Tarsha Gale Cup

Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup

Current season or competition: 2025 New South Wales Rugby League
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	2017
Inaugural season	2017
Number of teams	13
Country	Australia
Premiers	Parramatta Eels (2025)
Most titles	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy Illawarra Steelers (2 titles)
Website	Tarsha Gale Cup
Related competition	NRL Women's Premiership NSWRL Women's Premiership

The Tarsha Gale Cup is an elite under-19s women's rugby league competition in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The competition was named after former captain of Australia and current NRLW commentator, Tarsha Gale, in honour of her impact on Women's rugby league as a pioneer of the sport.

In 2017, the New South Wales Rugby League announced the creation of a nine-a-side under-18s women's league, named the Tarsha Gale Nines after the former Australian Jillaroos and New South Wales captain of the 1990s. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The tournament changed to eleven-a-side in the 2019. ^[4]

Since 2020, the tournament has been played as a full 13-a-side game. ^{[5] [6]}

In the 2021 season, the age group changed from under-18s to under-19s. The equivalent competition for males, the S.G. Ball Cup, was also changed from under-18s to under-19s at this time.

The Tarsha Gale Cup is the main bridge between juniors and the NSWRL Women's Premiership in the state of New South Wales.

Clubs

The Tarsha Gale Cup operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues. In 2018, the St. George Dragons and the Newcastle Knights entered teams into the competition for the first time.

Current clubs

Club	Established	City	Stadium
Canberra Raiders	1981	Canberra, ACT	Raiders Club, Belconnen
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	1934	Belmore, NSW	Belmore Sports Ground
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1967	Woolooware, NSW	PointsBet Stadium
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	1946	Brookvale, NSW	4 Pines Park
Illawarra Steelers	1981	Wollongong, NSW	Collegians Sporting Complex, Figtree Sid Parrish Park, Figtree
Newcastle Knights	1987	Newcastle, NSW	Maitland Sports Ground Cessnock Sports Ground Kurri Kurri Sports Ground
North Sydney Bears	1908	North Sydney, NSW	North Sydney Oval
Parramatta Eels	1947	Cabramatta, NSW	New Era Stadium
Penrith Panthers	1967	Penrith, NSW	BlueBet Stadium, Windsor Sporting Complex
South Sydney Rabbitohs	1908	Redfern, NSW	Ironmark High Performance Centre
St George Dragons	1921	Kogarah, NSW	Netstrata Jubilee Stadium Mascot Oval
Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	1908	Marrickville	Henson Park Mascot Oval Morry Breen Oval, Kanwal
Wests Tigers	1999*	Concord, NSW	Leichhardt Oval Kirkham Oval, Camden Wests Tigers Centre of Excellence

Venues

Main article: List of Australian rugby league stadiums

Season structure

Pre-season

Prior to the commencement of the home-and-away season teams are paired off to play an exhibition trial match. In 2017 these matches took place during varying weeks of January.

Grand final

Main article: Grand final

The two highest-place teams at the conclusion of the home-and-away season will qualify for the grand final. The winner of this match is determined the competition's premier.

Results by year

Year	Age	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Minor Premiers	Wooden Spoon	Notes
2017	U18s	Penrith Panthers	26 – 18	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Wests Tigers	[7]
2018	U18s	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	36 – 22	Newcastle Knights	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	[8]
2019	U18s	Illawarra Steelers	24 – 12	Newcastle Knights	Illawarra Steelers	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	[9]
2020	U18s	Season began in February but was cancelled in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No premiership was awarded.
2021	U19s	St George Dragons	30 – 4	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	Newcastle Knights	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	[10]
2022	U19s	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	12 – 10	Newcastle Knights	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	South Sydney Rabbitohs	[11]
2023	U19s	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	26 - 24	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Wests Tigers	[12]
2024	U19s	Illawarra Steelers	24 – 12	Newcastle Knights	Illawarra Steelers	St George Dragons	[13] [14]
2025	U19s	Parramatta Eels	28 – 12	Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy	Illawarra Steelers	Manly Sea Eagles

Premiership tally

No.	Club	Seasons
1	Indigenous Academy	2 (2022, 2023)
1	Illawarra Steelers	2 (2019, 2024)
3	St George Dragons	1 (2021)
3	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1 (2018)
3	Penrith Panthers	1 (2017)
3	Parramatta Eels	1 (2025)

Bold means the team still currently plays in the competition.

Awards

The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season

Player of the Series

Year	Player	Club	Ref
2018	Madison Higgins-Ashby	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	[15]
2019	Maddison Weatherall	Illawarra Steelers	[16]
2020	Not Awarded
2021	Fatafehi Hanisi	St George Dragons	[17]
2022	Otesa Pule	Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters	[18]
2023	Alexis Tauaneai	Canterbury Bulldogs	[19]
2024	Kasey Reh	Illawarra Steelers	[20]
2025	Ryvrr-Lee Alo	Parramatta Eels	[21]

Grand Final Player of the Match

Year	Player	Club	Ref
2017	Ashlee Harrison	Penrith Panthers	[22]
2018	Madison Higgins-Ashby	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	[15]
2019	Teagan Berry	Illawarra Steelers
2020	Not Awarded
2021	Rayven-Jodeci Boyce	St George Dragons	[17]
2022	Otesa Pule	Indigenous Academy Sydney Roosters	[18]
2023	Tavarna Papalii	Canterbury Bulldogs
2024	Indie Bostock	Illawarra Steelers	[20]
2025	Tess McWilliams	Parramatta Eels	[21]

