England's new captain Jodie Cunningham had “conversations” about an NRLW switch but her only focus is on leading St Helens and her country into exciting new times.
The talismanic loose forward, 31, skippers the national side for the first time when they face France at Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday as part of a double-header with the men's fixture. It is their first game since the World Cup semi-final exit against New Zealand in York last November. Since then, top England players St Helens’ Hollie-Mae Dodd (Canberra) and Leeds’ Georgia Roche (Newcastle) have secured full-time deals in Australia.
Leeds’ Fran Goldthorp is also expected to soon confirm a move to North Queensland Cowboys to become only England’s third fully professional player. Cunningham - the most high-profile in the British sport - revealed she had discussed the prospect herself. She said: “There’s been some conversations. I’m sure it’s the same with many of the girls.
“I’m sure it’s a different conversation when you’re older, have jobs and are settled. Maybe a few years ago it would have been different and I probably would have given it a go. We can’t argue with how good a quality of competition they have out there. A lot of the girls watch it regularly and see the quality and we saw the best of them on show in the World Cup as well. The lifestyle out there is quite attractive as well.
“But a lot of the girls are quite homebirds as well so leaving their family and that type of thing is all the sort of thing you have to consider. I completely back the girls who have decided to go out there, though, as it is such a great opportunity and I know they’ll kill it.
“They’ll fly the flag for English rugby league and show we’ve a great product. But I’m not going. My focus is making sure I do a good job for St Helens and a good job for England, too.”
England also have a new coach with Stuart Barrow replacing Craig Richards. He installed Cunningham as captain, replacing her Saints team-mate Emily Rudge who’d been skipper for four years. Rudge retains her place in the side and, obviously, it could have been an awkward situation.
But Cunningham - who is also Saints’ captain - said: “We’re best friends and we have supported each other all the way through our careers.
“I’ve got Emily to thank for even playing rugby league as she got me into it at school. Look, it was a conversation we had - an adult conversation - where she said she wishes me all the best and if anyone was going to captain instead of her, she’d want it to be me.
“I know I’ll lean on her a lot in this role I’ve taken on and she’s 100 percent a leader no matter what team she’s in. She’ll absolutely continue to lead on and off the field. It’s been seamless really and I’m just really grateful that I still get to experience and get these memories with my best mate.”
Fourteen years after making her Test debut and a veteran of three World Cups, Cunningham finally gets to fulfil her dream on Saturday. She said: "I’ll be hugely proud to captain England. And it’ll be a really proud moment for my family as well. It’s a big moment for them as they’ve done so much to get me into this position and they go through the heartache and the tears when things aren’t going well.
“So, it’s nice to be able to share that moment in my hometown of Warrington and to be able to captain the team for the first time will be really special.”
England, undefeated in all 19 of their previous meetings against France, are already looking towards 2025. Cunningham, who also works as the RFL's national women's and girl's development manager, said: “It’s a fresh start and a refocus now on the next World Cup. It does seem crazy that as soon as you come out of one you are already thinking about the next but that is how we work especially this time with it only being a three year turnaround.
“But that’s what’s exciting. We have lots of young girls who are coming up into the squad, maybe not necessarily in this one but I imagine there will be in the next 12 to 18 months coming into the team. It’s an exciting time for England. We’ve kept hold of a lot of the experienced players as well so we’ve got that nice mix of youth players coming in and then the experienced ones like myself and Emily who are around the squad and can hopefully teach them some things soon.”
On France, she added: “We’re hearing they have quite a new, youthful squad which is good. They’re really focused on the next World Cup which is important being a home one for them and blooding in some of these new, young players. I think they’ll be really excited and want to set a stall out for that next World Cup. It’s a little bit of an unknown but an exciting challenge.”
