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![\"Canada](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/78823490_pakulism-250713_cd_4764_2025720163030.jpg\"\/)
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\n Canada forward Megan Pakulis became the first North American to play in the NRLW when she debuted for the Titans this season.
\n \u00a9Chloe Davis\/NRL Photos
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Canada coach Matt Baron wants the Ravens to develop a style of play in the IRL Women\u2019s Rugby League World Series 2025 that is reflective of the history of the vast North American country.<\/p>\n
Baron, who has taken over from the Ravens’ foundation coach Mike Castle, believes the tournament in Brampton, Ontario is an opportunity for the team to create their own identity based on the values Canadians pride themselves on.<\/p>\n
\u201cFiji have their religion, New Zealand has the M\u0101ori culture and most teams have something that bind them, but when you play for Canada and people watch us, what does Canadian rugby league look like?,\u201d Baron said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a country of immigrants so what combines Canadians is that we are hardworking people, so it is about hard work, self-sacrifice and doing the tough stuff, which I think lends itself well to rugby league.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe style that we are going to play is going to be our identity moving forward and it has been a process of building a philosophy, because we don\u2019t play rugby league, so what is Canadian rugby league going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Ravens start off strong<\/p>\n
Asked to describe the style he wanted the Ravens to adopt, Baron said: \u201cFlat, fast and aggressive\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be pretty physical and it is going to reflect the people of Canada,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams are certainly going to know that they have played us, and I think that\u2019s why I am excited about this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
After being invited to play at the last two World Cups in 2017 and 2022, the Ravens have to earn their spot at RLWC26 by beating Fiji on October 21 at Terry Fox Stadium, Brampton to set up a play-off against the winner of the Ireland-Nigeria semi-final.<\/p>\n
The winner of the World Series receives the eighth and final spot at next year\u2019s World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea, alongside the Jillaroos, Orchids, Kiwi Ferns, England, Fetu Samoa, France and Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion it is just about the strongest side we can pick and I am really excited to work with them,\u201d Baron said. \u201cWe have done a lot of background work on Fiji, we have looked at key players and how they play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s strength is in the forwards, with their two most accomplished players being lock Megan Pakulis, who plays for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRLW, and St Helens prop Chantelle Crowl, who played in this season\u2019s Super League grand final.<\/p>\n
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\n Canada forward Megan Pakulis became the first North American to play in the NRLW when she debuted for the Titans this season.
\n \u00a9Chloe Davis\/NRL Photos
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New Zealand-based pair Caitlin Sears, who will play hooker, and Rachel Choboter are also forwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel is a utility forward for us and does all the thankless tasks, she will come off her line and whack a few people and do the hard yards,\u201d Baron said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe took the lead to go to New Zealand to play regularly, she has been down there for about 18 months and it was a rugby-based decision to be the best she can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time she comes into camp she looks like a more rounded player. She is pretty versatile, and she is as hard as nails.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaitlin is a very good player, she has a great rugby IQ and is so fit that as a coach you are comfortable thinking, \u2018I\u2019m just going to run her for 80 minutes\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor her size she whacks, and I think that comes from playing in the New Zealand competition against players way above her in weight and height.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baron is also keen to see his left edge of rugby sevens convert Grace Campbell and London Broncos player of the year Lauren Mueller play together against the Bulikula.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrace has gone from being a rugby union player to a student of the game,\u201d he said. “She is always sending me videos of NRL or NRLW every day. That shows that she really wants to showcase her talent at this tournament and do her part, and she is going to turn some heads in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur left edge is going to be pretty strong. Lauren has had a fantastic season, she looks in great shape and I think she will have a great tournament.\u00a0She is a very good winger in returning the ball back, finding space and getting a nose through the line and on the back of that we are going to be able to play quick.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll in all I am pretty pleased with the resources we have. Chantelle Crowl is going to bring that maturity and that level in the middle. I think from watching Pacific Championships games last season that she matches up well with any middle in the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt suits us to be underdogs against Fiji and the players know that they need to rise to the level of Channy, Meg, Rachel and Caitlin. If we can do that we are going to turn some heads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada Ravens squad<\/p>\n
Maddy Aberg, Grace Campbell, Alanna Fittes, Danielle Franada, Rebecca Kochuk, Sarah Maguire (Alberta Broncos), Gabrielle Hindley, Ada Okonkwo, Alayna Scramstad (BC Storm) Megan Pakulis (Gold Coast Titans) Lauren Mueller (London Broncos), Eleta Mitton, Natasha Naismith, Candace Scholten, Beth Hoffstetter, Maddie Hobson, Petra Woods (Ontario Osprey), Rachel Choboter (Otahuhu Leopards), Chantelle Crowl (St Helens), Caitlin Sears (Sydneham, NZ).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada coach Matt Baron wants the Ravens to develop a style of play in the IRL Women\u2019s Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-225141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}