Why women’s rugby in Australia is entering its most important era yet

When it comes to the world of integration between the short and long form versions of rugby, those who pull off the balance between the two – both on and off the field – have shown they can net results that are mutually beneficial.

For some nations like Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa, where rugby is the national sport, success in both forms has come easily, or is growing quickly with their women’s rugby programs. By comparison, the home nations are increasingly putting their eggs into the 15s format.

What a nation does with the sevens program is up to their discretion, but those who have fostered the best results from it have treated it not as an offshoot of the 15s program, but another pathway that players can climb to international representation.

With more and more nations transitioning to professional programs, it’s what makes what is going on in Australian women’s rugby right now so interesting.

After the success of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Rugby Australia went all in on developing a successful women’s sevens program. Now, ten years later, they are poised to do the same with 15s.

Having made commitments late last year to deliver a full-time women’s program in 2026, Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh maintained Australia was on course to do so when announcing the code’s record surplus last month.

“We’re very confident, we’re in the top three to four countries in the world in terms of our women’s 15s investment,” Waugh said.

“We still haven’t seen those results on the field come through and flow through, and so we’re in the market for a technical director.

“We’re well advanced as to what that structure looks like, but certainly our intent is to have a full-time Wallaroos program as we prepare through to 2029.”

The first part of that quote was particularly notable, as often, much of the discourse around Australian rugby is how the sport is doing in comparison to the likes of AFLW, NRLW and internationally.

However, when looking at the numbers in 15s rugby that are available publicly, the Wallaroos stack up surprisingly well, with the Sevens side among the best-paid female athletes in the country.

Under the most recent player agreement delivered in 2024, 45 players of national interest are contracted across three tiers, with the highest-paid players earning over AUD$72,000 a year, not including club payments from Super Rugby Women’s.

Those top-tier contracts are more than competitive against the NRLW, whose current collective bargaining agreement will see players earn AUD$50,000 in 2027, and fall in line with the AFLW, although their average salary is set to hit AUD$82,000 by 2027.

For reference, the highest-paid women’s team in the country are the Matildas, their collective bargaining agreement earning a base salary of AUD$120,000- $200,000 per year, with the Aussie Women’s Sevens top-tier players pulling in between AUD$100,000-$120,000 a year.

In international women’s rugby, the Wallaroos player agreement already betters the likes of similar transitional funding models in Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Canada, the latter having to partly crowdfund their way to the 2025 Rugby World Cup.

True to Waugh’s comments, the current Australian model falls in line with the likes of New Zealand, with France and England leading the charge, each employing 32 players, with England’s top players earning over £63,000 ($118,000 AUD) a year.

Where Australian women’s rugby has issues, however, is at the level below the national sides, with Super Rugby Women’s players receiving a minimum AUD$4,000 from Rugby Australia, plus additional payments their clubs provide.

This drop off isn’t unusual by global standards, with England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby remuneration cap for clubs coming in at £220,000 a year (AUD$375,000), or around £5,000 (AUD$9,400) on average per player.

However, this is far below the likes of Super Rugby Aupiki or the A-League Women, who earn up to AUD$25,000 per season, or the Frances Elite 1 domestic league, which can see players earn up to €4,000 (AUD$6,500) a month.

Critically, these payments make the NRLW and AFLW much more attractive as domestic competitions – but the flip side is that those competitions are the peak of that sport, with AFL and international women’s rugby league not having the footprint international women’s rugby is developing.

It is this domestic focus that is set to be where Australian rugby will pivot its energy over the coming months, and with them being in the unique position that the Sevens program is not only significantly more developed, but has a culture of success that the 15s program can learn from.

While the Wallaroos played in the Pacific Four Series in April, off the field it was a big month for the 15s program, with a technical director to oversee the Wallaroos and sevens programs set to be named, and the women’s NextGen U19s and U16s sides announced, courtesy of funding from the Australian Rugby Foundation.

The governing body has confirmed the establishment of an investment fund to set up rugby in Australia in perpetuity, following in the footsteps of the success of the Australian Olympic Foundation, which was set up following the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Then, there is the discussion around state and federal government funding, an option that will likely be on the table with the 2029 Rugby World Cup set to arrive on Australian shores.

This option has proven a particular success for the Matildas, with the side receiving a AUD$12 million high-performance grant in 2021 and a AUD$15 million grant to host the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, among other grants.

Such government programs proved pivotal in getting the Matildas off the ground, and helped generate success for NRLW and AFLW. With Australian women’s rugby, it’s the next logical step.

Such programs could be used to help transform Super Rugby Women’s, the NextGen Sevens and pathway 15s teams, filling out the women’s domestic rugby season for both programs.

The Australian Federal Government has already committed AUD$60 million over the next seven years in support of 2027 and 2029, plus an AUD$14.2 million Pacific partnership to develop rugby in the Pacific Islands, with the NSW Government chipping in AUD$10 million to the NSW post-RWC Legacy program.

Should funding be announced at the time that Rugby Australia completes integration between its two women’s programs, it changes the entire make-up of the sport’s prospects.

But, even if this all comes together, the reality is Australia will have a short runway to 2028 and 2029.

Even if the Super Rugby Women’s season is expanded, even if alignment comes together for Sevens and 15s pathways, at the end of the day, the results on the field will determine how far Australia gets, both at the 2028 LA Olympics and the 2029 Rugby World Cup.

It sets the next few months up as arguably the most critical so far in the history of Australian women’s rugby – and it’s a case study many around the world will likely be watching.