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Ikin's radical plans for summertime four-quarter NRLW comp
SEN • June 4th, 2025 12:26 pm
CEO of the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) Ben Ikin has called for radical changes to the NRLW set-up including moving the season to summer and introducing four quarters instead of halves.
Amid criticism of the women’s set up which this year has seen some of the biggest names in the competition called up to play a three-game Origin series with no real match time since the end of the last NRLW season, Ikin says it’s time to treat the women’s game differently to their male counterparts.
For Ikin. it’s time to do this radically.
“You’re operating on the basis that the game needs to be played the same as the men’s,” he told SENQ Breakfast. “We could play four 15-minute quarters.
"The women’s thing doesn’t have to look the same as the men’s thin; that’s the constraint.
“We could play quarters which produce extra advertising revenue.
“If there are heat concerns it could potentially be played at night. But you’ve got to take the guard rails off and get creative because this thing needs to be treated as a separate product.”
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Asked to outline how he would approach a season, taking into account the medical advice which highlights a greater threat of injury when the ground is harder through the summer months, Ikin said: “There is contention about the schedule.
“I think it should be flipped, and we should be looking at the women’s pre-Christmas have a break and come back post-Christmas and play the Grand Final at Magic Round on the Thursday.
“Run into Origin so they have a proper preparation into Origin.
“Run into Origin so they have a proper preparation into Origin.
“It is a huge talking point at the moment. We know what the schedule looks like now can’t be what It looks like into the future.
“I’m just one of many voices. It’s a commission decision.”
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