NRLW players already act like professionals — they just aren't paid like it

Dragons veteran Holli Wheeler has added to the chorus of NRLW players calling for greater progress towards professionalism for the competition.

On the eve of what will be the busiest season ever, the pay gap between the men's and women's competition has been a talking point ever since NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo revealed he did not know when the women's game could turn professional.

Wheeler, who has been with St George Illawarra since the competition's inaugural season in 2018, believes the vast majority of NRLW players already conduct themselves as professional players – they just don't have the compensation to show for it.

«Professionalism is the ultimate goal. We're working towards that. We understand you have to build that fanbase and that support and we're grateful for the support we've already had, but we want to continue to grow,» Wheeler said.

«For us to be able to expand the game we have to be able to focus on footy and until we have that equal pay it's going to be hard. There's a lot of girls I know who work full-time who have had to try and work things out with their employers to try and get to training and make that commitment.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo is unable to give the game's female stars a timeline on when the NRLW competition would become fully professional.

»The next step, especially after this year, is a bigger pay packet so we can commit more, even if it's not fully yet – something where footy could be our priority and then we get a casual or part-time job on the side.

«The way we see it is we are professional athletes, we're just on a part-time wage. Ali [Brigginshaw] is our leader and she speaks so well on what we deserve, you have to admire her for that. She's been around a long time and