Reds coach Rama Chand is excited about the depth building within Queensland Rugby as they prepare for Super W.
The Queenslanders are out to end a streak of NSW dominance, four times losing in the Super W Final.
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The competition will take extra significance as always during a World Cup season, however, will prove particularly vital in 2022 after a lack of game-time in 2021.
Chand, who took over the coaching role in March last year, believes this year will see tougher competition across all teams as players push for Wallaroos selection.
“The last few years (the Wallaroos) has been very Queensland and NSW centric but I think the Brumbies, Rebels and Force, the thing which I noticed coming in last year with the girls was the competition levels have increased and it’s getting more and more even,” he told Rugby.com.au.
“It’s getting more even every year which is good because that means you have more even games and the competition is tougher which will ensure that squad of Wallaroos is going to be more competitive.
“Hopefully the Super W can produce those match-ups so the Wallaroos can see those matchups live and see how they play against each other in a real game under pressure.”
The Reds named a 48-women Academy squad at the end of 2021, in what was a first for the Women’s-XV game in Queensland.
This included returning Sevens star Shannon Parry as well as a host of young talent also named in their squad for the Next Gen Sevens Series.
Chand believes these tournaments and squads build the necessary depth to 'bridge the gap' between club and Super W competition.
This coupled with players such as Hana Lane receiving invaluable gametime with the President's XV last season has Queensland Rugby in an ideal spot heading forward according to Chand.
“It’s definitely about maintaining our standards now whether that’s physical, team standards but you’re definitely adding the tactical detail with the work we did with the academy in the off-season. Part of naming that squad for the program is we want to build depth within Queensland Rugby. What that means is we need to have girls who are physically, tactically and mentally ready to play Super W if called upon." he explained.
“There’s a bit of a gap in our overall depth I thought so that’s why we named such a big squad knowing a good amount of the backline in particularly are also playing for the QRU 7s hence why we had so many names so we weren’t missing girls with the potential to play Super.
“Once we’ve come back, we’ve trimmed our academy down into our pre-season squad which is about 30-odd plus girls involved in the Sevens program.
“We’ve now got that clear pathway with the U18’s program to go from club footy to U18s and then into something like our Reds Academy to hopefully progress into the Super W side.
“Having that President’s XV was great last year because it allowed us to have those girls on the fringe of our squad play at the next level because Super W is still a big level up from club rugby.”
