The NRL Women’s Premiership will finally trial a smaller ball size for the top-flight competition this weekend, with Cronulla and St George Illawarra to play with a modified ball on Saturday.
This will mark the first time a smaller-version Steeden has been used in an NRLW match, though the debate has been around as long as the women’s league has existed.
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Right now, NRLW matches are played with a standard size five match ball, which is the same as in the men’s NRL competition. This modified Steeden will be two centimetres smaller and will weigh around 20 to 30 grams less. The Sharks and Dragons are already using it in training this week.
The NRL will then take the data from Saturday’s clash and decide whether they want to implement it for the entire league from 2027 onward. This Sporting Base writer hopes they will — I’ve long thought it would be a great change.
Interestingly, the game the NRL has chosen still has some ramifications: the loser will be handed the 2026 wooden spoon. Usually, the league makes sure to pick ‘dead rubber’ games when testing rules in the men’s.
Probably the biggest issue with that is that the women’s home-and-away season is shorter, so every other team playing over Round 11 will impact finals standings.
The Sharks and Dragons are both currently 2–8 after fairly terrible seasons for both squads.
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