The NSWRL has released the 2022 draws for the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership, Ron Massey Cup, and Men’s and Women’s Country Championships, with the Newcastle Knights joining the state’s premier competition for the first time.
The Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership enters its sixth season with the Knights joining the nine-team competition over nine rounds. The opening round will kick off on the weekend of 23-24 April. There will be a top four finals series with the Grand Final to be played on 16-17 July.
“Women’s Rugby League is one of the fastest growing areas of the game and I’m pleased to welcome Newcastle into the competition,” NSWRL Head of Football Robert Lowrie said.
“The Knights have a proud history of producing quality players across other competitions and the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership acts as a direct pathway to the Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues.
“It’s also great to see the draws released for the Ron Massey Cup and the Men’s and Women’s Country Championships. They are all important competitions which can pave the way for players to achieve higher honours, including the NSWRL Country v City representative weekend.
“The draws have now been released for most of our major competitions and I look forward to when they all kick-off.”
The addition of the Knights to the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership continues a strong trend for Women’s Rugby League which saw a record number of participants (22,810) sign up to play the game last season.
The Ron Massey Cup will feature nine teams with the opening round to be played on the weekend of 19-20 March. The competition will be played over 18 rounds with a top five finals series and the Grand Final to be played on 3-4 September.
Fiji’s Kaiviti Silktails will return to take part in their third Ron Massey Cup while the winner will go on to represent the Central Conference in the end of season Presidents Cup knockout competition. The other teams will come from the Denton Engineering Cup (Northern Conference), Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup (Southern Conference) and Peter McDonald Premiership (Western Conference).
The Men’s and Women’s Country Championships will feature 10 teams with two rounds of competition starting on the weekend of 26-27 February before a two weeks finals series culminating with the Grand Finals on 26-27 March.
Last season Monaro Colts, led by True Blue and captain/coach Terry Campese, took out the Men’s Country Championship while Newcastle Maitland Region Knights won the Women’s Country Championships.
The draws for the Sydney Shield and Mojo Homes Illawarra Cup will be released at a later date.
Click here for the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership draw
Click here for the Ron Massey Cup draw
Click here for the Men’s Country Championship draw
Click here for the Women’s Country Championship draw
