Matildas vs Argentina

[Muz]

Buzz’s highs, lows: Proof women’s Origin has surpassed Matildas

The numbers reveals that women’s NSW and Queensland State of Origin teams are now more popular than the Matildas. PHIL ROTHFIELD has that and more in his highlights and lowlights.

Phil Rothfield
1:45am June 02, 2025

Free-to-air TV ratings last week are the proof.

The women’s Origin game on Thursday night attracted 1.165 million viewers nationally on Channel 9 free-to-air and streaming.

On Friday night the Matildas v Argentina in Melbourne on Channel 10 got only 404,000.

These figures are not just a one-off.

All three State of Origin games have rated one million-plus while Matildas games over the past 12 months against Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Uzbekistan have averaged just under 500,000.

So what can we put this all this down to?

No Mary Fowler and no Sam Kerr would affect the Matildas numbers.

The bad publicity around Kerr’s poor behaviour in the UK would also have been a turn off.

Obviously, the Matildas numbers are far bigger at a World Cup.

But there’s no stopping the incredible growth of women’s rugby league in recent times.

“The level of skill in the women’s game has evolved so quickly,” said independent commission chairman Peter V’landys.

“I’ve never seen growth in any sport like the NRLW. We gave them the opportunity and they’ve delivered with extraordinary skill. It’s really exciting. I’m not surprised that their TV ratings have been so good.”

Imagine how big the NRLW will be in 10 years.

There are now 30,000 women playing rugby league in NSW alone. They make up 27 per cent of total registrations.

Young girls who have previously grown up to play netball or soccer have been inspired by what they have witnessed during the three State of Origin games.

They want to be the next Jessica Sergis, Isabelle Kelly, Jesse Southwell, Kezie Apps, Olivia Kernick, Kennedy Cherrington, Tiana Penitani Gray or Jaime Chapman.

To be fair the NRLW really have made impressive gains here. I watched the women's origin. It was fantastic.

Lucky for us the NRL doesn't actively run interference at us the way the AFL does.

 

[NicCarBel]

To be fair the NRLW really have made impressive gains here. I watched the women's origin. It was fantastic.

Lucky for us the NRL doesn't actively run interference at us the way the AFL does.

Not yet, at least. But - correct, generally they don’t.

Just always seems like every other code wants to pretend that they invented women’s sport

 

[rebelliousfeminist974]

I continue to be impressed by Jamilla Rankin. There is something about her movement and touch on the ball that makes her stand out for me. Something effortless and efficient in the way she plays the ball when those around her seem to expend energy just kicking the ball. It is an unusual thing and to me it says quality athlete.

Amy Sayer can create something herself and can finish what others create. Fantastic to see players who make a difference like that.

The scoreline does not represent the challenge that Argentina posed for us. They did not play the cleanest football, with their 11 Rodriguez showing an awful lot of hacker as one of the main protagonists, but they passed the ball very well at times and had us chasing shadows through midfield quite often.

We showed some rather scary instability at the back tonight, with far too much emphasis on backpasses to the keeper that exposed us a few times. It was not a solid defensive feel at all.

Some of our passing all over the pitch created quite spectacular attacking opportunities for the Argentinian women I have to say.

Heyman and McNamara both have quite a hideous first touch - surprising in the goal scorers that they are. Both coughed up the ball with their touches several times and wasted the opportunity the team had created for them. Heyman can cut it at this level, proven over time, but she is more wasteful now than she used to be. McNamara may have to improve her skills to compete at this level having an excellent record of scoring goals in the aleague but missing when she gets her chance for the national team.

Shame that Johnson got injured having only just been introduced in the team. It is good to see new players get a run and an absolute bastard when they cop an injury that takes away that opportunity.

I like what Wheeler can do with the ball, although she also had some awful touches tonight. She can lose out physically in some of the rougher challenges but I count her as a big positive in the team.

Cooney-Cross seemed to disappear from my view at times during the game. Maybe she was running in the midfield and not getting much ball as we did tend to love the wings more. She has a tendency to use a pivoting turn without having proper control of the ball, and also using it when a simple pass would do the job better. To my eyes we most often used passes into the midfield to give the ball to the opposition - making some strange decisions with passes in that just gave the ball away and choosing not to use the midfield when it was a good option.

It can't help that Van Egmond was playing anything from DM to Striker in her positioning. It looks like she has free rein to roam anywhere but often ends up in the same space as whoever is actually playing in the positions she takes up.

Most of the other players had very good bits and some horrible bits in their games. We did not show that we were the superior side other than on the scoreboard when it comes down to it - dominating much of the play but losing possession in silly ways consistently.

I guess it is a factor of having so many changes in the playing group from game to game, the last game with Sermanni in charge, the need to do something extra to be spotted by the new manager coming in, the quick turn around from last game, playing at altitude <cough>, and the fact it is a Friendly against Argentina who we would consider fairly easy to beat based on world rankings and last game.

Not a great game but one with enough moments to keep the crowd interested and happy.

I am really looking forward to seeing how we evolve under Montemurro - players, style, attitudes and so on.

Agree with regards to Emily van Egmond, who ideally should have been in the attacking midfielder position rather than part of the forward line. Such a shame also that Kahli Johnson is injured, hopefully it isn't that serious but I also agree that she has been making an impact in her first two games for the Matildas since getting a call up. Holly McNamara definitely going strong but maybe there's room for improvement in terms of translating club form to being able to score international goals as well.

 

[erogenouszone]

Can't wait for the Joe M to come in and shake things up.