NRLW 2026 Finals (Women)

Six clubs lined up for a shot at the coveted crown, the grand final. The third to sixth sides comprised the first round. The regular season summary can be seen by clicking here.

Quarter finals: The Wests Tigers (4th in the league) and Newcastle Knights (6th) ended their journey here. The Wests lost out in a tight one. In came the top two league teams for the semi final.

Semi finals: Neither match had a run away scoreline. The League winner and hot favourite Sydney Roosters went through and the Brisbane Broncos (3rd in the league) defeated second placed Gold Coast Titans. 

Grand final: Last year's finalists were back for round two. Brisbane edged that match but the Roosters were favoured to reverse that result. So it proved with the Roosters taking a 26-0 half time scoreline. The game was over but the second half was close. 

The highlights are below, best watched at YouTube.

UK SLW 2026 League Standings (Women) Now Completed

The 2026 league has been concluded. How have the clubs fared? Here's my assessment.

I don't have in depth knowledge, but it's clear there are two divisions within one. There isn't enough talent to support eight clubs with any level of equality. The only way to increase the quality in depth is by offering young women a pathway and a chance to play the game competitively. 

5-8. While these four teams are good enough for the top 8, they are well off the pace when compared to the top four.

1-4. These teams possess the most talented players. Still, the top two within this elite level were a notch above the other two below them. 

To deal with the difference between the top four and lower four, the top four were then divided into the Super 4s, retaining their points from the table above and adding to them. 

Wigan did drop a game but ended well ahead. Three below had a tussle, with York slipping past St Helens on points difference. 

York's inflicting Wigan's only loss in the last game of the Super 4s, securing a playoff match with Leeds.  They won that 12-0 and headed to the grand final. York needed to defeat Wigan again and they did and took out the grand final 8-6 in a scoreless second half. 

The lower four then carried over their points into the Shield phase. The rank was only changed with Barrow moving up, courtesy of a superior goal difference. Barrow won two of their Shield games and Leigh lost all of theirs.

Leigh now had to defeat the London Broncos from the lower division to retain their Super League status. They were well beaten 6-36. London are promoted and Leigh go down to the Championshop competition below.

NRLW 2026 League Standings (Women)

The 2026 women's league has been concluded. How have the clubs fared? Here's my assessment.

12: St George Dragons. Tenth last year and twelfth this year. They are not a strong club presently. A season to forget. 

11: Canterbury Bulldogs. Very similar to St George but slightly elevated. 

10: North Queensland. They were top four last year and didn't cover losses in the roster. 

9: Cronulla Sharks. It's been suggested they haven't invested as heavily as other clubs and if that's the case, then dropping to tenth from finals footie is all they could expect. 

8: Parramatta Eels. Much the same as last year. 

7: NZ Warriors. The roster was strengthened and early on, they looked finals ready. Then the wheels fell off and they became the worst team in the competition. Embarrassing.

I will do the top six teams, with the finals review viewed by clicking here.

France Women Elite 1: 2026

After extensive searching for historical information of the women's game in France, it became obvious that it has virtually zero recognition or interest. Had I been following year by year, I presume I'd have more information but posted, it doesn't remain long on the Internet. 

Cup Final: Lescure Arthes led 14-4 at half time and 20-4 with a quarter of the game remaining. Then St Estève Catalan made a stunning comeback but just fell short 20-18. 

League: To the right is the 2026 season. Only five sides competed, although the Elite 2 has seven teams. Why not six each? Regardless, each team plays the others twice.

The top two are evenly matched but the rest are some way below, the points difference indicating the gap. Limoux is straddles the two each side of it. 

Finals: In the semi finals, Lescure Arthes cruised into the final 60-0, The other game was a draw, with Limoux advancing due to outscoring St Estève Catalan 4-3 in tries. A novel way of deciding.

The Final: The semi final scores probably determined who was likely to win if not the league table. Lescure Arthes won 46-6 after leading 10-6 at the break. Full coverage of the game is below.  You may want to go past some extraneous content.

SOO Women: 2026

The 2026 State of Origin series went to NSW 3-0. The scores were low but NSW had the edge and were clearly the better team this year. Historically that hasn't been the case. If you click here, you will see that before it was called SOO, Queensland were very much the better state. 

