BY VIV
After a lacklustre 2025, the Raiders are finally making some recruitment moves. On November 25th, the Raiders announced the departure of Cheyelle Robins-Reti, Kerehitina Matua, Ua Ravu, Tatiana Finau, Claudia Finau, Georgia Thomas, and Jaida Faleono. This week, the club announced the signings of Sheridan Gallagher, Krystal Blackwell, Bobbi Law, and Ellie Brander.
Foundation Raider Chey Robins-Reti signed with Newcastle after a disappointing final season in the green. In return, we have signed Sheridan Gallagher. Gallagher is the Raiders’ highest-profile signing since their first season. Gallagher won a premiership with the Knights in 2023 and was the 2025 NRLW Dally M winger of the year. Scoring 9 tries in 13 games in 2025, she brings some desperately needed finishing ability to the Raiders. In her spare time, she has been playing for the Newcastle Jets in the A-League, where she was the top goalscorer for the 2024-25 season. She has used her time in the beautiful game to work on her skills in contact.
Signing number two is a homecoming; Krystal Blackwell came up through the Raiders junior teams but has played for the Cowboys the last two seasons scoring 5 tries in 2025 While she started in five-eighth, most of her career has been at wing and fullback; she has speed to burn as the Raiders found out in 2024.
Bobbi Law comes from the Dragons, seeking to never be tackled by Isabella Waterman again. An interesting signing, she has had some great moments for the Knights and for the Indigenous All-Stars team, but her time at the Dragons was limited by injury (hamstring and appendix). If she can stay injury-free, Law will be pushing for a centre spot.
The Raiders’ backline should be firing next season. There will be 8 starting NRLW players (Bartlett, Wiki, Tufuga, Simpson, Waterman, Law, Gallagher, and Blackwell) to go into 5 spots in the backline. Is there a plan for one of these players (Blackwell?) to move into the spine? Releasing Georgia Thomas and Ua Ravu depletes our depth in the halves. Emma Barnes’ 2026 plans are to be confirmed. Otherwise, there is a very real world where one or two of these players are playing for Mounties in 2026
The other signing this week was Ellie Brander. A Roosters development player in 2025, she gets her opportunity via a recommendation from Blake Austin. Brander’s role will be to develop her game at Mounties and be a Raider of the future.
The Raiders say goodbye to Kere Matua, who revolutionised the way we look at hip drop tackles in the women’s game (what is it about playing the Dragons that fills the Raiders women with bloodlust?). Otherwise, Jordyn Preston doesn’t have a contract for 2026 yet. The Raiders need to sort that out over the summer. Assuming Sophie Holyman recovers from her leg injury suffered in the Pacific Championships, our forwards will include Holyman, Kemp, Dodd, Boyle, Saunders, Taufa, Soliola, and Preston (hopefully).
The real competition for spots should improve the quality of football in 2026. Could this be the year the Raiders make the finals and beyond?
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