The Jillaroos have become a victim of their own success — but there’s a way for the women’s game to still feature in the NRL’s Las Vegas rugby league spectacle.
The Australian Test outfit destroyed England in a 90-4 bloodbath, leading decision makers to scrap the fixture and instead have only three games on the schedule.
It wasn’t a good representation of women’s rugby league and even legend Kylie Hilder admits she turned off her television as the Jillaroos ran in 17 tries.
But she has a solution: Jillaroos vs The World.
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New Zealand took it to Australia in their last Test outing, with the Jillaroos winning 10-4.

But across their past six Test outings, the Jillaroos have scored 282 points and conceded only 12, with their last loss coming in the 2023 Pacific Championships against the Kiwi Ferns.
Before that, you have to think back to the 2016 Anzac Test, where New Zealand bested the Aussies 26-16 in Newcastle.
For Hilder, who stepped down as NSW State of Origin head coach in November last year, putting the Jillaroos against a star-studded global line-up is the only option.
“The idea of taking the Jillaroos over there was to showcase women in rugby league, and they have become a victim of their own success,” Hilder told foxsports.com.au.
“That (game) didn’t showcase too much at all … it actually just showcased how far behind another country are in regards to women’s rugby league.
“So the idea of Vegas is to showcase our game and the quality of it … the women’s game is growing but it needs to be a lot closer, we need to have some sort of game.
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“It’s really hard with the calendar to send an Origin game, it just doesn’t work. So take the Jillaroos side over and put together a world side.
“It’d be a great event. Get our Jillaroos, and then we’ve still got some quality players that don’t play that miss out every year.
“Then you’re throwing in the best players around the world in there. I think it would be a great spectacle, I think people would love to watch that.
“You see the best players from across the world … I think it’d be a lot closer and more competitive as well.”
Not only would the fixture benefit the best players from around the world, those on the fringes of Jillaroos selection could also feature.
It would allow players from other nations to continue to be part of elite environments, taking the skills and experience back to their respective Test and NRLW squads.
“The benefit of having an all-star world side was that you could have some of our Australian players that don’t make the Jillaroos mixed in with other players from other countries,” Hilder said.
“That’s only going to benefit those players from other countries as well.
“They’re in camp with some of our elite players, they’re going to learn, they’re in that environment so it’s sort of a learning as well, was my thought.”
A simple look at the NRLW Dally M Team of the Year proves a World team would give the Jillaroos a genuine test.
Kiwis gun Gayle Broughton is a genuine superstar and was named Five-Eighth of the Year, while Aussie hooker Emma Manzelmann had a stellar campaign with the Cowboys.
But Manzelmann missed out on Jillaroos selection, alongside Sheridan Gallagher, who has proven to be a rampaging winger for the Knights.
Jillaroos Shannon Mato celebrating a try during the Jillaroos V England Test Match.Source: News Corp Australia
While Jocelyn Kelleher has been named in the extended squad for the Pacific Championships final, she could partner Broughton in a World halves pairing — one that would be well and truly competitive.
That’s not even mentioning Romy Teitzel, whose omission from the Jillaroos squad shocked many after a barnstorming Broncos campaign.
Throw in the mix Payton Takimoana, Raecene McGregor, Patricia Maliepo, Georgia Hale, Elsie Albert, Martha Mataele, Taliah Fuimaono, Destiny Brill, among a whole host of other names and there’s a genuinely star-studded squad to be named.
Hilder would also love to see players take a leaf out of Jason Taumalolo and Payne Haas’ book, after they decided to represent Tonga and Samoa respectively, rather than Tier 1 Test nations.
By female athletes representing their heritage, instead of the Jillaroos, the talent in that side could be spread across the international game.
“I would love to see more Australian girls play for their heritage, because it would even the competition out,” Hilder said.
“We’ve seen Samoa, they were quite a lot stronger than what they’ve ever been, we’ve seen some of those players go and choose to play for Samoa.
“If a few more did that and we spread the talent, obviously the World Cup is going to be a lot better competition, which at the end of the day we want to promote the game.
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“If we have closer games, it’s better. But if we’re having like we did where the Aussies go over to Vegas and beat England like they did, that did nothing for our game.
“That didn’t showcase what women’s rugby league is about at all … leading into a World Cup, you want closer games, competition to be better.”
Hilder also believes that the improvement of the Kiwi Ferns simply comes down to more athletes participating in the NRLW.
“The game on the weekend against New Zealand was a lot closer, and that’s purely because we’ve got more of the New Zealand girls playing,” she said.
“I think the quality of our competition is making players better. That’s the difference between our players and those across the world.
“We’ve seen a big difference, even the New Zealand team, over the last few years they haven’t been great.
“But on the weekend we’ve seen the benefit of them playing in the NRLW, the quality of their team is getting better, they’ve got better players to choose from.”