Then in 2018, it became the SOO series and has been much more closely contested. It has also expanded to become a three match seres since 2024. As the SOO, NSW now has a 5 to 4 advantage or a 56% win rate. NSW also now has a 63% game win rate. 

Is NSW going to enter a period of superiority? It would be foolish to assume so, but for now they clearly are the stronger state. The highlights of game three can be seen on the video.

NRLW Women's Finals Series : 2025

Six teams made it to the finals series. Three from Queensland and three from NSW (two from Sydney). Two sides were likely to stand out. The Brisbane Broncos are the most successful club historically and the Sydney Roosters. who have been the best in recent times, The latter were the 2024 grand final winning club. 

First round: Newcastle were expected to defeat the Gold Coast and delivered on that expectation. Cronulla vs North Queensland was slightly harder to pick, although I had Cronulla as my choice. In a tight affair, the Sharks prevailed 24-18. 

Second round: The two rested sides returned to the action. The Roosters struggled to overcome the Sharks but in the end sqeaked home 17-16. In contrast, the Broncoes were in fine form in powering past the Knights 30-6. The Broncos certainly looked the form side going into the grand final.

Grand final: Brisbane got ahead early but the Roosters didn't go through the whole season undefeated by fluke and came back to lead with minutes to go. A late try was awarded to the Broncos that secured the title they last won in 2019. 

I wasn't sure with that last try that the ball was grounded, but if it was, it was a prominent blade of grass that did the honours. Either way, it was awarded and that's all that matters. Tight games are often decided by fine margins.

NRLW Regular Season : 2025

The season kicked off with twelve teams, up two on 2024. The Canterbury Bulldogs from Sydney and the NZ Warriors from Auckland. Could the new sides hit the ground running? Would there be any surprises in the final ranking?

The final table below shows there wasn't much change from the previous season. In 2024 there were four finalists and they all returned to the finals again. The difference in 2025 was there were two more sides were included in the playoffs. 

The Canberra Raiders dropped four rankings but otherwise no side moved more than two placings. Neither of the new clubs made the finals series but they weren't the lowest placed clubs either. The NZ Warriors did extremely well in nearly getting a neutral points differential (-4) in their first season back. 

I won't critique the sides individually but a few general comments should suffice. The top two were head and shoulders above the rest and they would make a great grand final match up. The three sides at the foot of the table will be disappointed the new teams were able to finish above them. 

The finals series will be covered in three weeks when they have concluded. 

The video is highlights of the top two sides meeting in round 3.  

UK's State of Origin Series 2025

State of Origin games in Australia work because of interstate rivalry. Historically, there were wars between the two main rugby league counties (Lancashire and Yorkshire or West v East) in England but that didn't translate into something that caught the public's imagination.

That said, there has recently been some SOO action in England. It's more about having representative matches rather than ancient rivalry but still good to see it.

To begin with, a women's game which apparently is a first. Lancashire took control and led 26-4 at the turn around. Yorkshire then threatened a come back by reducing the deficit to 8-26 but that was extinguished and Lancashire ran away with it. Final score with the win for Lancashire 50-8.

Then there were two young men's academy matches between the same counties. In May of 2025, they met and Yorkshire took the first half 26-4 and went on to comfortably win. Final score: 42-10.

The second match at the beginning of August had a much closer start with Yorkshire only ahead 12-4 by half time. They stepped it up a gear in the second stanza for another clear victory. Final score: 40-10.

It's good to see players experiencing representative games in both the men's and women's arenas. Maybe the senior men will again try it again. Fitting such matches in with what is already a too long club season would be a major drawback.

For a full coverage of the first academy match:

Women's State of Origin : 2025

There is strong and ongoing rivalry between New South Wales (Blues) and Queensland (Maroons) in rugby league. I've covered the Interstate Challenge (1999-2017) and the State of Origin (2018-2024) for the women's game and by clicking on each of those titles you can see the history.

Moving on to 2025, the three match series has been completed. The results are as follows:

Game 1: Held in Brisbane, Queensland the score was 12-14 at half time to the visitors but blew out in the second with NSW scoring 18 unanswered points. 

Final score: Queensland 12-32 NSW. Attendance 26,000.

