NRLW 2021 v NRLW 2022: The numbers behind the rise in quality

The second season of the NRL Telstra Women’s Premiership in 2022 produced better numbers statistically than the first, highlighting the benefits of match fitness and conditioning.

It was a year like no other for the NRLW since its inception in 2018 with two competitions in one year revitalising the women's game after momentum stalled for 18 months due to COVID-19. 

Debate has raged around when the NRLW should be played in 2023 with the NRL yet to release the women's schedule due to the ongoing CBA negotiations.

Statistically though, it was proven in 2022 that the second season was of superior quality.

By the numbers: Player overview 

There were 179 players used in the NRLW across both competitions in 2022 with over 50 per cent making their debuts in the either in the first or second season.

Knights trio Yasmin Clydsdale, Olivia Higgins and Tayla Predebon played the most games with 14 each after winning a premiership at the Roosters before shifting north and winning another title with Newcastle.

Clydsdale finished with the most active minutes, spending 965 on the field in the NRLW this year, well ahead of Dragons outside backs Emma Tonegato and Teagan Berry (912).

Berry enjoyed scoring tries alongside Dragon-turned-Titan Madison Bartlett, with nine each for the year while Tonegato led the way for line break assists with 11.

Golden boot winner Raecene McGregor was a standout for try assists with 13 across both competitions while Isabelle Kelly proved hard to stop again with 16 line breaks in 13 matches.

Kelly, Tonegato and Millie Boyle were the only players to reach over 2000 metres across both NRLW competitions in 2022.

Kelly (68) also led the way with tackle busts while Broncos powerhouse Amber Hall's offloading ability was again on show with 30 for the year.

Eels co-captain Simaima Taufa was a tackling machine, topping the list with 449 in 12 appearances.

NRLW 2021 v NRLW 2022

Attack 

The first season of the NRLW for 2022, the rescheduled 2021 version, saw the total points finish at 616 across 18 games at an average of 34.2. The figure climbed to 37.7 in the second edition with 679 points scored overall.

Goals, completion rates, line breaks, offloads and post-contact metres were also up season-on-season with the total tackle busts/missed tackle counts seeing rises as the year went on.

Kick return metres saw a major increase with a noticeable change in yardage from outside backs in the second season.

The 2021 season saw 10,596 total metres recorded for kick returns with that figure increasing to 13,264 in the second edition.

Dragons fullback Emma Tonegato was consistent over both seasons to lead the way here while the star signing of Gayle Broughton and return of Sam Bremner to the NRLW helped that figure increase.

Kicking

There was a major improvement in the area of kicking with several players putting their hands up to contribute to nice increases.

There was a rise of over 18 per cent in kicking across 2022 with 14 try assists coming from the boot in the second season.

The total kick metres also saw a rise of 25.2 per cent with a total 13,264 coming in the latter season.

Dragons halfback Rachael Pearson was immense with the boot, booting 2,581 metres overall in 2022 with 14 long kicks finding space, while the debuts of Tayla Preston and Jesse Southwell in the second edition also contributed to the overall figure.

Long kicks finding space saw a 26.4 per cent increase while Pearson was also one of three who kicked a 40/30 in 2022 with Titans halfback Lauren Brown also doing so in her final season at the Broncos.

Forced dropouts rose by over 40 per cent while kick errors made by teams dipped in another positive.

Brown, Keeley Davis and Zahara Temara forced the most dropouts with six each.

Broncos halves Tarryn Aiken and Ali Brigginshaw made the most kick errors with four each across both seasons.

Discipline

In further positives, the handling error rates decreased from 311 to 284 from season one to season two (an average of 19.2 per game) despite ball-in-play time increasing by 1.2 minutes on average (46.9 minutes to 48.1 minutes).

Jillaroos quartet Isabelle Kelly (14), Emma Tonegato (13), Jess Sergis (13) and Olivia Kernick (12) had the most handling errors in the NRLW for the year.

Total errors, which includes when the ball is lost by the attacking team or when defensive players have reset tackle count to zero, decreased by an impressive 13.95 per cent in the second season.

Penalties remained similar per game on average with the introduction of two more clubs seeing a small climb compared to the 2020 season.

Eels co-captain Simaima Taufa conceded the most for the year with 14, followed by Yasmin Clydsdale with 12.

Seven players were sin-binned in 2022 with four coming in the first season and three in the second.

Players placed on report rose but sin-bins reduced slightly.

Defence

Teams were tackling more in the 2022 season than in the 2021 edition. The 2.15 per cent increase saw an additional 190 tackles overall. 

The Dragons recorded the most with 3,305 but it was the Eels who missed the most across both competitions with an average of 31.9 per game.

Top tacklers for 2022 included Simaima Taufa (449), Olivia Kernick (416), Yasmin Clydsdale (355) and Holli Wheeler (349) while Lauren Brown missed the most tackles with 66 across both competitions.

Missed tackled counts rose in general as the year went on (to match the tackle busts generated) for a 21.6 per cent increase.

One on one tackles rose 14.4 per cent with Parramatta coming up with the most in the 2022 season.

Clydsdale came up with the most one-on-one tackles in 2022 with 32, followed by Knights teammate Millie Boyle (27), Broncos pair Shenae Ciesiolka, Ali Brigginshaw and Isabelle Kelly on 25 each.

Try-saving tackles remained fairly level across both competitions with Jess Sergis recording the most with six.

Three-player tackles saw a slight decrease but a notable increase for the Knights, who improved in this area dramatically from their wooden spoon finish in 2021 to a title-winning campaign later in 2022.