Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington has promised any income generated by the club's women's side will be invested back into rewarding the players as they continue to lead the way in remuneration for the game's leading female talent.
During the off-season, the Rhinos became the first Women's Super League club to confirm they would financially reward their players for their efforts on the field. That includes win bonuses and meritocratic payments for success in both the WSL and the Challenge Cup in 2023.
York Valkyrie subsequently confirmed they would follow suit and introduce a payment structure for their players and other WSL clubs are believed to be exploring how they can do the same in 2023. Hetherington told Rugby League Live while he was proud of Leeds' stance in paying their players what they deserve, he would only be satisfied when all clubs have followed suit.
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He said: "I'll be proud when all clubs are leading the way. We've taken that position irrespective of what anyone else is doing but I'm pleased to see others are now following suit. In any sport, in any profession, particularly elite sport, elite players should be rewarded. That reward should be commensurate with the income that sport generates."
And Hetherington confirmed that significant increase in commercial income for the women's side at Leeds has enabled them to make payments for the first time - and should that income increase in the years ahead, the money will only go to the women's side, and not be invested anywhere else across the Rhinos brand.
"We've managed to grow our commercial support for our women's team significantly and that's a credit to the commercial team and the sponsors who've come on board to do that," Hetherington said. "That's enabled us to have the income to pass over to the women's team and the staff.
"That income would always go back into the pool where it was generated, so in this case it means that the scale of what we're paying could potentially improve, because I'd like to think that could grow significantly in the years to come."
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