Women's rugby league is 'still a very long way' away from professionalism, one of the stars of the England national team concedes. However, Courtney Winfield-Hill believes emulating England's Lionesses and having success in this year's World Cup could provide a 'silver bullet' for the women's game to accelerate its growth.
Since the advent of the Women's Super League in 2017, the sport has made encouraging strides. WSL games are now shown on Sky Sports on a regular basis, and double-header events alongside men are attracting increasing crowds. Winfield-Hill, who also presided over the boom in cricket in Australia before switching to rugby league, admits it is difficult not to be inspired by the Lionesses, who were crowned European champions last week.
She believes success in the World Cup offers rugby league a similar platform to catapult itself into the mainstream. "We want to do exactly what they've done," she told Rugby League Live. "Women's sport is making enormous strides across the country, and there's a flavour for women's rugby league too so it's up to us to take advantage of what the Lionesses have done."
