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FWC on Sport Nation guide'The better game' beckons elite NRLW converts
Jasper Bruce, AAP •  July 1st, 2026 2:42 pm
NRLW captains ahead of 2026 season kick-off | Photo: AAP
Tiana Penitani Gray believes this season's swathe of players defecting to "the better game" represents the best cross-code influx into the NRLW yet.
But the veteran Cronulla captain warns the transition into rugby league can come with challenges for sevens athletes.
Nine of the 12 NRLW sides are welcoming at least one player from another code onto their roster for the 2026 campaign that begins when Cronulla host Newcastle on Thursday.
The biggest name is Olympic sevens representative Teagan Levi, who joins Gold Coast on a one-year deal before preparations for the Los Angeles Games ramp up.
"She's a person of good habits and good intentions so she's really fits right in," Titans captain Georgia Hale told AAP.
Fellow Commonwealth Games gold medallists Madison Ashby (Cronulla) and Sariah Paki (Sydney Roosters) are also preparing for forays into the NRLW.
Penitani Gray likened the influx to the 2020 NRLW season, when Olympic gold medallists Evania Pelite, Ellia Green and Charlotte Caslick all made the transition as the Tokyo Games were postponed.
"We saw what it was like when we had Ellia Green and Evania Pelite first come over and absolutely tear up with the Warriors years ago," she told AAP.
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"(Now) you've got Sariah Paki, Teagan Levy, Maddie Ashby all of those girls.
"I definitely think it's going to be the best year yet ... it's such an exciting thing for our game to be able to have the calibre of those athletes finally be enticed to come across and play the better game."
Penitani Gray, who played sevens for Australia at the youth Olympics in 2014, said the transition into the NRLW was not always a simple one.
"The only similarities in our game are the fact that we tackle and we pass the ball backwards," she said.
"Everything else is completely different. Running lines, the structure of the game, the way you play, the tempo of the game is different.
"For them this season, it'll just be really simple messaging and doing what they do well."
Australia's most-capped women's rugby union international Ash Marsters has also joined North Queensland following 45 caps for the Wallaroos.
Marsters is expected to play in the middle of the field, but is believed to be taking time to adjust to the transition to her new code.
The 32-year-old is expected to start the season in reserve grade with the aim of breaking into Ricky Henry's NRLW side later in the season.
"She just brings a lot of energy so I think we'll get a lot out of her this season," Cowboys forward Bree Chester told AAP.
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