BY VIV

Week two of the NRLW is here and there is much to celebrate – its Women in League round and the Canberra Raiders are hosting their first NRLW/NRLM double header at home. The Raiders will be looking to apply the lessons learned from their loss to Cronulla last week.

Waiting to spoil the party are the Sydney Roosters fresh off a 36-18 demolishing of the Brisbane Broncos and establishing themselves as competition favourites for 2023. Certainly they have managed to stretch their salary cap signing Millie Boyle, Tarryn Aiken and Keeley Davis to strengthen a side that was unlucky not to make it to the grand final last year.

Team list Thoughts

Darrin Borthwick has named an unchanged squad this week which hopefully gives our girls the confidence that they can fix some of the issues from Rd1.

Hollie-Mae Dodd in particular will be looking to bounce back after a lackluster performance in round one. Grace Kemp dominated off the bench last week and if she keeps putting in big performances it will be hard not to promote her to the starting line up.

I will also be interested to see how Borthwick uses Chante Temara and Emma Barnes in the hooker role as the season progresses. While Chante was solid on the field, Barnes was able to score a try and create some good attacking opportunities in her limited time on the field.

Matchups

Millie Boyle vs Grace Kemp

Okay, this isn’t really a match up but more an opportunity for us (me) to mourn the fact that Millie didn’t sign with the Raiders even though we all know it made sense. Boyle is a 1.81m tall prop who started in rugby union playing for Royals known for her big runs and big hits. Grace Kemp is a 1.87m tall prop who started in rugby union playing for Royals known for big runs and big hits. I am frothing about watching these two run up against each other on Saturday. 

Madison Bartlett vs Jayme Fressard

Madison Bartlett had 14 runs for 149m, two tries, 3 line breaks and 80% success rate on tackles. In comparison, Fressard had 9 runs for 74m and was unlucky not to score on the weekend after putting a foot in touch while grounding the ball.

Predictions

The Roosters are going to be a tough game for most teams this season. However, I’m sure the Roosters will fold in the cold and a big home crowd bring us home! Raiders by a Zahara Temara field goal slotted right in front of where I’ll be sitting.

To get more of Viv’s takes follow her on Twitter here, like our page on Facebook, follow Dan on Twitter (or Threads!). Don’t hesitate to send us feedback (dan@sportress.org) or comment below if you think we are stupid. Or if we’re not.