The NRL has taken its subsequent leap within the ladies’s sport, with Canterbury and the returning Warriors to hitch a 12-team NRLW competitors for 2025.
Chief govt Andrew Abdo confirmed the adjustments on Thursday.
The addition of the brand new groups means the NRLW competitors will prolong to an 11-week common season from subsequent yr.
The finals will stay a four-team competitors over two weeks.
The NRLW will once more begin after State of Origin, and the grand closing will proceed to be performed alongside the lads’s decider on the October lengthy weekend.
The 2-team enlargement follows an settlement struck between the NRL and gamers’ union in early 2022, and continues a speedy enlargement of the competitors.
Solely 4 sides performed within the 2020 NRLW, earlier than it grew to 6 groups in 2022 and 10 in 2023.
Officers are assured the usual of the competitors could be retained amid its speedy development.
“The ladies’s sport has gone to a different stage with the talent stage and high quality of the video games being extraordinary,” ARL Fee chairman Peter V’landys mentioned.
“That is evidenced by the recognition of the NRLW competitors.
“Final yr, over 1,000,000 viewers tuned in to look at the NRLW grand closing, and we’re trying ahead to a good larger and higher competitors in 2025.
“Investments into participation and pathways will make sure that new groups are aggressive.”
By the point the Bulldogs and Warriors enter subsequent yr, the Dolphins, Manly, South Sydney, Penrith and Melbourne would be the solely NRL outfits with out ladies’s sides.
The Warriors’ return to the competitors comes after they final featured in 2020, however withdrew as a result of journey issues led to by COVID-19.
The push had lengthy been on for his or her return, notably given the footprint the membership gives the game in New Zealand.
Canterbury have made no secret of their long-held want for a facet, and have lengthy entered ladies’s groups in lower-grade and growth competitions.
The enlargement is prone to be the final till a minimum of 2028, beneath the present collective bargaining settlement.
Nevertheless, that timeline may change if an settlement is struck between the NRL and Rugby League Gamers’ Affiliation.
AAP
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