Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are showing their investment in rugby league talent from Aotearoa with a bunch of NRLWahine locked in for their first NRLW season as well as a pipeline full of young ladies from Aotearoa. Kiwi Ferns Ash Quinlan and Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa have been signed by Bulldogs, as well as Alexis Tauaneai who is the best young forward in NRLW and highly likely to crack Kiwi Ferns at the end of the season.

Bulldogs also announced a deal for Sarahcen Oliver who has earned a promotion from the Bulldogs' NSW Women's Premiership team. While Quinlan and Teakaraanga-Katoa are hearty Kiwi Ferns, they moved to Australia before diving into NRLW systems which is different to Tauaneai and Oliver who commanded attention from their mahi in Aotearoa.

Before Bulldogs were in the mix for NRLW expansion, they were signing young wahine from Aotearoa and investing in them to move to Sydney. Tauaneai and her sisters are a fabulous example of this as they moved from Wellington to Sydney to join Bulldogs, then Wainuiomata junior Alexis earned an NRLW gig with Dragons and she was joined by Trinity who picked up a development contract with Dragons this year.

Tauaneai has bounced back to Bulldogs for next season and Trinity could join her in the NRLW Bulldogs, with Trinity playing alongside a hefty crew of Under 17 wahine from Aotearoa who played in the Bulldogs Lisa Fiaola Cup team this year. This is where things get funky for Bulldogs as the team who won the LFC final 36-0 over Tigers had a heavy dose of Aotearoa flavour.

Trinity was joined by sister Paige in the Bulldogs LFC team as well as Lahnayah Daniel, Asha Taumoepeau-Williams, Evelyn Roberts, Seriah Palepale, Mary-Jane Taito and Josinah Filisi Tauiliili. That's eight of the 17 players in the grand final team who are from Aotearoa and were recruited by Bulldogs to play U17 footy in New South Wales.

Bulldogs have been doing this for a few years now. Mya Hill-Moana moved from Huntly to Sydney to play for Bulldogs in the U19 Tasha Gale Cup competition at the start of 2020, before entering NRLW with Roosters in 2021. Others who started their NRLW journeys with Bulldogs include Tatiana and Claudia Finau, Amelia Pasikala (Raiders), Noaria Kapua (Eels) along with Petone's Sarahcen Oliver.

Oliver was 18th-wahine in the NSW Women's Premiership final last year which Bulldogs lost 0-1 to Mounties. This year Oliver has been a consistent presence in the centres for Bulldogs and from a few of her highlights, it's easy to see why Bulldogs promoted Oliver to their NRLW squad for next season.

As expected, Oliver hasn't been the only wahine from Aotearoa in the Bulldogs NSWWP team this season. Summer van Gelder, Shaquaylah Mahakitau-Monschau, Shaniece Monschau and Paea Uilou have been regulars in the Bulldogs team this year. This paints a compelling picture of how Bulldogs have tapped into the growing women's rugby league scene in around Aotearoa, investing in them to move and live in Australia.

Some of these players may return to Aotearoa to enter the NZ Women Warriors pipeline and others may be picked up by other NRLW teams. Bulldogs have enough tentacles throughout Aotearoa to maintain a steady supply of wahine and this is amplified by how there aren't many, if any wahine from Canterbury mentioned in this yarn despite Bulldogs having an official partnership with Canterbury Rugby League.

Kiwi Ferns success, the vast numbers of wahine moving from rugby union to rugby league and NZ Women Warriors returning to NRLW with five Kiwi Ferns already signed are all hearty indicators of the status of women's rugby league in New Zealand. The best indicator though is how Bulldogs enter their first NRLW season with Kiwi Ferns and NRLWahine who they recruited from Aotearoa, as well as having a pipeline that is flush with Aotearoa's best emerging talent.

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