Tarsha Gale Cup
Gale Cup is an elite under-18s women's rugby league competition
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The Tarsha Gale Cup is an elite under-19s women's rugby league competition in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The competition was named after former captain of Australia and current NRLW commentator, Tarsha Gale, in honour of her impact on Women's rugby league as a pioneer of the sport.
Current season or competition: 2026 New South Wales Rugby League | |
| |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2017 |
| Inaugural season | 2017 |
| Number of teams | 13 |
| Country |  Australia |
| Premiers |  Parramatta Eels (2026) |
| Most titles |  Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy  Illawarra Steelers Parramatta Eels (2 titles) |
| Website | Tarsha Gale Cup |
| Related competition | NRL Women's Premiership NSWRL Women's Premiership |
In 2017, the New South Wales Rugby League announced the creation of a nine-a-side under-18s women's league, named the Tarsha Gale Nines after the former Australian Jillaroos and New South Wales captain of the 1990s.[1][2][3]
The tournament changed to eleven-a-side in the 2019.[4]
Since 2020, the tournament has been played as a full 13-a-side game.[5][6]
In the 2021 season, the age group changed from under-18s to under-19s. The equivalent competition for males, the S.G. Ball Cup, was also changed from under-18s to under-19s at this time.
The Tarsha Gale Cup is the main bridge between juniors and the NSWRL Women's Premiership in the state of New South Wales.
Clubs
The Tarsha Gale Cup operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues. In 2018, the St. George Dragons and the Newcastle Knights entered teams into the competition for the first time.
Current clubs
Venues
Season structure
Pre-season
Prior to the commencement of the home-and-away season teams are paired off to play an exhibition trial match. In 2017 these matches took place during varying weeks of January.
Premiership season
Grand final
The two highest-place teams at the conclusion of the home-and-away season will qualify for the grand final. The winner of this match is determined the competition's premier.
Results by year
Premiership tally
| No. | Club | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indigenous Academy |
2 (2022, 2023) |
| 1 | Illawarra Steelers |
2 (2019, 2024) |
| 1 | Parramatta Eels |
2 (2025, 2026) |
| 4 |  St George Dragons |
1 (2021) |
| 4 |  Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
1 (2018) |
| 4 |  Penrith Panthers |
1 (2017) |
Bold means the team still currently plays in the competition.
Awards
The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season
Player of the Series
| Year | Player | Club | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
[17] |
| 2019 | Maddison Weatherall | Illawarra Steelers |
[18] |
| 2020 | Not Awarded | ||
| 2021 | Fatafehi Hanisi | St George Dragons |
[19] |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters |
[20] |
| 2023 | Alexis Tauaneai |  Canterbury Bulldogs |
[21] |
| 2024 | Kasey Reh | Illawarra Steelers |
[22] |
| 2025 | Ryvrr-Lee Alo | Parramatta Eels |
[15] |
| 2026 | Khyliah Gray | Parramatta Eels |
[23] |
Grand Final Player of the Match
| Year | Player | Club | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ashlee Harrison | Penrith Panthers |
[24] |
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
[17] |
| 2019 | Teagan Berry | Illawarra Steelers |
|
| 2020 | Not Awarded | ||
| 2021 | Rayven-Jodeci Boyce | St George Dragons |
[19] |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters |
[20] |
| 2023 | Tavarna Papalii | Canterbury Bulldogs |
|
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | Illawarra Steelers |
[22] |
| 2025 | Tess McWilliams | Parramatta Eels |
[15] |
| 2026 | Freedom Crichton Ropati | Parramatta Eels |
[16] |
Top scorers
Tries
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Matches | Tries | Player | Club | Matches | Tries | |
| 2017 | Tayla Preston | Sharks | 8 | 12 | Tayla Preston | Sharks | 11 | 16 |
| Page McGregor | Bulldogs | 4 | 12 | Lilly-Rose Bennett | Steelers | 7 | 16 | |
| 2018 | Maddison Weatherall | Steelers | 9 | 19 | Faith Nathan | Sharks | 7 | 26 |
| 2019 | Maddison Weatherall | Steelers | 8 | 13 | Maddison Weatherall | Steelers | 12 | 17 |
| Mareva Swann | Dragons | 9 | 13 | |||||
| 2020 | Teagan Berry | Steelers | 4 | 11 | No Finals Series | |||
| Bienne Terita | Dragons | 5 | 11 | |||||
| 2021 | Teagan Berry | Steelers | 8 | 11 | Teagan Berry | Steelers | 9 | 11 |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | Roosters | 7 | 12 | Otesa Pule | Roosters | 9 | 13 |
| 2023 | Mia-Rose Walsh | Steelers | 8 | 9 | Mia-Rose Walsh | Steelers | 10 | 10 |
| Litia Fusi | Bulldogs | 8 | 9 | |||||
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | Steelers | 7 | 13 | Indie Bostock | Steelers | 9 | 15 |
| 2025 | Manisha Seebeck | Roosters | 7 | 10 | Manisha Seebeck | Roosters | 11 | 13 |
| 2026 | Samantha Hanrahan | Panthers | 7 | 10 | Samantha Hanrahan | Panthers | 9 | 12 |
Notes:
- Players' tries and matches were tallied offline from match statistics for seasons 2018 to 2026 available on the NSWRL website and sorted to determine the top try scorers.
- For the 2017 season, tries were collated from scores published on the NSWRL and League Unlimited websites. For example: Round 2 on League Unlimited and Round 3 on NSWRL.
Points
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | M | T | G | FG | Points | Player | Club | M | T | G | FG | Points | |
| 2017 | Page McGregor | Bulldogs | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 80 | Page McGregor | Bulldogs | 5 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 88 |
| 2018 | Quincy Dodd | Sharks | 8 | 12 | 55 | 0 | 158 | Quincy Dodd | Sharks | 10 | 13 | 63 | 0 | 178 |
| 2019 | Sereana Naitokatoka | Dragons | 8 | 5 | 29 | 0 | 78 | Sereana Naitokatoka | Dragons | 10 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 98 |
| 2020 | Bienne Terita | Dragons | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 50 | No Finals Series | ||||||
| 2021 | Ruby Smith | Roosters | 8 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 44 | Ruby Smith | Roosters | 11 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 |
| Teagan Berry | Steelers | 8 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 44 | ||||||||
| 2022 | Alysha Bell | Eels | 6 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 56 | Alysha Bell | Eels | 7 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 58 |
| 2023 | Ally Bullman | Roosters | 8 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 64 | Ally Bullman | Roosters | 10 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 64 |
| 2024 | Lara Cosgrove |  Raiders | 7 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 64 | Chelsea Savill | Steelers | 10 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 74 |
| 2025 | Alleya Scrivens | Eels | 4 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 50 | Alleya Scrivens | Eels | 7 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 68 |
| Elise Simpson | Raiders | 6 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 | ||||||||
| 2026 | Ella Ropata | Sharks | 8 | 4 | 28 | 0 | 72 | Meg McPhail | Roosters | 11 | 2 | 37 | 0 | 82 |
Media coverage
Online
Selected games each week via NSWRL TV.
Corporate relations
Sponsorship
Westpac is the league's current naming rights partner.
Merchandising
Official match day attire together with other club merchandise is sold through the NRL's stores and website as well through the clubs and through some retailers.
