Two of Women's Super League stars are set to leave the competition, with a third potentially set to follow. England internationals Hollie-Mae Dodd, Georgia Roche and Fran Goldthorp were all absent for the Super League opener between Leeds Rhinos and York Valkyrie, with the respective coaches confirming that NRL moves were likely for Dodd and Roche.
Lindsay Anfield, the York coach, confirmed that Dodd was emotional after the game given it could have been her last for the club. She is expected to join Canberra Raiders.
Meanwhile, Rhinos counterpart Lois Forsell admitted that Roche, a former Women of Steel, had missed the game due to ongoing talks with an NRL club, which is thought to be Newcastle Knights.
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Goldthorp was unavailable due to international duty, having represented England RU under '20s, but she is thought to have attracted strong interest from Gold Coast Titans.
"It's been well rumoured about Georgia and she's been back and forth with her agent and that meant she was unavailable this weekend," Forsell said.
"She's in talks with the NRL, it's a great opportunity for her and it says a lot about the competition. She would go with our best wishes but right now we've to focus on players we can select.
"She's been upfront about pursuing it and it may or may be not being there. It adds to this week but chaos happens and you've got to be able to overcome that. It's not why we've lost today."
On Dodd, Anfield added: "Hollie will go, she will announce her news when she's ready to do it and we're fully behind her. She's featuring for us until she goes, she played really well today, enjoyed it, she's getting upset at the prospect she might be going but until she gets on the plane she's a York player."
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