BY VIV

The New Zealand Rugby Union has announced its women’s calendar for 2026. For the XV girls, Pacific Four is in April, Super Rugby Aupiki moves to June-August, and the WXV test series is played in September/October.

Rugby Australia has been too busy gutting its women’s program to post its planned fixtures for 2026. Still, you would assume it would follow a similar structure given that Australia plays in the Pacific Four, the Laurie O’Reilly Cup (women’s Bledisloe), and WXV. There is also a fixture where the winner of Super Rugby AU plays the winner of Super Rugby Aupiki.

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re wondering what this has to do with a Canberra Raiders blog? The semi-professional status of women’s rugby means players have jumped between codes to chase a wage/opportunities. The rearrangement of this calendar effectively removes the ability for players to play both Super Aupiki (or probably Super W) and NRLW. Financially, options are as follows*

• NRLW minimum wage 2026 $46 200 for the season
• Super Rugby Aupiki minimum wage $15 000 (2023)
• Super W minimum wage $4000 (plus any payments from clubs)

* These numbers are limited by what publicly available information I could find; feedback/corrections encouraged 

For players who can turn an Aupiki or Super W season into a Wallaroos or Black Ferns contract, the sacrifice can be justified (although not as lucrative as rugby league representative honours). However, for players whose ceiling is the local competition, they will need to pick and stick early. 

The Raiders have recruited players like Chey Robins-Reti and Isabella Waterman from Super Rugby Aupiki. Both of these players are off contract and have to make some hard choices about the pay being offered in NRLW compared to the comfort of playing the game they love at home. If Super W keeps their fixtures in March/April, the opportunity to play both codes still exists, but it means more time in Australia.

It will be interesting to see how these changes affect future recruitment decisions for the Raiders, who need to be more resourceful with recruiting compared to bigger clubs.

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