Game 2: Down in Sydney another tight first half had the hosts up 12-6 at the break but another scoreless half for Queensland while conceding 14 points was another surprising capitulation.

Final score NSW 26-6 Queensland. Attendance 16,000.

Game 3: The game was played on neutral ground at Newcastle. Well, Blues territory officially. Anyway, NSW led 8-6 at the break. They had one try disallowed for technically not grounding the ball but I thought pedantic. That decision was crucial as the Maroons mounted a spirited second half which they won 12-6 and the game.

Final score NSW 14-18 Queensland. Attendance N/A.

The series went to the Blues 2-1 and that makes the eight State of Origin series shared four each although one of those was drawn but given to Queensland on a superior points differential (I presume). NSW have won 7 matches and Queensland six, with the Blues scoring 212 points and the Maroons 173. 

To see highlights of the final game, simply click here.

Las Vegas 2025

Rugby League went to Las Vegas in 2024 where two opening matches of the Australasian NRL competition were played. Nearly 41,000 spectators went along. In 2025, a repeat of 2024 but with the addition of a UK Super League match and an international women's game. So how did it go?

Game 1: Wigan and Warrington from the UK SL kicked off. Wigan took control and led 24-0 at half time. Warrington did come back but Wigan took it comfortably 48-24.

Game 2: The Canberra Raiders and the NZ Warriors then made their appearance with the Raiders ahead 16-4 at the turn around. They went on to win 30-8 so another clear winner.

Game 3: This was a risk with professional Australia Jillaroos taking on the barely semi-pro England. This had one sided written all over it although the hope was England would lift sufficiently to make it a contest. It was anything but. the 90-4 scoreline was embarrassing and surely will not feature here again.

Game 4: The game of the day was the Penrith v Cronulla clash. 12-10 was the half time score and it ended 28-22 with the result never certain. It would have been nice if other games were closer but that is sport for you. 

Summary: 45,000 spectators were there, up 4,500 on 2024. Some English fans went last year but more this year with a game from the UK included this year. So that probably made the difference. Did locals turn up too? Yes but not an increase from '24. It will make US sports viewers more aware of the code so it may help media deals. Gambling revenue would gain too. 

So a success but one with much potential but patience will be needed as awareness grows for an unknown code in the USA. 

NRLW (Women's) Competition : 2024

Ten teams competed in the 2024 competition, the same as the previous season. Below we see the league standings for the regular season of nine matches. Those shaded blue made the playoffs.

There were some unusual runs. League victors lost their first two games, then won the next seven. Cronulla won their first six then lost the last three. Finally the Wests Tigers lost their first seven before taking the last two. 

Three of last year's finalists returned in 2024. Cronulla replaced the disappointing Titans as the only new side to progress. 

Semi finals: Brisbane has competed in all seven seasons so far and they hosted second season Conulla. It was the seven match winning streak team at home taking on the three match losing run side. Cronulla overcame all that to record a 14-0 victory.  

The other game pitted the Sydney Roosters against last year's league/grand final double winner the Newcastle Knights. Neither league nor grand final ring this time as they went down 16-25. 

Grand Final: It looked like the Sharks had bitten off more than they could chew. When they walked into the sheds at half time, it was 24-0 to the Roosters who were cruising nicely. It was a game of two halves as the Sharks mounted a spirited fightback. 

In the end they had left themselves too much to do and the Roosters prevailed 32-28. The Sharks can be proud of their effort in their first finals series and will presumably learn much from the experience. 

You can see brief highlights by clicking here. 

The Roosters added another grand final win to the one they secured in 2021. They lost the final in 2020 so the adage you have to lose one to win one will no doubt inspire the Sharks women's side.

Australia Women's Interstate Challenge : 1999 - 2017

The Women's State of Origin series has been held since 2018. It was a one game series until 2023 when it increased to two and 2024 three matches. Prior to the SOO, there was the Women's Interstate Challenge which started in 1999. Dan suggested I look into that and I've now done that. 

It didn't get as much publicity as the more modern SOO and records of the matches played are not always available. Queensland won every series from 1999 to 2014 which was quite a record. A draw in 2015 led to two New South Wales victories. In fact. they made it four in a row when we take into account the new SOO series. Now Queensland has won four of the last five series held. 

