England captain Jodie Cunningham thinks women’s rugby league is in the best shape it has ever been ahead of her team’s clash against Wales on Saturday.
Stuart Barrow’s side face The Welsh in Leeds before the England men’s team face Samoa shortly after.
The match against their neighbours is seen as useful preparation for the Lionesses, who are building towards the opportunity to showcase the British game in a huge matchup in Las Vegas against Australia next March.
Cunningham, 32, believes these kinds of opportunities are a huge contrast to when she made her international debut back in 2009.
“If you compare what we get now, what it looks like, the product on the field from any of the time I’ve been in the squad, the progress is just phenomenal,” she said.
“It is [the best it’s ever been] by a million miles.
“People say: ‘You are a generation too early and think of what you are going to miss out on.’ I feel really grateful and appreciate the development year on year because I’ve seen what it was like when nobody cared, we got no funding and kits didn’t fit and there were no young girls in the crowd because nobody knew about it.”
St Helens ace Cunningham considers the formation of the Women’s Super League in 2017 as the major reason for the fast development of the women’s game.
There have been renewed calls since then for female players at the top level to become professional at some of the best clubs in the country such as Leeds Rhinos and St Helens.
Payments to players at these clubs are also increasing during the ongoing period in which attendances are also going up.
A further development comes at the academy level where the under 19s of each Super League team must provide a pathway for youngsters to succeed.
Kick off for England’s game against Wales is at 12:00pm tomorrow.
