Calls for the NRLW to progress to full professional status have been heightened by Ruan Sims as several concerns continue to trouble the league.
No player in the women's game is a full time athlete but Sims is hopeful players will be by the time the 2028 season kicks off.
However, several external factors continue to cast doubt over that goal.
READ MORE: Spurs suffer shootout heartbreak to start post-Ange era
READ MORE: Rugby legend's brother behind Raiders resurgence
READ MORE: Gus balks at $7.5m Tino report as Hasler 'mail' revealed
A major talking point each season has been around the amount of injuries suffered across the league, with clubs this year losing some of their marquee players.
As it stands, 48 players are currently in the NRLW casualty ward, with 18 yet to have a recovery timeline confirmed while another 12 have been ruled out until next season.
While many of those injuries were unavoidable, Sims noted that the risk could have been minimised if players were employed full-time.
"A lot of those could be mitigated or minimised if you are in a professional, full time program because your job is to train, recover, play, prep and all that stuff to be a professional athlete," she said on Wide World of Sports' NRLW Weekly.
"These women are not full time, they are part time. They still have to go to work, go to school, run businesses, families, study … then they only have training a certain number of days a week after 4pm until 8pm or 8.30pm. Everything else is done in their own time.
"By 2028 I would love to see that (full time shift) happen."
Watch the 2025 NRLW premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.
To get the game to full time status external factors including money, the depth of talent and club staffing numbers would also need to be considered.
Players have been vocal with their calls for an increase to both the squad size and length of the competition.
https://omny.fm/shows/nrlw-weekly/nrlw-an-obvious-choice-for-the-new-qld-coach/embed
Instead, the league still operates as an 11-week competition involving 12 clubs and all teams have a squad of 24 players in comparison to the men's who have 30, plus development players.
"The depth of squads is really important," Sims continued.
"I would love to see it go to 30 so that if you do have that ability if you have some injuries to draw on that deeper squad.
"In the acute phase, I would like to see the squad extended.
"I know that there are a lot of arguments saying we don't need to add extra teams but I would like to see more games to get the girls to go full time.
"The only issue with that is where does the money come from to pay for those extra players because the collective bargaining agreement has already been agreed on.
"Do they wait until 2028? Do they bite the bullet and do it now? There is all these things they have to discuss."
"Also, one that we don't talk about much, is that we play a body collision sport where unfortunately sometimes contact injuries happen," the former Jillaroos captain added.
"Even some of the ones we have seen with ankles and knees, it has been studs getting caught in the ground. Sometimes injuries are unavoidable. That is the nature of putting your body in those kinds of positions, you are vulnerable to injury.
"We have seen a lot of big name players go down this year. All of that then begs the question as to where does Origin sit in the season?
"It would come with its own set of issues but it would also resolve some other issues. We don't ever want to see players injured … but there is no one stop shop to fix it.
"This is only a small issue that we are discussing but the ramifications are huge."
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.