Melbourne Storm completed their male pathways in NSWRL competitions in 2024 with their entry into the UNE Harold Matthews Cup and now the club is turning the wheels to begin their female Rugby League journey.
Pauline Poloai is Storm’s Female Pathways Manager and detailed how club officials travelled to three different local government areas in Victoria - Hume, Wyndham and Casey – to source the talent for a development camp.
“These are highly populated Rugby League areas as far as female participants go,” Poloai told nswrl.com.au
“We held a testing and training day to look at the girls physical conditioning.
“From there we brought the top group from each area into a final squad of 30, who we invited to come to Storm headquarters here at AAMI Park.” (Photo above: Simon Rathbone, Melbourne Storm)
Storm has been responding to a 43 per cent jump in female participants in the state this year, which now has more than 1,300 registered.
The short-term goal is to have a Storm side play in the Westpac Lisa Fiaola Cup (Under 17s) within two years.
“The goal is to hopefully have a Lisa Fiaola team in the NSWRL competition by 2026 and then progress from there,” Poloai said.
“We’re trying to feed from our youth upwards in terms of pathways. The extended goal is to get teams into Tarsha Gale (Under 19s) and the Harvey Norman (NSW Women’s Premiership).
“There is a real demand in the female space here in Victoria.
“We’ve seen the numbers shoot up, so while we’re reacting to that, we’re not stopping there."
Victoria's sporting landscape is dominated by Australian Rules football but Poloai senses the ground shifting.
“Here in Victoria with the high profile of our NRL Melbourne Storm team, we’re really wanting to leverage off that and make it a reality for the girls too.
“We want a Storm NRLW team eventually as that competition inevitably keeps expanding.
“We’re going to invest in the girls futures and pathways so that they can see there is a way for them to play NRLW.
“That’s the ambition for us to put those girls on the paddock as our NRLW players.”
