The new NRL Telstra Women’s Premiership season kicks off on Thursday, July 25, as the buzz around the women’s game continues to increase. Following a record-breaking Women’s State of Origin series, superstars like Tamika Upton, Jaime Chapman, Millie Elliot and Ali Brigginshaw are ready to light it up for their clubs across nine rounds of unmissable footy.
You can catch the action up close in the stadium, with games taking place across Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra, Townsville, Wollongong and the Central Coast (Gosford), ahead of the Finals in September.
When you can’t make it to games, you’ll be able to watch live on free-to-air TV with Nine once again showcasing every game of the 2024 NRLW competition live and free – and if you’re out or you miss a live game, you’ll be able to stream it from anywhere at any time on 9Now.
The competition keeps growing – in quality, number of teams and popularity with audiences. Last year, more than a million viewers tuned in to watch the NRLW 2023 Grand Final. And the NRL recently confirmed that next year, in 2025, the NRLW will expand to 12 teams – with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the New Zealand Warriors joining the existing 10 teams.
Time Out editor Alice Ellis is a big women’s sports fan. As well as having previously led the Women in Sport Awards back in her role as deputy editor of Women’s Health magazine, she has also worked at the NRL, for NRL Touch Football, back when the NRL Women’s competition first launched. She’s keen to encourage her Time Out audience to get behind these athletes during this bumper season, so she’s put together this explainer – find out how to watch and everything else you need to know to follow along.
When does NRLW 2024 start and what are the key dates?
The NRLW 2024 season kicks off on Thursday, July 25, and runs for nine rounds (45 games), followed by a two-week Finals Series involving the top four teams (11 weeks of Premiership action in total). You can view dates of all games in the NRLW draw here.
Round 2 is Harvey Norman Women in League Round, which includes a bumper NRLW double-header in Sydney at Allianz Stadium during the day on Saturday, August 3, featuring the Eels vs Sharks and Roosters vs Broncos (get tickets here).
The nine regular rounds and then semis will take us through to the NRLW Grand Final 2024, which will be played on Sunday, October 6, on the same day as the men’s NRL Grand Final, at Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park. To suss out tickets for the combined 2024 NRLW and NRL Grand Finals, head over here.
What about the NRLW State of Origin 2024?
The 2024 Women’s State of Origin series – the first ever three-game women’s series – took place in May and June. There were record crowds of 25,000-plus in the first two games, Game Three saw the first ever sell-out and the series achieved record broadcast ratings (close to 2 million viewers tuned into Game One alone). After a loss in Game One and win in Game Two, Queensland was eventually victorious, retaining the shield in the historic series decider, defeating the NSW Sky Blues 22-6.
The NRLW 2024 draw:
You can see all games in the full NRLW 2024 season draw over here.
How do you get tickets to NRLW games?
You can grab tickets to any of the NRLW 2024 season games over here.
How can you watch the NRLW on TV?
You can watch every match of the NRLW 2024 season free to air on the Nine Network. And if you’re out or you miss a live game, you’ll be able to stream it from anywhere at any time on 9Now. Every game will also be live on Fox Sports and Kayo.
There will also be a dedicated weekly women’s rugby league show on Channel 9 and 9Now called NRLW Wrap. And a dedicated podcast, NRLW Weekly, hosted by Marlee Silva and Ruan Sims.
Nine’s got a stellar commentary line-up for the 2024 NRLW season, including: former Jillaroos stars Ruan Sims and Allana Ferguson, hosts Emma Lawrence, Danika Mason and newcomer Marlee Silva, plus Roosters captain Millie Elliot, along with support from the whole Wide World of Sports rugby league team (Billy Slater, Andrew Johns, Cameron Smith, Darren Lockyer and Brad Fittler).
When is the 2024 NRLW Grand Final?
After the success of last year’s combined men’s and women’s Grand Final day, the 2024 NRLW Grand Final will again be held on the same day as the NRL Grand Final – on Sunday, October 6, at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Suss out tickets over here.
What teams are in the NRLW 2024 Premiership?
Last year, the number of teams in the NRLW competition increased from six to 10.
These four new teams joined the competition:
- Wests Tigers
- Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
- Canberra Raiders
- North Queensland Cowboys
The new teams joined these existing six teams:
- Sydney Roosters
- Parramatta Eels
- St George Illawarra Dragons
- Newcastle Knights
- Brisbane Broncos
- Gold Coast Titans
What are the NRLW teams to watch in 2024?
