{"id":670464,"date":"2026-05-14T13:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670464\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:35:08","slug":"how-to-grow-rugby-leagues-wsl-tight-games-better-pay-and-use-gladiators-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670464\/","title":{"rendered":"How to grow rugby league\u2019s WSL: tight games, better pay and use Gladiators | Rugby league"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wigan have won more league titles than any other team in men\u2019s rugby league, but their dominance in the women\u2019s game is a recent and rapid development. They swept the board last season, winning the Challenge Cup<\/a>, League Leaders Shield and their first Women\u2019s Super League title since 2018. As Wigan begin the defence of their title against Leeds Rhinos this weekend, we take a look at the main issues facing the league.<\/p>\n

The continued development of the league is reflected in the increase of high-profile coaches leading women\u2019s teams. Denis Betts, the former Wigan, England and Lions player who previously coached in Super League<\/a>, guided Wigan to the treble last year and has led the way for others to follow. The season opener on Saturday between York Valkyrie and Huddersfield Giants brings together two former Bradford Bulls fullbacks, with Leon Pryce in charge of York and the former Scotland coach Nathan Graham now managing Huddersfield.<\/p>\n

Wigan have lost several overseas players since winning the treble but they have signed England international Kelsey Gentles and Wales captain Bethan Dainton from Leeds, the lure of working under Betts a major factor. \u201cIt\u2019s not often that Wigan come calling, is it?\u201d says Gentles. \u201cI felt Denis was going to be a good coach for me, to open up a different kind of rugby. It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve been taught and I thought this would be a good challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wigan returned to the summit in spectacular fashion last season, but they will be pushed hard by St Helens again this year. The two clubs meet in the Challenge Cup final on 30 May \u2013 a repeat of last year\u2019s final. The same names crop up a lot. One of the league\u2019s major weaknesses \u2013 as well as sharing a name with the much more famous football competition \u2013 is the range of ability in the competition. The international players concentrated in the top few clubs stroll to huge wins over the amateurs and teenagers who play for teams in the bottom half.<\/p>\n

Leeds beat Leigh 82-0 in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals; Wigan thrashed 2024 champions York 52-0 in the semi-finals last weekend; and Saints travel to Barrow this Sunday having put 68 points past them in the cup last month. \u201cHaving 70-0 games is not getting bums on seats when we\u2019re trying to get more people engaging to get us to that professional level,\u201d says St Helens player Paige Travis. \u201cPeople are not going to go back. Players don\u2019t want to play in 80-0 games, either. They\u2019re not doing anything for us and or the other team. It\u2019s really tough to get up for those games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully things will improve this season with a change of format. The season will be split after seven rounds, meaning the top four will play each other again home and away before a shortened playoffs. Having spent last season at Parramatta Eels, Travis thinks the WSL would benefit from following the NRLW\u2019s less-is-more model.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the NRLW system, there are not many games, but they are really high quality,\u201d she says. \u201cYou play 11 games and then you might get to a quarter and semi-final. It\u2019s something we definitely could look at. Why are we not using that model? Our seasons are far too long. It\u2019s really important to have a slightly smaller set of important games. Even this year, how it transitions into the top four, will massively help us get ready for that World Cup. It would be nice to see a tighter, maybe six-team Super League. The girls would benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendances at WSL matches range from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand, but double headers with men\u2019s games bring in five-figure crowds. The crowd at Wembley for the double header Challenge Cup final later this month should be the largest ever to see a women\u2019s club game in the UK. There are other ways for the clubs to attract more attention.<\/p>\n

Branching out from the mainstream Super League club brands could help. York were trailblazers when they prioritised the Valkyrie; Featherstone are keeping the Rovers flag flying in the league-mad town; and a relatively tiny investment from BAE Systems, who build their submarines within sight of Craven Park, could make Barrow contenders. Cardiff Demons \u2013 soon to become South Wales Jets \u2013 and ambitious London Broncos are among the best in the second tier.<\/p>\n

The league could also market its players better. The WSL attracts players from a broad social and geographic spectrum. Leeds Rhinos have two army medical officers in Kaiya Glynn and Ella Donnelly. Donnelly reached the semi-finals of the TV show Gladiators, where she was beaten by another rugby league player \u2013 the eventual winner of the show, Emily Bell, a Cambridge graduate who plays for the London Broncos and Jamaica. Gladiators has propelled Donnelly and Bell beyond the sport\u2019s bubble and the pair could help the game reach new audiences.<\/p>\n

Emily Bell, on her way to winning the latest series of Gladiators. Photograph: BBC\/Hungry Bear\/Graeme Hunter<\/p>\n

Raising the profile of the league is tough while only half of the clubs pay players. \u201cI\u2019d like to see us get to a point where at least we can be fully semi-professional and on a similar performance path to other nations,\u201d says Travis, the 26-year-old England back row. \u201cIt\u2019s very important that younger girls eventually don\u2019t have to have a full-time job to be able to play the sport that I love. When we came through, we didn\u2019t see any financial gain from the game, whereas now, it\u2019s really exciting to think those girls can potentially have rugby at the centre of their lives. I\u2019d like to get to the end of my career and think nationally, we\u2019re on a more equal playing field than we are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gentles is one of the league\u2019s most visible players, having worked as a pundit on BBC and Sky. She insists the push for professionalism is not all about finance. \u201cMoney is just one part of it,\u201d says Gentles. \u201cA lot of things go into making a successful squad. It is about a professional mindset. When I went to Huddersfield, there were a lot of off-field things that needed to be changed, to get into that mindset. Money doesn\u2019t really come into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Full-time wages are a way off but the improved facilities available to players reflects a change in attitude at several clubs. WSL teams train three times a week and players have access to staff and facilities unheard of when Travis came through as a teenager. \u201cWhen I started it wasn\u2019t really broadcast much on TV, and the off-field stuff \u2013 such as nutrition, strength and conditioning programmes, and the physio that we get now at our club \u2013 we didn\u2019t have that. You just did gym if you wanted to. It\u2019s just come a long way, but it\u2019s got so much more to go as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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