The 2025 NRL Women's season will be the eighth professional season of the NRL Women's Premiership. The number of teams (twelve) is an increase on the 2024 season by the readmission of the New Zealand Warriors and the introduction of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. The expansion in 2025 was confirmed by the NRL in March 2024.[1] The start date and duration of the season was confirmed by the NRL with the release of the draw on 21 November 2024.[2]
Teams
The ten teams that participated in the 2024 season will return for the 2025 season with the addition of the New Zealand Warriors, who return after a four-season hiatus, and new entrant Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
A change to the format of the final series from four teams over two weeks to six teams over three weeks. Winners of 3rd place versus 6th place and 4th place versus 5th place in Week 1 meet 1st place and 2nd place in Week 2 semi-finals. Winners of the semi-finals meet in the Grand Final in Week 3.[2]
Decision on the length of the regular season to use the minimum of eleven rounds required for the twelve teams to play each of their opponents once.
A three-match Women's State of Origin series on 1 May (in Brisbane), 15 May (in Sydney), and 29 May (in Newcastle) 2025. All three matches are to be played on Thursday nights.[7]
The 1st match has been brought forward from 16 May (2024) to 1 May (2025). The 1st match will again precede Magic Round.
Matches are two weeks apart in 2025, whereas they were three weeks apart in 2024.
Both the New South Wales and Queensland State premiership competitions will run in parallel with the 2025 NRLW season. [8] This is a scheduling change for Queensland, which in 2024 ran from early March to late May.
Regular season
The first announcement of the 2025 NRLW season's fixtures is to be released by the NRL (at 11am AEST) on 21 November 2024.[2]
There will be a grand total of 66 regular season matches. The schedule includes 33 double-headers, 18 of which feature the same away club (marked in bold in the Format column). There are 15 double-headers where the home club is the same but teams from two different away clubs feature.[2]
The 2025 season salary cap for clubs is $1,254,000 and the minimum wage for contracted players is $41,800. Squad size is 24 players plus 4 development players.[6] The first transfer signing for the 2025 season was announced on 2 May 2024.
In the recent seasons of 2023 and 2024, Clubs were required to fill their 24-player roster by late May.
Players may be added to each club’s roster from outside the initial squad of 24 as injury replacements. This can be to cover season-ending injuries or a significant number of short-term injuries.