‘Too early’ to say if NRLW is too lop-sided: CEO
Jasper Bruce |
Andrew Abdo says it’s too early to say whether the NRLW has become too lopsided despite the newly expanded competition entering finals with two overwhelming frontrunners.
It comes as Brisbane veteran Ali Brigginshaw suggests increasing squad sizes as a way to keep all 12 teams competitive throughout the season.
The Sydney Roosters and Broncos are tipped as much likelier to win the 2025 premiership than the other four sides still in contention, following the first regular season since the expansion from 10 teams.
The Roosters enter finals undefeated and handed the Broncos their only loss, with bookmakers rating Newcastle the next-likeliest side to taste grand-final glory this year.
The Knights are still rank $26 outsiders with most bookmakers, though, compared to the highly fancied Roosters and Broncos both hovering around the $2 mark.
But NRL chief executive Abdo declared it was too early to make the call about whether the competition had become lopsided by the addition of two extra teams this year.
“In any given year you’re going to have some teams that are at the top of the ladder, some teams that are at the bottom of the ladder,” he said at the NRLW finals launch.
“Now we’ve got a finals series and let’s see what happens.
“I think it’s too early to talk about the balance of the competition because this competition is quite dynamic, continues to grow and evolve, and the quality of football and footballers is increasing.
“That’s obviously really pleasing.”
But statistics show the gap between the bottom and top sides has widened this year.
The Broncos, the league’s best attacking team, scored more than four times as many points as wooden spooners Wests Tigers, the league’s worst for that category.
Last year, the best attacking side was a little more than 2.5 times better than the worst by points scored across the regular season.
The average winning margin of games has also increased by almost a try, up from 14.2 points last regular season to 18 in 2025.
The NRL has previously been praised for its slow-burn approach to expansion, with the league slowly growing from four teams in 2018 to the current 12-team format.
There is no timeline yet for reaching parity with the men’s competition as the league prioritises ensuring there is a big enough talent pool to fill each side.
NRLW foundation player Brigginshaw has been pleased with the expansion to 12 teams, but said the size of squads also needed to grow.
While the men’s competition features squads of 30 players plus at least six development players, NRLW squads have 24, plus up to four development players.
That has left teams vulnerable when injuries take its toll in the longest season yet.
Gold Coast, for example, needed to fish four uncontracted players out of reserve grade this season to make up the numbers amid an injury crisis.
“The 12 teams have been quite strong, I know we’ve seen some scores blow out but I do think that’s to do with the squad numbers,” Brigginshaw told AAP.
“I definitely think we could extend those squads to 30, I know personally we do an opposed game (at training) and you don’t have enough people to play against.
“I just think that will bring the standard up for each team, if we can have squads of 30, just to make sure that we’re really working on upskilling everyone.”
AAP
