NRLW Semi-Final - Knights V Brisbane - Sunday 24 September 2:05pm - McDonald Jones Stadium

Yeah I thought Jasmin had a good game yesterday. Did everything the coach would have asked of her.

Yesterday was the first live game of NRLW I've seen this year.
The quality of the game was way above the quality of games last year.
The side that played yesterday would have easily beat our premiership side last year, even though many of them were the same players.
I can't think of an individual player who hasn't improved, and although we've lost players like Dibb, Mazelmann and Boyle, the improvement in players like Upton, Higgins, Clydsdale, Johnston, Parker and the new girls more than makes up for their loss.
I'd say the Broncos side we played yesterday was also easily the best ever Broncos side.
Obviously the girls aren't as big, strong and fast as male players, but skill level wise, they are now very close to NSW cup level.
Isabelle Kelly is a good example. 3 or 4 years ago she was easily the best player in the women's game. She has improved, but she is not a standout anymore. In fact, I don't expect her to be picked for Australia, and I don't know if i'd pick her for the Knights.
Yep definitely, a lot of the really dominant players from previous seasons have either come back to the pack a long way or even become pretty average, and been outperformed by girls on playing their first or second season in this comp. One which really surprised me is Millie Boyle, yes she’s played injured for a bit of it, and yes she still deserves to be thought of as the best forward in the game given what she’s done previously and how good she still was this year… but it’s no longer the case that she’s miles better than every other forward like she was before. Girls like Mato, Togatuki and our own CJ have closed the gap on her massively, and I’d say Taufa is still right up there.

And yeah Izzy Kelly’s “game’s best centre” tag under huge threat now, Mele more unstoppable in attack and Biddle at the Sharks (who is 18 I believe) looks like she’s going to be a way more dominant and impactful workhorse. This could very well be the NZ Warriors centre pairing when they’re re-admitted. Scary stuff.
 
The skill level is improving but it’s a long way off NSW Cup level. There are still major parts of the game that aren’t even SG Ball level; namely awareness and execution on the last tackle. Way too often you’ll see teams taking a hit-up on the last because they have no idea. Happened multiple times yesterday while the Broncos were attacking our line. Teams constantly allowing Olivia Higgins to just walk over the line from dummy half isn’t the best advertisement either. Tiana Davison’s try and a couple that the Knights let in are in the same boat. We’ve also been spoiled a bit because the Knights have had a general level of competence higher than all other teams over the past 2 seasons. Not the case when you watch some of the teams down the bottom of the ladder.

This isn’t meant as a knock because I genuinely enjoy watching it but I find some of the talk around it to be patronising at times. If a team is constantly making dumb decisions like the Broncos did yesterday it’s probably ok for the commentators to mention it. They’d be losing their minds if it was happening in a men’s game.

The awareness side will keep improving with more experience and genuine pathway systems for the juniors to develop in. Hopefully they do go through with the proposed plan of using a smaller ball as well because that would make an immediate dramatic difference to the ball skills across the board I believe.
 
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