2018 NRL Women's season

The 2018 NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) was the first season of professional women's rugby league in Australia.

2018 NRL Women's Premiership
Duration	8 September to 30 September 2018
Teams	4
Premiers	Brisbane Broncos (1st title)
Minor premiers	Brisbane Broncos (1st title)
Matches played	7
Points scored	212
Attendance	46,875 (Avg. 11,719)
Top points scorer(s)	Chelsea Baker (38)
Biggest home win	Broncos 30 — 4 Dragons at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (Round 1) 9 September 2018 Roosters 26 — 0 Dragons at Allianz Stadium, Sydney (Round 3) 22 September 2018
Dally M Award	Brittany Breayley
Top try-scorer(s)	Taleena Simon (4)
2019 →

Teams

Colours	Club	Season	Head coach	Captain(s)
	Brisbane Broncos	1st season	Paul Dyer^[1]	Ali Brigginshaw^[2]
	New Zealand Warriors	1st season	Luisa Avaiki^[3]	Laura Mariu^[4]
	St. George Illawarra Dragons	1st season	Daniel Lacey^[5]	Sam Bremner^[6]
	Sydney Roosters	1st season	Adam Hartigan^[7]	Simaima Taufa^[8]

Pre-season

Only two of the four sides, the Brisbane Broncos and New Zealand Warriors, took part in pre-season trial games. The Warriors played two fixtures against a combined Auckland side, while the Broncos played the Papua New Guinea Orchids as a curtain-raiser to the Brisbane Broncos-Manly Sea Eagles NRL fixture. The Sydney Roosters were due to play the North Sydney Bears but the game was cancelled due to player availability.^[9] They instead underwent an opposed session with the Roosters' under-20 Jersey Flegg Cup side.^[10]

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
New Zealand Warriors	32 – 4	Auckland	10 August 2018, 6:00pm	Mt Smart Stadium	Rochelle Tamarua	-
New Zealand Warriors	22 – 16	Auckland	25 August 2018, 3:15pm	Mt Smart Stadium No. 2	Rochelle Tamarua	-
Brisbane Broncos	48 – 14	Papua New Guinea Orchids	2 September 2018, 1:30pm	Suncorp Stadium	-	9,938

Regular season

See also: 2018 NRL Women's season results

The inaugural season will operate under a round-robin format, with games played as curtain-raisers to the 2018 NRL Finals Series. The top two finishing teams will then contest the Grand Final, which is to be played before the men's Grand Final on 30 September.

Round 1

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
Sydney Roosters	4 – 10	New Zealand Warriors	8 September 2018, 3:05pm	ANZ Stadium	Jon Stone Joshua McGowan	17,168
Brisbane Broncos	30 – 4	St. George Illawarra Dragons	9 September 2018, 1:45pm	Suncorp Stadium	Matt Noyen Kasey Badger	47,296
Source: LeagueUnlimted.com^[11]^[12] NRL.com^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16] NZW-SR Highlights NZW-SR Replay BB-SGID Highlights BB-SGID Replay

Round 2

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
Sydney Roosters	4 – 14	Brisbane Broncos	14 September 2018, 5:15pm	Allianz Stadium	Peter Gough Joshua McGowan	19,211
St. George Illawarra Dragons	22 – 10	New Zealand Warriors	15 September 2018, 5:10pm	ANZ Stadium	Matt Noyen Wyatt Raymond	16,274 (48,188)
Source: LeagueUnlimited.com^[17]^[18] NRL.com^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22] SR-BB Highlights SR-BB Replay SGID-NZW Highlights SGID-NZW Replay

Round 3

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
Brisbane Broncos	32 – 10	New Zealand Warriors	21 September 2018, 5:15pm	AAMI Park	Peter Gough Jake Sutherland	26,621
Sydney Roosters	26 – 0	St. George Illawarra Dragons	22 September 2018, 5:10pm	Allianz Stadium	Jon Stone Kasey Badger	15,577 (44,380)
Source: LeagueUnlimited.com^[23]^[24] NRL.com^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28] BB-NZW Highlights BB-NZW Replay SR-SGID Highlights SR-SGID Replay

Ladder

2018 NRL Women's season

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane Broncos	3	3	0	0	76	18	+58	6
2	Sydney Roosters	3	1	0	2	34	24	+10	2
3	New Zealand Warriors	3	1	0	2	30	58	−28	2
4	St. George Illawarra Dragons	3	1	0	2	26	66	−40	2

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top two.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3
1	Brisbane Broncos	2	4	6
2	Sydney Roosters	0	0	2
3	New Zealand Warriors	2	2	2
4	St. George Illawarra Dragons	0	2	2

