NRL 2025, NRLW, Expansion, Andrew Abdo, women's sport

NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has declared the NRLW's expansion to 12 teams will act as a springboard for the continued rise of women's rugby league in Australia and the Pacific. The Bulldogs and Warriors will join the competition this year as it expands to 12 teams, with the latter's return to the NRLW a key pillar in plans to develop the sport in New Zealand. The 2025 season will commence on Thursday night when the Sharks take on Parramatta before Canterbury host Newcastle in a double-header at Accor Stadium on Friday night. With the Bulldogs' NRL side playing after the women, a big crowd is expected for their inaugural match. While eager to consolidate the latest round of expansion, Abdo said the code remains on track for every NRL club, including Perth Bears and the new PNG franchise, to have both a men's and women's team in the coming years. Up Next / Cancel Replay Play Next The 2024 NRLW Premiers "We're in dialogue with all the clubs that don't currently have a license around a number of factors," Abdo said at the launch of the NRLW season. "Their investment into pathways and grassroots football in their geographical regions, high-performance facilities, centres of excellence and their plans and strategy and stadium as well. "How they're planning a strategy for growth and how that fits in with our overall plan. We're all aligned around the vision of ultimately having each team housing both a men's and women's team and we're in dialogue with each club on a bespoke strategy for that." A rapid growth in participation has underpinned the expansion of the elite game from four teams in 2018 to 12 this year. Rugby league is on track to pass 50,000 female participants for the first time and junior competitions continue to grow across the country.

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The growing participation has had a flow-on effect to the elite level, with the quality of NRLW games continuing to increase even as new teams are added. Both the Bulldogs and Warriors are considered genuine premiership contenders this year and Abdo said it's a testament to the investment on pathways and junior participation. 'Growth has to happen at multiple levels," Abdo said. "As we see expansion at the elite level it's a chain reaction with more and more people seeing what's possible and signing up to play the game. "That creates more opportunities for us to develop talent through the pathways system. It's a really important cycle for us and bringing the Warriors back opens up New Zealand for us in our broader Pacific strategy. "We want to see as many girls as possible playing rugby league. As we see more girls playing at the grassroots level and more developed through academies and pathways systems, we're able to then continue the expansion that we have over the last eight seasons."

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