‘Need a clear vision’: Jamie Soward positive on NRLW expansion, but says there’s still plenty to do

For Jamie Soward’s Dragons team, that means organising things like travel and accommodation arrangements for away games, but also planning time off work.

Despite the competition adding four new sides, it’s a reminder that there’s still a long way to go.

“If you’ve got a Thursday night game – and we’ve got two of them – the girls are going to need Thursday, and potentially Friday off work,” Soward told CODE Sports.

“The game’s in a real growth phase at the moment, and it’s definitely going to affect the girls that work and who have full-time jobs.

“They’ll have to let their bosses know.

“We’ve already prepared how we want to approach it. We know what days we’re going to be playing. Our first game’s on a Saturday, so we’ll probably head up on Friday, and that’s an extra day off work.

“The frustration at our end was that we didn’t know the length of the competition – we were hearing rumours.

“So it’s just nice to know.”

Soward has the bulk of his roster in place, and is confident of finalising his squad well advance of pre-season getting underway on May 29.

Following that, it’s seven weeks of preparation before the nine-game regular season begins on July 22.

The Dragons have a tough start to the season, playing the reigning premiers Newcastle in round one, before facing 2022 grand finalists Parramatta, and a star-studded Roosters in round three.

“We start with the premiers, and they’ll have the trophy out and they’ll be celebrating their day up in Newcastle,” Soward said.

“That’s a really good test for us straight away and it’s one the girls are excited for – they’ve been talking about it in our WhatsApp group already.

“We’ve got to travel to North Queensland too, so it’s a new experience.

“It’s just exciting to have more women’s footy.”

While it brings some off-field challenges, the longer season means an early loss isn’t necessarily the end of the world.

“Last year, if you lost your first game, you were behind the eight ball,” Soward said of what was a five-game regular season.

“This year’s longer, so you’ve got a chance to build into it. Hopefully you are winning, but you’ve got the chance to have some really good preparation and to use for full squad.”

The Sharks, Raiders, Cowboys and Tigers are the four new sides this season, and the NRL has left the door open for more expansion in 2024.

More teams means more games and more revenue as the NRLW works towards becoming full time, but Soward says the process must be strategic.

“We need to have a clear vision of what we want in the women’s space,” he said.

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“The girls want to go full time, so you need to marry that up with what they need to be compensated so they don’t have to work.

“But there needs to be enough money for that too. Nine games is more free-to-air coverage, so hopefully more coverage for a lot more girls rather than the top 10.

“It’s still in its infancy, but it’s not far away.”