| Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup | |
| Current Season: | 2023 New South Wales Rugby League |
| Founded: | 2017 |
| Inaugural: | 2017 |
| Teams: | 13 |
| Championtag: | Premiers |
| Season: | 2024 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Website: | Tarsha Gale Cup |
| Related Comps: | NRL Women's Premiership NSWRL Women's Premiership |
The Tarsha Gale Cup is an elite under-19s Women's rugby league competition in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The competition was named after former captain of Australia and current NRLW commentator, Tarsha Gale, in honour of her impact on Women's rugby league as a pioneer of the sport.
In 2017, the New South Wales Rugby League announced the creation of a nine-a-side under-18s women's league, named the Tarsha Gale Nines after the former Australian Jillaroos and New 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 under-18s to under-19s. The equivalent competition for males, the S.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 the NSWRL Women's Premiership in the state of New 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, the St. George Dragons and the Newcastle Knights entered teams into the competition for the first time.
See main article: List of Australian rugby league stadiums.
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.
See main article: Grand final. The two highest-place teams at the conclusion of the home-and-away season will qualify for the grand final. The winner of this match is determined the competition's premier.
| Year | Age | Premiers | Score | Runners-up | Minor Premiers | Wooden Spoon | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | U18s | Penrith Panthers | 26 – 18 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Wests Tigers | [7] | |
| 2018 | U18s | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 36 – 22 | Newcastle Knights | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | [8] | |
| 2019 | U18s | Illawarra Steelers | 24 – 12 | Newcastle Knights | Illawarra Steelers | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | [9] | |
| 2020 | U18s | Season began in February but was cancelled in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No premiership was awarded. | ||||||
| 2021 | U19s | St George Dragons | 30 – 4 | Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy | Newcastle Knights | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | [10] | |
| 2022 | U19s | Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy | 12 – 10 | Newcastle Knights | Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy | South Sydney Rabbitohs | [11] | |
| 2023 | U19s | Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy | 26 - 24 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Wests Tigers | [12] | |
| 2024 | U19s | Illawarra Steelers | 24 – 12 | Newcastle Knights | Illawarra Steelers | St George Dragons | [13] [14] | |
| No. | Club | Seasons | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indigenous Academy | 2 (2022, 2023) | |
| 1 | Illawarra Steelers | 2 (2019, 2024) | |
| 3 | St George Dragons | 1 (2021) | |
| 3 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 1 (2018) | |
| 3 | Penrith Panthers | 1 (2017) |
The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season
| Year | Player | Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | [15] | |
| 2019 | Maddison Weatherall | Illawarra Steelers | [16] | |
| 2020 | Not Awarded | |||
| 2021 | Fatafehi Hanisi | St George Dragons | [17] | |
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters | [18] | |
| 2023 | Alexis Tauaneai | Canterbury Bulldogs | [19] | |
| 2024 | Kasey Reh | Illawarra Steelers | [20] | |
| Year | Player | Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ashlee Harrison | Penrith Panthers | [21] | |
| 2018 | Madison Higgins-Ashby | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | ||
| 2019 | Teagan Berry | Illawarra Steelers | ||
| 2020 | Not Awarded | |||
| 2021 | Rayven-Jodeci Boyce | St George Dragons | ||
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters | ||
| 2023 | Tavarna Papalii | Canterbury Bulldogs | ||
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | Illawarra Steelers | ||
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Matches | Tries | Player | Club | Matches | Tries | ||||||
| 2017 | Tayla Preston | align=center | 8 | align=center | 12 | Tayla Preston | align=center | 11 | align=center | 16 | |||
| Page McGregor | align=center | 4 | align=center | 12 | Lilly-Rose Bennett | align=center | 7 | align=center | 16 | ||||
| 2018 | align=center | 9 | align=center | 19 | align=center | 7 | align=center | 26 | |||||
| 2019 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 13 | 12 | 17 | |||||||
| Mareva Swann | align=center | 9 | align=center | 13 | |||||||||
| 2020 | align=center | 4 | align=center | 11 | No Finals Series | ||||||||
| align=center | 5 | align=center | 11 | ||||||||||
| 2021 | align=center | 8 | align=center | 11 | align=center | 9 | align=center | 11 | |||||
| 2022 | Otesa Pule | align=center | 7 | align=center | 12 | Otesa Pule | align=center | 9 | align=center | 13 | |||
| 2023 | Mia-Rose Walsh | align=center | 8 | align=center | 9 | Mia-Rose Walsh | 10 | 10 | |||||
| Litia Fusi | align=center | 8 | align=center | 9 | |||||||||
| 2024 | Indie Bostock | align=center | 7 | align=center | 13 | Indie Bostock | align=center | 9 | align=center | 15 | |||
| Year | Excluding Finals | Including Finals | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Club | Points | Player | Club | Points | ||||||||||
| 2017 | Page McGregor | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0 | 80 | Page McGregor | 5 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 88 | |||
| 2018 | 8 | 12 | 55 | 0 | 158 | 10 | 13 | 63 | 0 | 178 | |||||
| 2019 | Sereana Naitokatoka | 8 | 5 | 29 | 0 | 78 | Sereana Naitokatoka | 10 | 6 | 37 | 0 | 98 | |||
| 2020 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 50 | No Finals Series | |||||||||
| 2021 | Ruby Smith | 8 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 44 | Ruby Smith | 11 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 50 | |||
| 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 | |||
TBA
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.