Canberra Raiders to poach Brumbies as NRLW talent hunt heats up

Raiders chief executive Don Furner and NRLW coach Darrin Borthwick are eagerly awaiting the NRL and NRL Players' Association (RLPA) to finalise the new collective bargaining agreement which will finally allow the club to officially lock in players on contracts.

The Raiders have still been in talks with multiple players, however they have been unable to put pen to paper to date.

So when the CBA deal is made within the next week or two, Borthwick has his sights set on a signing spree, and some Brumbies from the Super W competition are key targets.

"It's obviously attractive to us because they're based here already," the coach said.

"I've been chatting to a few Brumbies and just getting a feel for how they would transition across. There's definitely been a lot of interest."

Borthwick said some rugby union players were lost by league when there was no NRLW pathway in the past, and he's been pitching hard to get them to return to the fold.

"We're trying to get those girls back," Borthwick said.

Part of his sell is making sure they know the women will not be treated any differently to the men, with the same high performance facilities, the same level of professionalism, and their own support staff from coaches, to well-being officers, and everything in between.

"We treat them like rugby league players and they love that," he said.

"That's something that I tell the rugby union girls when I'm trying to get them back - you're coming here to be a rugby league player, you're not coming here to just be a chick that puts footy boots on."

Under the current season plans, the Brumbies women could juggle playing both NRLW and Super W.

However Furner believes with the rapid growth of women's rugby league in recent years, and a future broadcast deal likely to inject big bucks into NRLW, there is an opportunity for union players to stick to just one code before long.

"If our game and what we do for them is better, they'll stay with us the whole time," he said.

And that's the long-term aim of the entire venture - making rugby league the premier women's footy code.

Borthwick has cast the net far and wide on the hunt for NRLW talent.

He will naturally look at players from the Canberra region, and he has also had potential signings from Sydney tour Raiders HQ in Braddon.

Beyond ACT borders, this week Borthwick will travel to Queensland to meet more players he's hoping to sign, and the coach had a keen interest in the Rugby League World Cup action as well.

Two players from New Zealand will fly in soon to meet with the Raiders, and English players are also on his radar.

"I am like a kid in a lolly shop," he said.

"We've been talking to a couple of English girls. They feel welcome here and probably the conditions as well might suit them.

"Obviously a lot of the Jillaroos are tied up into good systems, but from other nations there were a few girls that stood out.

"The emergence of England now is a lot better this World Cup than the last one, and even the Cook Islands is another good nation.

"Don and I spoke about it early on, about the success of the Raiders years ago, when Queensland didn't have a team and they brought down Queenslanders, and then the trend after that was the Warriors didn't have a team, so they brought Kiwis down.

"So we're using a similar type of tactic, because that'll work."

It's clear to see the Raiders are all in on the NRLW.

They've got a big budget boosted by a grant from the NRL and ACT government support, and their major sponsor Parbery Consulting was officially announced Monday - but they're still expecting a shortfall.

It's a loss they're willing to cop though, counting on the Green Machine faithful and rugby league fans nationwide to jump on the bandwagon supporting the women's game.

"Roughly we're budgeting for a $2 million cost - that's all salaries, relocation, accommodation, staff, travel, injuries, medical - everything," Furner explained.

"There probably will be [a shortfall], but that's okay. We're here to promote the game of rugby league. For us to grow the game it's going to cost us, but we're prepared for that."

The Raiders' NRLW squad will have a total of 30 players, and Furner is expecting the CBA to land on a salary cap around $850,000, meaning the average six-month contract would be just under $30,000 each.

They have also partnered with the University of Canberra to offer NRLW players tertiary education.

Furner confirmed the club has already surpassed their membership sign-ups from the same time last year. Whether that's from the new NRLW team alone is not clear, but it is certainly a positive sign.

Raiders fans will have ample opportunity to get to watch the NRLW team in action at Canberra Stadium with Furner hopeful of at least four double-headers at the venue with the NRL team, and Raiders Belconnen to host any other home standalone NRLW games.

"The club is very driven to making this successful," Borthwick said.

"The big thing for me is making sure that we are competitive in our first season, and what we do off the field around the community, we are big on that too.

"The women's game is like footy used to be some time ago - it's rough and tough and there's different skill elements that we're introducing, but the girls still have that straight up the guts mentality that does appeal."

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