In 2016, the
Cronulla Sharks and
St. George Illawarra Dragons contested a Women's Nine's match, which served as a curtain-raiser to the NRL match between the Sharks and
Sydney Roosters, at
Southern Cross Group Stadium. The Sharks won the match 16–12. In March 2017, the Cronulla Sharks played another Women's Nine's match, this time defeating the
Canberra Raiders by 28–10.
2017 – 2020: Establishment On 6 December 2017, shortly after the conclusion of the
2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup, which concluded with the
Jillaroos defeating the
New Zealand Ferns by 23–16 in the final, it was announced by the
National Rugby League that the inaugural NRL Women's season would operate in a round-robin format, and be held in August 2018, towards the back end of the
men's season, with some matches to be played as curtain-raisers to NRL finals matches. The Grand Final, would be contested between the top two teams at the end of the round robin stage, and be played on the same day as the men's Grand Final. It was also announced that a stand-alone
State of Origin match would also be contested during the representative weekend, in June. The
Newcastle Knights,
St. George Illawarra Dragons,
Brisbane Broncos,
New Zealand Warriors,
Sydney Roosters,
South Sydney Rabbitohs and
Cronulla Sharks all declared their interest in applying for a licence to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's competition. Other clubs, such as the
Melbourne Storm,
Manly Sea Eagles,
Gold Coast Titans,
North Queensland Cowboys,
Canberra Raiders,
Wests Tigers,
Parramatta Eels,
Penrith Panthers and
Canterbury Bulldogs, all decided to delay bidding, citing money and time constraints. On 27 March 2018, the National Rugby League announced that the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors, St. George Illawarra Dragons and Sydney Roosters had won bids to participate in the inaugural NRL Women's competition, commencing in September 2018. The Brisbane Broncos were the most dominant team in the opening three seasons winning all three minor premierships and all three premierships.
2021–present: Competition expansion In June 2021 the NRL announced that the NRLW competition would commence expansion and increase to six teams. Initially this meant adding an additional two teams to the competition; however, the New Zealand Warriors announced that they were withdrawing from the competition due to difficulties of moving through borders during the COVID pandemic and an exodus of players and officials. This created an additional spot in the competition, with the NRL announcing that the Gold Coast Titans, Newcastle Knights and Parramatta Eels would be joining the competition for the 2021 season to keep numbers at six. In March 2022, the National Rugby League and
Australian Rugby League Commission announced that NRLW competition would further expand over the course of the 2023 and 2024 seasons by adding two clubs in each season. Clubs were invited to make submissions to join the league and were required to by April 2022, six were received. The clubs that made submissions for an NRLW licence in the expanded competition were:
Canberra Raiders, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Penrith Panthers and Wests Tigers. The New Zealand Warriors had previously indicated their desire to return a team to the NRLW competition, but they did not place a submission at this time. In June 2022, the NRL changed their stance and decided to bring all expansion sides in together with the four teams all be admitted in the 2023 season and that those four clubs were Canberra, Cronulla, North Queensland and Wests Tigers. Following the announcement both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Penrith Panthers released statements congratulating the clubs that had been chosen and that they both would be interested in joining the competition in future seasons. The 2023 NRLW season ran for 11 weeks with 9 rounds, Semi-finals and a Grand Final with the Newcastle Knights claiming their second premiership and the first of the expanded 10 team competition. On 28 March 2024, the NRL announced that the competition would expand by two teams in the 2025 season, with the addition of Canterbury Bulldogs and the return of the New Zealand Warriors. The 2025 season commenced on the 3rd July with Parramatta defeating Cronulla. ==Clubs==