Newcastle Knights: They’ve won back-to-back NRLW Premierships (in 2023 and 2022), capping off an incredible climb from finishing bottom of the ladder in the previous year. They've still got star fullback Tamika Upton, arguably the world’s best player, as well as champion Jillaroo Caitlan Johnston-Green and next-gen sister duo Jesse and Hannah Southwell.
Gold Coast Titans: The Titans made the 2023 NRLW grand final against the Newcastle Knights, and were winning for much of the game – the Knights twice came from behind to eventually defeat the Titans 24-18. The Titans have 2023 Golden Boot winner Georgia Hale on their side – Hale plays for the Kiwi Ferns, and helped them defeat Australia’s Jillaroos for the first time since 2016. They also have Jaime Chapman – who scored a hatrick in the 2023 Grand Final and made stunning length-of-field tries in Origin. She’s emerging as one of the serious young guns of the game.
Sydney Roosters: The Tricolours were lucky to nab touch football speed star Tarryn Aiken from the Broncos for the 2023 season. Aiken’s a consistent performer and was the star of this year’s State of Origin 2024, recording two try assists and a linebreak, and running 88 metres against NSW’s line in the deciding game of the three-game series – helping Queensland retain the shield. They also have three-time Premiership winner Millie Elliott (nee Boyle), Jillaroo mainstay Isabelle Kelly, former golden boot winner Jessica Sergis, Kiwi Ferns rep Amber Hall, young gun Otesa Pule – and experienced former Jillaroos star Sam Bremner has even come out of retirement to return to the squad. That said, the team has been ravaged by injuries throughout the past couple of weeks.
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks: When it comes to the newer teams in the comp, the Sharks have shown strong promise ahead of their 2024 season, with a dominant first half in their recent 20-all trial draw against strong side the Roosters. They’ve got a great mix of seasoned talent (including Rugby 7s Olympic gold medallist and Jillaroos World Cup winner Emma Tonegato, another former Australian Rugby 7s rep Tiana Penitani and kick-arse halfback Tayla Preston) and newer stars (Tayla Preston, Ellie Johnston and Georgia Ravics).
Some fun NRLW facts:
32km/hr: This is how fast Sharks player Emma Tonegato can sprint during a game. That’s literally as fast as the roadrunner bird.
501 tackles: This is the astonishing number of tackles that Titans titan made in 11 games of the 2023 season. The next closest contender was Raiders player Simaima Taufa, with 337 tackles.
84 points: This is how many points experienced Broncos star Ali Brigginshaw scored across nine NRLW games in 2023, making her the highest point-scorer of the season.
A short history of women’s rugby league and the NRLW:
This year, 2024, marks the seventh year of a professional (paid) domestic women’s Rugby League competition in Australia. The NRLW Premiership launched in 2018 with just four teams, and has built up to 10 teams from there. Yet the establishment of the competition was a long time coming.
Local comps had been running in parts of Australia since the 1920s. It took until 1995 for the Australian Women's Rugby League to be made official – that’s when the first national side (the Jillaroos) was established. That year, Australia hosted the inaugural series of Test matches (against New Zealand), and the next year we hosted another Test tour (against Great Britain).
During the late ’90s, rep teams started competing in the National Championships, and 1999 saw the introduction of an interstate series between NSW and Queensland (the Nellie Doherty Cup – which rebranded to State of Origin in 2018 alongside the establishment of NRL Women’s).
The year 2000 saw the establishment of the Women's Rugby League World Cup, which Australia’s Jillaroos are reigning champions of after successive wins in 2013, 2017 and 2022. Greater visibility of the women’s game (through state, national and international competitions) led to growth in popularity of the sport, and demand for the establishment of the professionalised and televised NRL Women’s Premiership.
The rise of the NRLW is in turn helping drive rapid growth at a grassroots level. There are now 45,000 female participants (up from 24,000 three years ago) playing Club Rugby League across Australia – which means plenty of fresh talent will be coming up through the ranks to ensure that the future of the women’s game looks bright.
To get around NRLW 2024, you can buy tickets to games here, or you can watch every match of the NRLW 2024 season free to air on Nine or stream via 9Now. You can also watch it on Fox Sports or Kayo.