Below are the results. Apart from the win record, there are no scores out there in Internet World that I could find from 2000 to 2004. If anyone can help with that, I'll update the list accordingly. It's a shame that relatively recent matches have become seemingly forgotten. I'm sure there must be a proud Queenslander out there with some or all the info to complete the list. 

PS. Thanks Dan for the 2005 scores. 

The 2014 Interstate Challenge highlights are below. 

You can also catch a video of the 1999 opening game at this site plus text : Simply click here.

NRLW History 2017-23

The women's NRL competition has only been around for seven years and starts the eighth edition now. For the first three years, there were just four clubs. With Covid, the NZ side exited and has not played since but will return for the 2025 season. 

It became six for the next two years and ten in 2023 and 2024. 2025 becomes twelve with the NZ Warriors returning and a new team, the Canterbury Bulldogs. 

By awarding the top four finishers each year, we can see the successful clubs. Of course, there were only four teams in the first three editions held so they are all recognised. Now with ten sides, it's harder to be noticed. 

The clubs yet to register points are the Canberra Raiders, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys and the Wests Tigers. They have all played just one season so far. 

Both NSW and Queensland run state competitions below the national one shown here. 

Women's State of Origin History: 2018-24

The men's version has been a success so why not replicate it now that the women's game has arrived and is on the up? The first five years were single match affairs, then up by one for a year then three games in 2024. 

New South Wales took the first two, Queensland the next two then back to NSW again. The 2023 edition was one match each with Qld having a slight advantage on points scored. In 2024, NSW comfortably won the first, the second was very tight and the third was comfortably won by Queensland.

One thing I find strange is that a representative series is played before the regular club season kicks off. As it is, players are chosen based more on the previous season's form rather than on current form. It's the same for both sides but still, it is like a curtain raiser before the main event. Regardless, NSW had more of the initial success but the tide is turning to Qld. 

For the highlights:

Game 1: Click here.

Game 2: Click here.

Game 3: Click here. 

NRLW Competition : 2023

The ten team regular season ended with the Newcastle Knights on top with eight wins from nine matches. The Roosters, Titans and Broncos rounded out the top four and that elite group progressed to the finals. 

The top four progressing into a straight knock out format of two rounds. In 2022, the Newcastle Club won the grand final in only their second season in the competition. The Sydney Roosters won the league but went straight out, losing their semi final. 

The Brisbane Broncos were the gun side in the early years but had to work hard just to get a semi final berth. The Gold Coast Titans were in their second finals series in their three years of competing. The top side from the league competition the Newcastle Knights took on fourth place Brisbane Brincos. The second best team the Sydney Roosters were up against the Gold Coast Titans who came third.

Round 1: Newcastle had to work really hard to get past an in-form Brissy side. On the other side of the draw, the Roosters fell yet again at this point by being shut out by a gritty Gold Coast team.

Grand Final: Newcastle had the better of the early exchanges but the Titans came back to lead 18-12 early in the second half. Back came the Knights and a try three minutes from the end sealed a tight final. Five tries to three says they were the better side.

Summary: The women's game is coming on in leaps and bounds. Quite a few of the players were in their first season at this level but they are learning quickly. For now, the competition needs to consolidate rather than expand too quickly but more clubs will be wishing to join in the coming years. 

NRL Women's Honours Board: 2018-22

The women's game in Australia was first held in 2018 with sides aligned to existing clubs in the men's NRL competition. Four entrants were involved in the first year, moving to six in 2021 and ten in 2023. There are a league competition (Lge) and finals (Fls).

League: The Brisbane Broncos is the most successful with four titles in a row from 2018 to 2021. With some player defections, fortunes suffered accordingly and 2022 was for them an annus horibilis. The Sydney Roosters won the 2022 title.

Finals: The same pattern here with Brisbane winning the first three, then missing the grand final match and not making the finals at all. The Roosters took the trophy in 2021 and Newcastle in 2022. Overall the Brisbane side is the most successful in this competition too but that may not last long.

Summary: It's early days so comparing clubs is difficult. New sides such as Newcastle and Paramatta have done well in a short space of time. The NZ Warriors were there for three years but not the last two nor for 2023 either. They initially pulled out for a single season due to Covid issues but haven't applied since which is mystifying. 

Photo credit: NRL.

