NRLW star Ali Brigginshaw has fired a shot at rugby league bosses for taking "two steps backwards" and failing female athletes who put their lives on hold for a competition with "no security".
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NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo says the league had exhausted all options before postponing the 2021 NRLW season, adamant complete relocation was "not possible".
The decision means next year's calendar will include two NRLW premierships, State of Origin, a World Cup and state competitions.
But Brigginshaw - the playmaker who captains Brisbane, Queensland and Australia - says "everyone is extremely frustrated" after the 2021 season was postponed twice.
"It kind of feels like we were getting somewhere with the NRL and now we're two steps backwards. They ask for your input, and then nothing gets done about it," Brigginshaw said on an Instagram live video with ex-Jillaroo Allana Ferguson and Katie Brown.
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Many among the NRLW's cohort of players and staff were unable to commit to a Queensland-based bubble - which would include two weeks of hotel quarantine, a four-week pre-season and a seven-week competition - given they would leave families and jobs for a semi-professional wage.
Ferguson has called for player to sign 12-month contracts next year, adding "the fact there is no security and they're putting everything on the line is absolutely wrong".
"No security there. What happens is we would sign five contracts throughout that year. Each team, the first NRLW, the State of Origin is a contract in itself, the next NRLW, the local comp, and then the Jillaroos or the World Cup, that's five different contracts," Brigginshaw said.
"If I get injured in NRLW one, and it's a season-ending injury, I will only earn the income from that one contract. I won't get any other income along with that. Same if you're injured at Origin and miss the next NRLW.
"People have changed shifts for work because they knew NRLW was coming up. They tell their employer they are starting on August 1, that they'll need to finish at 3pm ... so they change their shifts around.
"Then they go to their employer and say 'NRL has been cancelled, can I have those hours back', what's an employer meant to do?
"We've actually got girls who have lost income even though no competition has happened. If those girls didn't speak up, no one would ever know what those girls go through."
The NRL is under fire with eight players from New Zealand signed to clubs across the competition stranded in Australia after the border was shut between the countries due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
League officials are working with government authorities to get the players home with talks to intensify this week following the end of the New Zealand Warriors' NRL campaign.
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