The burgeoning reputation of the NRLW has attracted Niall Williams, sister of dual-code rugby legend Sonny Bill Williams, to sign up for the 2023 season.
Niall, 34, is an established cross-code sports star in her own right, having played 143 games for the New Zealand Rugby Sevens side.
She has penned a deal to join the Gold Coast Titans, one of the established NRLW teams who will be joined by four new sides to take the competition up to 10 teams for 2023.
Williams told the Titans’ official website: “The Gold Coast were one of the clubs that took the time to bring me up here and show me around their facilities and Karyn Murphy was amazing, sold the dream to me and so I said yes.
“I watched [the NRLW] every week last year and the level of footy has gone out the gate. I wanted to be a part of that and the opportunity came up and I couldn’t say no.
“New Zealand is going crazy watching what is going on over here… the NRLW has absolutely taken off.
“[Sonny Bill] is really stoked for me and looking forward to how I go with this adventure too.
“I’ve always been an athlete who thrives on being in uncomfortable positions and growing myself when I can.
“I feel like I’ve done everything in the circuit of sevens. For me, I still feel like I have a few more years to run around with these legs, so I thought why not give it a go.”
Cross-code siblings
Williams is a World Cup winner with New Zealand and also won a Gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Williams played alongside Sonny Bill in the All Blacks Sevens, as one of four brother-sister combos.
Sonny Bill is one of the greatest male rugby players of modern times, winning two Rugby (Union) World Cups with New Zealand. He missed out on New Zealand’s Rugby League World Cup win in 2008 having left Canterbury Bulldogs that year to join French rugby union side Toulon.
He played 123 games in the NRL for Canterbury and Sydney Roosters and even played five games in Super League for Toronto Wolfpack, having joined them pre-COVID on a two-year deal worth a reported £5.4m.
As well as playing 58 times for the All Blacks and winning two NRL Premierships, Sonny Bill also tried his hand at professional boxing, win nine of his 10 professional bouts.
Williams’ World Cup hopes for Kiwi Ferns?
Niall Williams can play in the forwards or the backline, and has also previously captained New Zealand in touch football.
Her switch to rugby league comes also with one eye on the 2025 World Cup in France.
Kiwi Ferns coach Ricky Henry said: “I am looking forward to seeing her develop in that space. I don’t want to put too much pressure on her, but it’s exciting for the women’s game.
“It will be interesting to see how they [the New Zealand sevens] players go.
“It’s obviously a different game with some big differences, but I am interested to see how they transition. It’s a positive to have them interested.
“We will see if it’s something they want to keep doing in the future. There will be a 5-6 month timeframe they’ll be playing NRLW and fingers crossed they want to stay in league.”
Excitement builds around NRLW
The salary cap increase in the NRLW is making it increasingly attractive to players of both codes, and three English players have also agreed deals to move Down Under, effectively becoming the first professional English rugby league women’s players.
Hollie Wilson became the first English player to pen a deal in the NRLW, joining Canberra Raiders. Former Woman of Steel Georgia Roche has confirmed her departure from Leeds, and is expected to join Newcastle Knights. Her Leeds team-mate Fran Goldthorp is expected to link up with Williams at Gold Coast.
The salary cap has increased from $350,000 to $900,000, with the season expected to run for 11 weeks – nine regular season games, a play-off semi-final and the Grand Final.
New clubs Canberra, Cronulla, North Queensland and Wests Tigers have joined Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Parramatta, St George-Illawarra and Sydney Roosters in the competition.
A number of former men’s NRL players are tasked with head coach roles in the NRLW, including former Australia internationals Scott Prince (Brisbane), Dean Widders (Parramatta) and Brett Kimmorley (Wests).
Ex-Bradford and Wakefield half-back Ben Jeffries is taking charge of North Queensland, while Jamie Soward, who had a spell in Super League with London Broncos, is heading up St George-Illawarra.
The starting date of the season is as yet unknown, but the Grand Final is expected to be on the same weekend as the men’s on October 1.
Pre-season is expected to start in May, with players being paid for seven weeks prior to the season starting.
MORE: First-ever Woman of Steel the latest English player to make NRLW move
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