further expanded competition in 2024.”
The Rabbitohs look forward to meeting with Mr Abdo and NRL Executive General Manager – Performance and Pathways, Tain Drinkwater, in the immediate future to move forward with this process towards entry for the 2024 NRLW competition, and giving certainty to the thousands of young female players, from under 6s through to the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership, in South Sydney, all over Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the Pacific, who want to represent the Rabbitohs at the elite level of the game in 2024 and beyond.
