Women’s comp crossover could see best players ineligible for clubs
LOCAL clubs are concerned about their ability to field women’s teams in the opening rounds of the Sunshine Coast Gympie Rugby League competition after representative side the Falcons entered the expanded QRL’s Open Women’s Premiership.
Clubs could be without their best players for eight rounds due to the crossover of competitions and rules stating that women selected for the Falcons are ineligible to play for their club.
However, some players could be made eligible if they are released for individual rounds.
The move has left administrators scrambling to ensure they have enough players.
Beerwah Bulldogs president, Ref Hammill, said the club may struggle to field enough Open Women’s players in the 2024 season, with the team expecting to be missing a number of talented women.
“By the time (the rep comp) finishes, it will be a good chunk of the start of the season without some of the girls,” he said.
“I think we will have four or five girls who will be missing, and we need to find another four or five girls to cover for them while they are gone.
“We will have a team this year but we will be scraping through.”
The SCGRL Open Women’s competition’s start date is likely to begin on March 16 with the Grand Final likely to take place during the NRL Women in League round, on August 3 or 4.
The BMD competition starts on March 2 and concludes on May 12.
SCGRL president, Jodi Price, stressed although the BMD Premiership will cut into the SCGRL season, it is a vital competition to be held, to accelerate women’s rugby league on the Sunshine Coast.
“We have a lot of local women who are up for selection for the team, the problem is if we didn’t have any competition running during the time the BMD runs, then we don’t know how some of our players would get the opportunity to show that they can step up to BMD,” she said.
“Obviously not everyone is going to be selected on numbers, but the backup players that aren’t picked in the playing squad each week, need to have game time under their belts.
“If they don’t have match fitness in game time, we don’t know how they are going to get an opportunity to prove themselves to be able to be picked.”
Hammill said he suspected some clubs with Open women’s teams in 2023, may not be able to enter a team in 2024 because of the competition.
There are also concerns that some teams have also been poaching players, adding to the dilemma for clubs.
Caboolture Snakes president, Natasha Field, is unsure how it will impact clubs, but acknowledged everyone will be impacted.
“Each team on the coast has players in the Falcons squad so I would assume that we are all in the same position,” she said.
“We just have to roll with the decision and make thoughts and provide feedback after the season finishes.”