By Viv

The NRLW is back! The Raiders line up for season 3 with a new team list, slightly different jerseys (the white trim is now a blue trim!), new competition, and the same dream of making it to finals and beyond.

Season 2025

In the offseason, we lost Ash Quinlan to the Bulldogs, Apii Nicholls to the Wahs, Tommaya Kelly-Sines to the Sharks, and Shak Tungai to take care of life outside of football. Alanna Dummett, Felice Quinlan, and Georgia Willey don’t have contracts for 2025. Georgia will be running around in the Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership for Cronulla.

It’s hard to assess how the Raiders will go this season. There are big gaps to fill, and when we went to market instead of recruiting the spine players we needed, we got another outside back and more props. Finals expand to a top six, but with two new teams in the competition, it won’t be any easier to get a spot. I’m unconvinced we’ve done enough, but I hope to be proven wrong.

The season starts with three games at home, but the girls travel to both Townsville and New Zealand for away games during the season. They finish up with an away game against the Titans.

Round One

Round one sees the Raiders take on the Dragons at home. Both teams have lost players in the offseason. Alexis Taunaneai and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa were immense for the Dragons up front in 2024, but both have gone to the Bulldogs. The Dragons also lost playmaker Tyla King to the Sharks.  In return, they have signed Hannah Southwell and Nita Maynard-Perrin from the Knights.

Nita Maynard brings experience to the number 14 jersey and her battle with Emma Barnes to see who can find opportunities amongst tired forwards will be worth the watch. The Dragons have a great halves pairing with Raecene Macgregor and Kasey Reh. Teagan Berry will be ready to exploit any slipups with our new combinations, and the Raiders will need to make sure she doesn’t have the opportunity to run.

Looking at the Raiders, Chey Robins-Reti moves to fullback. She played in this position during the preseason trial and was fine, but the move breaks the combination Robins-Reti had with Madi Bartlett. New recruit Leianne Tufuga joins Mackenzie Wiki in the centres. I was expecting Elise Simpson to be named at fullback after her performance in under-19s City/Country, but not this week. Simpson missed the trial through injury; if that’s the case, I expect her to debut when fit.

We have a new recruit on the wing – Isabella Waterman joins us from the Knights, and before that, Super Rugby Aupiki. She was great on the wing during the trial and should give us speed out wide. It will be great to see what she can do after limited opportunities with the Knights. 

Zahara Temara moves to 7 and in this game is joined by Georgia Thomas, who comes to us from the Dragons Harvey Norman Cup side. Sereana Naitokatoka is suspended but you would think she takes the 6 position on her return.  Up front, Chloe Saunders is a new face in the front row, moving over from Cronulla. Coming off the bench is another new recruit, Jordyn Preston, who joins us from St George. 

The most interesting/worrying thing about this lineup is the inclusion of Lili Boyle on the bench. Boyle comes to us from Manly and was signed as a development player. There are plenty of options for that last bench spot, like Tatiana Finau, Jaida Faleono, or Amelia Pasikala. The club said they got an exemption to play Boyle due to “several injuries” in the squad. However, there is no information about who is injured and expected return (At time of writing, the NRL injury list says Canberra is injury free?) Make it make sense!

In conclusion

It’s a new season, we can do anything! Our new combinations and players will kill it, and we start the season strong. Raiders by 8.

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