NRLW news 2025: Lopsided scorelines, talent pool, Ruan Sims, Marlee Silva, reaction

Women’s rugby league trailblazer Ruan Sims disagrees that lopsided games in the opening two rounds of the NRLW season mean the existing talent pool has been stretched too thin.

Two weeks into the 2025 season, the competition has already seen some quite one-sided games.

In the second round alone, the Sharks defeated the Raiders 56-6, the Broncos conquered the Titans 44-4, and the Roosters bested the Warriors 30-6.

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With the return of the Warriors following a four-season hiatus and the introduction of the Canterbury Bulldogs there were concerns heading into this season that the expansion to 12 teams would threaten the overall quality of the game.

Nine’s sideline reporter Marlee Silva has observed a common negative perspective in the comments sections following the blowout scores and feels compelled to discredit this viewpoint.

“When people see those scores, they tend to go straight into, ‘Oh, this is exactly the proof that we’ve spread the talent too thin and these are boring games and I’ll switch it off’,” she told Nine’s NRLW Weekly podcast.

“I got a comment on a post about the Canberra game: ‘I turned it off because it was so boring, blah blah blah’.

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“I hate that, and I’m wondering how we counter that because it’s not about teams being terrible.”

Silva believes that when people see these high-margin scorelines in isolation, they often jump to dismiss the league’s quality.

“I think that in this case, especially with the Broncos and the Roosters, they were just too good. Like, it’s actually about them being too dominant,” she said.

Sims agreed that some teams are at a higher standard than others.

“All three of those teams played really good football on the weekend, and I would say to those people that are quick to jump to that storyline, ‘I didn’t hear anything from you after round one’,” she said.

“That kind of says volumes.

“I didn’t hear you after round one, and I understand that sometimes if you don’t like the scoreline or you don’t like the way things are going, you’re going to switch off.

“I never switch off any of those games, I’ll watch them until the bitter end because there is always something to learns, there’s always something interesting that goes on. I love footy and I’m a frother.

“It is what it is. So, I get it, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think to me it shows those three teams, particularly, played very well.”