Top scorers

Tries

Year	Excluding Finals				Including Finals
	Player	Club	Matches	Tries	Player	Club	Matches	Tries
2017	Tayla Preston	Sharks	8	12	Tayla Preston	Sharks	11	16
	Page McGregor	Bulldogs	4	12	Lilly-Rose Bennett	Steelers	7	16
2018	Maddison Weatherall	Steelers	9	19	Faith Nathan	Sharks	7	26
2019	Maddison Weatherall	Steelers	8	13	Maddison Weatherall	Steelers	12	17
	Mareva Swann	Dragons	9	13
2020	Teagan Berry	Steelers	4	11	No Finals Series
	Bienne Terita	Dragons	5	11
2021	Teagan Berry	Steelers	8	11	Teagan Berry	Steelers	9	11
2022	Otesa Pule	Roosters	7	12	Otesa Pule	Roosters	9	13
2023	Mia-Rose Walsh	Steelers	8	9	Mia-Rose Walsh	Steelers	10	10
	Litia Fusi	Bulldogs	8	9
2024	Indie Bostock	Steelers	7	13	Indie Bostock	Steelers	9	15
2025	Manisha Seebeck	Roosters	7	10	Grand Final on 3 May 2025

Notes:

• Players' tries and matches were tallied offline from match statistics for seasons 2018 to 2025 available on the NSWRL website and sorted to determine the top try scorers.
• For the 2017 season, tries were collated from scores published on the NSWRL and League Unlimited websites. For example: Round 2 on League Unlimited and Round 3 on NSWRL.

Points

Year	Excluding Finals							Including Finals
	Player	Club	M	T	G	FG	Points	Player	Club	M	T	G	FG	Points
2017	Page McGregor	Bulldogs	4	12	16	0	80	Page McGregor	Bulldogs	5	14	16	0	88
2018	Quincy Dodd	Sharks	8	12	55	0	158	Quincy Dodd	Sharks	10	13	63	0	178
2019	Sereana Naitokatoka	Dragons	8	5	29	0	78	Sereana Naitokatoka	Dragons	10	6	37	0	98
2020	Bienne Terita	Dragons	5	11	3	0	50	No Finals Series
2021	Ruby Smith	Roosters	8	3	16	0	44	Ruby Smith	Roosters	11	3	19	0	50
	Teagan Berry	Steelers	8	11	0	0	44
2022	Alysha Bell	Eels	6	2	24	0	56	Alysha Bell	Eels	7	2	25	0	58
2023	Ally Bullman	Roosters	8	7	18	0	64	Ally Bullman	Roosters	10	7	18	0	64
2024	Lara Cosgrove	Raiders	7	6	20	0	64	Chelsea Savill	Steelers	10	3	31	0	74
2025	Alleya Scrivens	Eels	4	2	21	0	50	Grand Final on 3 May 2025
	Elise Simpson	Raiders	6	3	19	0	50

Media coverage

Online

Selected games each week via NSWRL TV.

Corporate relations

Sponsorship

Westpac is the league's current naming rights partner.

Merchandising

Official match day attire together with other club merchandise is sold through the NRL's stores and website as well through the clubs and through some retailers.

See also

• Australia portal
• Sports portal

• Women's rugby league in Australia

References

1. "New comp a 'gamechanger' for women". 24 August 2016.
2. Media, NRL Digital (24 August 2016). "NSWRL Announces Tarsha Gale Nines".
3. "NSWRL targets elite women's competition".
4. "Tarsha Gale Cup GRAND FINAL Newcastle KNIGHTS v Illawarra Steelers". Our Footy Team Archives. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
5. "Teams: : NSWRL U18 Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup - 2020 Round 1". League Unlimited. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
6. "Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup - Raiders v Eels". NSWRL. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
7. Shamon, John (6 May 2017). "TG Cup Panthers make history". Penrith Panthers. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
8. Buxton, Matt (5 May 2018). "Sharks Hold off Knights to win Harvey Norman Tarsha Gale Cup". NSWRL. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
9. Honeysett, Stuart (4 May 2019). "Illawarra win the Tarsha Gale Cup". NSWRL. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
10. "Dragons too strong for Roosters in Tarsha Cup GF". NSWRL. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
11. Honeysett, Stuart (30 April 2022). "Pule brilliance helps Roosters to Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final glory". NSWRL. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
12. "Roosters make history with back-to-back Tarsha Gale Cups". NSWRL. 29 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
13. Beatton, Joel (27 April 2024). "Tarsha Gale Cup: Perfect Steelers march to Grand Final glory". Dragons.com.au. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
14. "Reh steers Steelers to Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final glory". NSWRL. 27 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
15. Konstantopoulos, Mary (10 May 2018). "Mary's Wonder Women: The Sharks are Tarsha Gale premiers". The Roar. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
16. "Harvey Norman NSW Women's Under-18s Origin Team Named". NSWRL. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
17. "Dragons too strong for Roosters in Tarsha Cup GF". NSWRL. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
18. Honeysett, Stuart (30 April 2022). "Pule brilliance helps Roosters to Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final glory". NSWRL. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
19. "Tauaneai Awarded 2023 NSWRL Tarsha Gale Player of the Year". Bulldogs.com.au. 30 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
20. "Reh steers Steelers to Tarsha Gale Cup Grand Final glory". NSWRL. 27 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
21. McDonald, Margie (3 May 2025). "Eels stage magnificent comeback to win first Tarsha Gale Cup". parraeels.com.au. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
22. Teuma, Sean (6 May 2017). "Panthers claw their way to inaugural Tarsha Gale Cup Premiership". League Unlimited. Retrieved 4 May 2024.

External links

• Official website