How do you prepare to play against a team that has won every game they’ve played this season and every game they’ve ever played against your team, including last year’s grand final?
That’s the challenge Cronulla captain Tiana Penitani will face if the Sharks beat the Cowboys on Saturday in the first week of the NRLW finals.
Penitani will have to lead her squad into battle against the Roosters, an assignment that has proved mission impossible for every other team this season. And even if they win that, they’ll likely face the Brisbane Broncos – who have beaten everyone bar the Roosters – in the grand final. Such is the disparity between the top two teams and everyone else in the NRLW this season.
“I think when you look back to 2023 when there was expansion, it looks very similar to what this year looks like,” Penitani said at Tuesday’s NRLW finals launch. “There are always going to be little teething issues when it comes to expansion and clubs losing really big key players, clubs being able to retain their key players, which creates that disparity.
“But I guess it just speaks volumes on the really successful clubs and how well they run their programs for girls to want to stay there, and it just pushes more emphasis on us growing our development pathways … to try and close that gap.”
This season has seen more players make their debut than in any year since the NRLW was established in 2018. But waiting for development pathways to bear fruit doesn’t solve an issue impacting the competition right now.
Tiana Penitani Gray at the NRLW finals launch on Tuesday.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
“I think that disparity will be sorted out when the game goes … fulltime and there’s a salary cap in place,” Penitani said.
Roosters captain Isabelle Kelly, who steered the Tricolours to the minor premiership after going through season undefeated, was presented with the new Nellie Doherty Shield on Tuesday morning.
