As the curtain closes on 2025, many will archive this year’s Hostplus Cup and BMD Premiership seasons, but for the 47 graduates of those competitions, 2025 will forever be remembered as the year which saw decades of tireless work and persistence culminate in Super League, Women’s Super League, NRL and NRLW debuts.
In 2025, Queensland Rugby League’s pathways produced 23 male elite-competition debutants and a record 24 female elite-competition debutants.
Overall, 2025 proved to be the second most successful year in terms of elite-competition debutants, trailing the 2023 season which produced 53 elite-competition debutants.
Notable debut seasons include Central Queensland Capras’ pathway product Owen Pattie, who notched 26 appearances for the Canberra Raiders, and Marly Bitungane, a product of the Northern Pride who became only the third African-born NRL player after debuting for the North Queensland Cowboys in Round 22.
In the female game, young-gun Phoenix-Raine Hippi starred for the Gold Coast Titans in her debut NRLW season, scoring nine tries in seven games, seeing the 19-year-old earn a place in the PMs XIII against the PNG Orchids in November.
Though it was the 18-year-old rookie Shalom Sauaso who stole the show in 2025, winning NRLW rookie of the year honours in addition to representing Queensland in the Under 19s State of Origin, Samoa in the Pacific Championships and winning the NRLW premiership with the Brisbane Broncos.
Queensland Rugby League’s General Manager of Pathways and Performance, Glenn Ottaway, credits the QRL’s investment into statewide clubs for the impressive number of graduates in 2025.
“We are very proud of the role our clubs play in supporting the development of talent for the elite game.
We specifically invest in our clubs to prepare players capable of playing at the national level, so to see them not only receive NRL and NRLW contracts but also debut in the national competitions is a great achievement.”
“Our female numbers are specifically high this year which highlights that QRL female pathways and competitions are a genuine recruitment ground for all NRLW clubs.”
