Building a High-Performance Framework for Female Rugby League: Integrating Physical and Technical Development Across the Pathway

PhD Opportunity (National Industry PhD Award)

Project Title:

Building a High-Performance Framework for Female Rugby League: Integrating Physical and Technical Development Across the Pathway

Supervisors:

Dr Josh Secomb and Dr Heidi Compton (University of Newcastle)

Chris James and Jed McGrath (Newcastle Knights)

Project Description:

Female participation in rugby league continues to surge, yet the development of evidence-based, gender-specific performance frameworks has not kept pace. This project will address that gap by identifying the technical skills and physical capacities that underpin elite performance and long-term athlete development in female rugby league. Through six interlinked studies, we will profile match play and technical execution, examine physical correlates of key skills, track development in pathway athletes, evaluate targeted coaching interventions, and synthesise evidence through expert consensus. Embedded collaboration with Newcastle Knights coaching and performance staff, alongside access to a large cohort of pathway athletes, will ensure that the research is grounded in real-world practice and industry needs, providing real-time actionable evidence. This project will deliver a practical high-performance framework aligning technical and physical performance components to support female athlete progression, optimise performance and promote long-term health, advancing equity in high-performance systems nationally.

Project Aims:

Female rugby league pathway athletes are often under-resourced and under-prepared compared to their male counterparts, limiting physical readiness, skill development, and increasing injury risk. This disparity constrains talent progression and compromises long-term health outcomes. As the women’s game evolves rapidly, there is an urgent need to define elite performance standards and develop evidence-based, gender-specific strategies to develop these athletes. To reduce these high-performance inequities, this project aims to:

• Define match-play success factors for national-level female rugby league;

• Establish technical and physical benchmarks for national-level female athletes;

• Investigate how pathway athletes can be supported to meet and exceed these standards, and;

• Evaluate the impact of targeted coaching and training interventions.

The overarching goal is to produce a practical, evidence-informed high-performance framework that enhances player development, optimises performance, and promotes long-term health, ultimately contributing to more equitable and effective athlete development systems in female rugby league and beyond.