Vipers president says women's rugby league move to Winter should wait a few years

Martin Power - a Group 10 Junior League life member and current Vipers president - believes any changes to the comp needs to be phased in slowly.

"You don't want to destroy what you've got," he said.

"If you rush it and you don't have the players, the thing will fall over."

Currently, the WWRL season runs from the end of September to the beginning of November. This timeframe means players avoid clashes with sports such as league tag or rugby union.

It does however come with the downside of playing games in warmer conditions, as Wiradjuri Goannas player April Townsend highlighted after their round four clash.

Power noted a discussion between WWRL clubs and NSW Rugby League was held in July where the topic of moving the season to Winter was broached.

He said clubs requested a proposal to say what was happening and how it would all work, but that they were yet to hear back with any solid plan.

"We're nearly at the end of the 2023 and in my opinion, it would be too late now to do it next year," he said of a winter season.

"I would think you need to do it as a three year plan."

Among the numerous headaches moving the season could bring, the obvious one is the aforementioned code clashes.

On top of league tag and rugby union, there is also soccer, AFL and netball to compete against in the Central West.

As much as players may like to believe they can do it all, there's only so many hours in the weekend.

"I think it's successful because of the time of year, but it is going a bit too far towards the end of the year," Power said.

"Eventually I think it goes to Winter, but there's a lot of water under the bridge before it happens. Something's got to give somewhere."

A major worry for Power if NSW Rugby League were to move to WWRL to Winter in 2024 was the organisational concerns that come with running any volunteer-led club.

"If it goes to Winter next year we already lose two committee members, our coaches already coach with CYMS or Hawks. You need to get your gear in order and figure out where we're going to play," he added.

"If you're doing it in 2024, we needed to know 12 months ago."

So far, it's unclear what NSW Rugby League's intentions are in terms of what year they would like to see the competition moved.

While Power was "happy to be proved wrong" he believed to make a Winter comp work, the aim should be for 2027.

"Somewhere along the line you'll have to make that choice, but we're just trying to develop this at the moment," he said.

"You don't try and develop the NRL in four years. It takes a long time to get something up and running."

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