Grand Final

Sunday, 30 September 1:35pm

Brisbane Broncos	34 – 12	Sydney Roosters
Tries: Kimiora Nati (5', 17', 45') 3 Heather Ballinger (13') 1 Ngatokotoru Arakua (24') 1 Lavinia Gould (28') 1 Goals: Chelsea Baker 5/6 (6', 15', 18', 25', 47')	1st: 28 – 6 2nd: 6 – 6 Highlights Report^[29]^[30]	Tries: 1 (10') Tazmin Grey 1 (43') Lavina O'Mealey Goals: 2/3 Zahara Temara (4', 44')

ANZ Stadium Attendance: 16,214 (82,688) Karyn Murphy Medallist: Kimiora Nati (Brisbane) Referee: Jon Stone, Kasey Badger

Team lists:

FB 1 Chelsea Baker WG 2 Julia Robinson CE 3 Meg Ward CE 4 Amber Pilley WG 5 Amelia Kuk FE 6 Kimiora Nati HB 7 Ali Brigginshaw (c) PR 8 Heather Ballinger HK 9 Brittany Breayley PR 15 Chelsea Lenarduzzi SR 11 Teuila Fotu-Moala SR 12 Maitua Feterika LK 13 Rona Peters Substitutes: IC 10 Steph Hancock IC 14 Lavinia Gould IC 16 Mariah Storch IC 17 Ngatokotoru Arakua Coach: Paul Dyer

FB 1 Karina Brown WG 2 Brydie Parker CE 3 Shontelle Stowers CE 4 Isabelle Kelly WG 5 Taleena Simon FE 6 Lavina O'Mealey HB 7 Zahara Temara PR 8 Ruan Sims HK 9 Nita Maynard PR 10 Elianna Walton SR 11 Tazmin Grey SR 12 Vanessa Foliaki LK 13 Simaima Taufa (c) Substitutes: IC 14 Kylie Hilder IC 15 Sarah Togatuki IC 16 Victoria Latu IC 17 Kandy Kennedy Coach: Adam Hartigan

References

1. "Meet Our New NRLW Coach – Paul Dyer". Brisbane Broncos. 12 June 2018.
2. "Broncos Name NRL Women's Captains". Brisbane Broncos. 29 August 2018.
3. "Meet Luisa Avaiki – NRL women's premiership head coach" – via www.warriors.kiwi.
4. "Warriors captain Laura Mariu sees big gain from Kiwi pain". National Rugby League. 6 September 2018.
5. Jennings, Mitch (22 March 2018). "Lacey named Dragons coach". Illawarra Mercury.
6. "Bremner to captain Dragons' Women's Premiership team". St George Illawarra Dragons. 24 August 2018.
7. "NRLW Squad Update | Round 1". Sydney Roosters. 7 September 2018.
8. "Simaima Taufa named captain of Women's Premiership team". Sydney Roosters. 1 September 2018.
9. "Sydney Roosters Women's Trial Cancelled". Sydney Roosters. 21 August 2018.
10. "Opposed session with men has Roosters women ready". National Rugby League. 7 September 2018.
11. "Results: 2018 NRL Holden Women's Premiership Round 1". League Unlimited. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
12. Davies, Justin (9 September 2018). "Baker double helps NRLW Broncos thrash Dragons". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
13. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Roosters 4 v 10 Warriors". NRL. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
14. Newton, Alicia (8 September 2018). "Warriors shock Roosters in women's premiership opener". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
15. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Broncos 30 v 4 Dragons". NRL. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
16. Golden, Josh (9 September 2018). "Breayley and Baker spark Broncos' demolition of Dragons". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
17. Robertson, Josh (14 September 2018). "Broncos book NRLW Grand Final spot with tough win". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
18. Robertson, Josh (15 September 2018). "Dragons keep Grand Final hopes alive". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
19. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Roosters 4 v 14 Broncos". NRL. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
20. Stanton, Tanisha (14 September 2018). "Broncos maintain perfect record after outclassing Roosters". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
21. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Dragons 22 v 10 Warriors". NRL. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
22. Newton, Alicia (15 September 2018). "Dragons outclass Warriors for first NRLW win". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
23. Robertson, Josh (21 September 2018). "Broncos charge over Warriors into Grand Final". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
24. Robertson, Josh (22 September 2018). "Simon's awesome foursome helps Roosters book GF spot". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
25. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Broncos 32 v 10 Warriors". NRL. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
26. Walsh, Dan (21 September 2018). "Unbeaten Broncos charge into NRLW grand final". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
27. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Roosters 26 v 0 Dragons". NRL. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
28. Newton, Alicia; Stanton, Talisha (22 September 2018). "Simon scores four as Roosters reach NRLW decider". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
29. "Telstra Women's Premiership – Broncos 34 v 12 Roosters". NRL. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
30. Newton, Alicia (30 September 2018). "Broncos smash Roosters to win inaugural NRLW". NRL. Retrieved 4 July 2022.

External links

• Official website