'The NRLW is the top rugby competition': French star eyeing move ahead of RLWC2026

French star Leila Bessahli has hailed the NRLW as the world's best female contact sporting competition and outlined her ambition to join a team ahead of the World Cup. 

A ball playing lock or prop, Bessahli is a key member of the Catalans team which includes Warriors duo Tyra Wetere and Felila Kia and Eels recruit Jayde Herdegen, and she wants to join them in the NRLW.

Sydney-based NRL accredited agent Pierre Vandôme, who is assisting the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII ahead of RLWC2026, is also trying to help find Bessahli a club in Australia.  

“It is a dream of mine to play in the NRLW. The NRLW is the top competition in rugby,” Bessahli said. “If I get the chance to play in the NRLW it would also be very good preparation for the World Cup.”

The NRLW boasts stars from across the globe and Bessahli said she and other French players regularly watch games.

“Everybody knows about the NRLW,” she said. “I watch it on TV or sometimes I watch it in the bar with other players in the team.

For a lot of women playing rugby it is the top rugby competition.

“There are three players from the NRLW in the Catalans team and it is good to have those women play for the team because we get to see a different way to play rugby.”   

Bessahli has been playing rugby league and rugby union since she was five-years-of-age, and is a dual international – having represented Algeria in rugby sevens qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

She also had a stint with York in the Women's Super League, helping the Valkyrie to win the 2022 League Leaders Shield.

After making her international rugby league debut in 2017, Bessahli has been a regular member of the French team and played at the last World Cup in England in 2022.