| Current season or competition: | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2017 |
| Inaugural season | 2017 |
| Number of teams | 13 |
| Country | |
| Premiers | |
| Most titles | |
| Website | Tarsha Gale Cup |
| Related competition | NRL Women's Premiership NSWRL Women's Premiership |
TheTarsha Gale Cup is an elite under-19swomen's rugby league competition inNew South Wales and theAustralian Capital Territory,Australia. The competition was named after former captain of Australia and currentNRLW commentator,Tarsha Gale, in honour of her impact on Women's rugby league as a pioneer of the sport.
In 2017, theNew South Wales Rugby League announced the creation of a nine-a-side under-18s women's league, named the Tarsha Gale Nines after the formerAustralian Jillaroos andNew 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, theS.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 theNSWRL Women's Premiership in the state ofNew South Wales.
The Tarsha Gale Cup operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues. In 2018, theSt. George Dragons and theNewcastle Knights entered teams into the competition for the first time.
| Club | Established | City | Stadium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Canberra,ACT | Raiders Club,Belconnen | |
| 1934 | Belmore,NSW | Belmore Sports Ground | |
| 1967 | Woolooware,NSW | PointsBet Stadium | |
| 1946 | Brookvale,NSW | 4 Pines Park | |
| 1981 | Wollongong,NSW | Collegians Sporting Complex,Figtree Sid Parrish Park,Figtree | |
| 1987 | Newcastle,NSW | Maitland Sports Ground Cessnock Sports Ground Kurri Kurri Sports Ground | |
| 1908 | North Sydney,NSW | North Sydney Oval | |
| 1947 | Cabramatta,NSW | New Era Stadium | |
| 1967 | Penrith,NSW | BlueBet Stadium, Windsor Sporting Complex | |
| 1908 | Redfern,NSW | Ironmark High Performance Centre | |
| 1921 | Kogarah,NSW | Netstrata Jubilee Stadium Mascot Oval | |
Indigenous Academy | 1908 | Marrickville | Henson Park Mascot Oval Morry Breen Oval,Kanwal |
| 1999* | Concord,NSW | Leichhardt Oval Kirkham Oval,Camden Wests Tigers Centre of Excellence |
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.
The two highest-place teams at the conclusion of the home-and-away season will qualify for thegrand final. The winner of this match is determined the competition's premier.
| No. | Club | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 (2022, 2023) | |
| 1 | 2 (2019, 2024) | |
| 3 | 1 (2021) | |
| 3 | 1 (2018) | |
| 3 | 1 (2017) | |
| 3 | 1 (2025) |
Bold means the team still currently plays in the competition.
The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season
| Year | Player | Club | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | [15] | |
| 2019 | Maddison Weatherall | [16] | |
| 2020 | Not Awarded | ||
| 2021 | Fatafehi Hanisi | [17] | |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | [18] | |
| 2023 | Alexis Tauaneai | [19] | |
| 2024 | Kasey Reh | [20] | |
| 2025 | Ryvrr-Lee Alo | [21] | |
| Year | Player | Club | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ashlee Harrison | [22] | |
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | [15] | |
| 2019 | Teagan Berry | ||
| 2020 | Not Awarded | ||
| 2021 | Rayven-Jodeci Boyce | [17] | |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | [18] | |
| 2023 | Tavarna Papalii | ||
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | [20] | |
| 2025 | Tess McWilliams | [21] | |
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Matches | Tries | Player | Club | Matches | Tries | |
| 2017 | Tayla Preston | 8 | 12 | Tayla Preston | 11 | 16 | ||
| Page McGregor | 4 | 12 | Lilly-Rose Bennett | 7 | 16 | |||
| 2018 | Maddison Weatherall | 9 | 19 | Faith Nathan | 7 | 26 | ||
| 2019 | Maddison Weatherall | 8 | 13 | Maddison Weatherall | 12 | 17 | ||
| Mareva Swann | 9 | 13 | ||||||
| 2020 | Teagan Berry | 4 | 11 | No Finals Series | ||||
| Bienne Terita | 5 | 11 | ||||||
| 2021 | Teagan Berry | 8 | 11 | Teagan Berry | 9 | 11 | ||
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | 7 | 12 | Otesa Pule | 9 | 13 | ||
| 2023 | Mia-Rose Walsh | 8 | 9 | Mia-Rose Walsh | 10 | 10 | ||
| Litia Fusi | 8 | 9 | ||||||
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | 7 | 13 | Indie Bostock | 9 | 15 | ||
| 2025 | Manisha Seebeck | 7 | 10 | Grand Final on 3 May 2025 | ||||
Notes:
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | M | T | G | FG | Points | Player | Club | M | T | G | FG | Points | |
| 2017 | Page McGregor | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 80 | Page McGregor | 5 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 88 | ||
| 2018 | Quincy Dodd | 8 | 12 | 55 | 0 | 158 | Quincy Dodd | 10 | 13 | 63 | 0 | 178 | ||
| 2019 | Sereana Naitokatoka | 8 | 5 | 29 | 0 | 78 | Sereana Naitokatoka | 10 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 98 | ||
| 2020 | Bienne Terita | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 50 | No Finals Series | |||||||
| 2021 | Ruby Smith | 8 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 44 | Ruby Smith | 11 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 | ||
| Teagan Berry | 8 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 44 | |||||||||
| 2022 | Alysha Bell | 6 | 2 | 24 | 0 | 56 | Alysha Bell | 7 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 58 | ||
| 2023 | Ally Bullman | 8 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 64 | Ally Bullman | 10 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 64 | ||
| 2024 | Lara Cosgrove | 7 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 64 | Chelsea Savill | 10 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 74 | ||
| 2025 | Alleya Scrivens | 4 | 2 | 21 | 0 | 50 | Grand Final on 3 May 2025 | |||||||
| Elise Simpson | 6 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 | |||||||||
Selected games each week via NSWRL TV.
Westpac is the league's current naming rights partner.
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.