England women’s icon calls for Australian expertise to fix ‘serious problem’

Former England women’s head coach Brenda Dobek believes the Lionesses should ‘set their sights lower’ and look to bring in Australian expertise in order to close the gap to the Jillaroos.

We are just over a month away from the return of the WSL as women’s rugby league in England looks for a much-needed reset following the Las Vegas debacle in March.

The 90-4 loss to the Australian Jillaroos was a real kick in the stomach to the women’s game in England as it highlighted the enormous gap between the two nations.

“They are just miles and miles apart,” Dobek told Love Rugby League when looking back at the game.

“You could say that the Australians have got an advantage because they’re full-time professionals, which is correct, but I still don’t think there should be that big a margin between the England and the Australian team.”

She added: “I just think that the Australian nation have just got that ability, that natural ability that the British girls don’t have. And I don’t think it’s a quick fix either.

“I just think some research needs to go into it to find out why there is such a big difference.

“I think the Women’s Super League clubs that are associated with the Super League men’s teams, maybe they should try and get them involved. Look at some sort of coaching aspects on their side. Not that I’m blaming the coaches, but I just don’t think it’s an easy fix.”

Dobek coached the England team between 2008 and 2010, leading the Lionesses to seven wins from 11 games. One of those matches was a 22-4 defeat to the Australians in the 2008 World Cup.

Funding in the women’s game at that time was minimal but that didn’t stop England from giving their southern hemisphere rivals a competitive test. Since then, the amount of money into the female game has drastically increased, but Dobek insists there is something else that England are missing.

She said: “I think a lot of money’s been given to the women’s game nowadays, and I think they are supported very well. Maybe not to the extent that they should be.

“But I think the key word is expertise. Expertise of the Australians, bringing them over, see what they do, see how they train, see what techniques they use, and everything.

“I think it is quite a serious problem. If we want to match the Australians, then we’ve just got a lot of homework to do.”

Dobek added: “Maybe we should also set our sights a little bit lower. Let’s match another nation, rather than Australians, because they’re just steaming away ahead and it’s just a massive, massive task.”

When looking back at her own battles with Australia and New Zealand, Dobek has fond memories.

“It was very, very intense,” she said. “We had to be at our fittest. And having said that, we didn’t have any money, we didn’t have any funding. But it doesn’t cost money to get fit.

“We were just very passionate about the game. There were quite a lot of natural players about and that made the team better. Made us stronger.

“It was very, very intense and enjoyable. And you know, the harder it was, the better it was, the more we wanted to test ourselves, which we did.”

Speaking of intensity, Dobek believes that the English national side would greatly benefit from having more competitive and physical games.

She said: “I think we definitely need to play a competition of a more physical standard. Maybe bring back the Yorkshire vs Lancaster, bring back best of the rest and things like that. High intensity games that they’re playing on a regular basis.”

The latest Women’s Super League season kicks off on Friday, 16th March when Wigan Warriors host York Valkyrie.