Australia Women's 2022 Season

There were six sides competing, four from NSW and two from Queensland. They are all connected with traditional RL clubs so the names are familiar. They played each other once with four teams progressing to the finals and two ending their season at this point.

The two Queensland sides propped up the table and were eliminated. The Roosters looked strong in taking the title but at the lower end of the table Parramatta was lucky to sneak through on a favourable points differential.

In the finals, the top side Sydney Roosters took on the lowly Parramatta side but was surprisingly eliminated 10-24. Newcastle expectedly overcame St George 30-6. 

The final was tight for much of the game, but Newcastle deservedly won 32-12, although the scoreline was somewhat flattering. Amazingly Parramatta only won two games out of seven despite making the grand final.

Pictured left, we see the Knights celebrating during the grand final. Picture credit: NRL.

2021 World Rankings - Women's & Wheelchair

Having discussed the men's side of the rankings (see here), we move on to areas that are much newer to the rankings. The women's list goes back to 2017 and the wheelchair list is new for 2021. 

Women's: Ironically Australia seems to take this side of international RL more seriously than the men's. They and New Zealand are a step up on the rest although England is working hard to close the gap. The + and - signs in the 2021 section are changes in ranking compared to 2019. I'm pretty sure a 2020 list was never made. Colour coding is used to show regions.

Wheelchair: If you haven't seen this version of the game, the skill and courage is amazing. It's also a mixed sport for men and women to compete together. France is at the top of the ranking here and they certainly are taking this form of the sport seriously. it is a Europe based sport with only Australia from outside of that region listed. Surely the list will lengthen over the next few years. 

In this brief video, here's a try scored in an international match between England and France. 

2019 World Rankings - Women

The women's game is growing exponentially and that is reflected in the listing below. Five new countries have been added, taking the number to fourteen. (Mind you, that didn't do Lebanon any favours). I can see the number being much higher in 2020.

For now the top two are well ahead of the rest so it will be interesting how the rest and new nations can close the gap on them The modern game is about size and mobility, which both Australia and NZ have. Where Australia is ahead of NZ at present is the mobility aspect.

			Women 2019
			1	Australia	-
			2	New Zealand	-
			3	England	-
			4	PNG	+2
			5	Canada	-1
			6	France	+1
			7	Cook Is	-2
			8	Italy	-
			9	Serbia	New
			10	Fiji	New
			11	Turkey	New
			12	Samoa	New
			13	Brazil	New
			14	Lebanon	-5

NRL Women's Competition : 2018

Four teams contested this series, not as any as I thought would get involved but one can't help but assume that more will join and soon. There is a NSW competition that has run since 2006 but why it isn't part of this NRL version I'm unsure.

One of the negatives I thought about women playing the game is they tried to play it like men. They have different physiques and need to develop their own style. The slogan for the series "Same game, our way" is how it needs to be. One thing I noticed in the NRL series is that excessive physical play is being replaced with skill. That's a natural progression. When you have skill, that is what you want to display and ultimately that is what will win games.

Most of the games are played in Sydney and the NZ team has all away fixtures so things aren't ideal in some ways. It's presumably to keep expenses down as the women's game isn't yet ready to generate enough money to not be cost conscious. So how did it go?

Round One:

Brisbane Broncos 30-4 St George-Illawarra Dragons
Sydney Roosters 4-10 NZ Warriors

Round Two:

Sydney Roosters 4-14 Brisbane Broncos
St George-Illawarra Dragons 22-10 NZ Warriors

Round Three:

Sydney Roosters 26-0 St George-Illawarra Dragons
Brisbane Broncos  32-10 NZ Warriors

	Rk	Team	Pts	W	L	Diff
	1	Brisbane Broncos	6	3	0	+58
	2	Sydney Roosters	2	1	2	+10
	3	NZ Warriors	2	1	2	-28
	4	St George Dragons	2	1	2	-40

Grand Final: 

Sydney Roosters 12-34 Brisbane Broncos

The Broncos came down to Sydney and were hot favourites to win. After a tight start, they took control and led 28-6 by half time. Few points were scored in the second period but it was a forgone conclusion by then.

The Brisbane team was better than the rest of the field and went through the brief season unbeaten. The other three were more evenly matched in terms of quality and all took a win off each other.