'They're talking about the rugby now' - Cunningham on breaking the bias

Jodie Cunningham spends every day working to inspire the next generation of female rugby league players, but the England international has long been a role model for women and girls in the sport prior to becoming the RFL's national women's and girls' development manager.

Cunningham is one of the biggest icons of the Betfred Women's Super League, a profile which has been raised even higher on the back of skippering St Helens to an unprecedented clean sweep of domestic honours in 2021, not to mention being an ambassador for this year's postponed Rugby League World Cup.

But although the 31-year-old has risen to the top of her sport from her childhood playing in Warrington and becoming an inspirational figure for many, it has not been an easy route. Along with all the hard work she has put in, Cunningham has had to overcome scepticism and sexism, although that has only hardened her resolve.

"I feel like from being a little girl and being really small playing rugby league, I've always been having to bang the drum about women's and girls' rugby league," Cunningham told Sky Sports.

"I was always fighting a battle to prove how good it was, prove women and girls can play rugby league, how strong we are and how it's worth investing in and worth coming down and watching.

"So, every time someone makes a comment like that, every time someone says 'is it touch rugby league?' or every time someone says 'girls can't tackle', 'do you get hurt?', 'do you all go in the shower together?' - just the most ridiculous questions which would never get asked to a male sportsperson - for me I just think 'every time you do that I'm going to prove how brilliant this sport is, I'm going to prove how powerful the women in this game are and I'm going