The Raiders are pleased to announce their four NRLW development players for the 2025 NRLW season.
Marley Cardwell, Lili Boyle, Madyson Tooth and Uta Uatisone Poka will join the NRLW squad as development players for the 2025 NRLW season.
Raiders NRLW coach Darrin Borthwick is excited to have the four players as part of his squad as the team prepares for the start of pre-season next week.
“Marley is someone we gave an opportunity to last year to play in our trial game against the Knights in Wagga. She’s come through our feeder club Mounties. She’s been doing the hard work and it was a good reward for Marley, to get her down here and give her an opportunity to train at an elite level. I think she’ll fit in really well. She’s a tough girl and I’m happy to have her here,” Borthwick said.
“I was tipped on about Lili four or five years ago when she was a 13/14-year-old. I watched her play Tarsha Gale last year for Manly and she moved into the NSW Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership squad. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to talk to Lili about coming down here and developing into a NRLW player. I’m glad she’s chosen us as a club, it’s a long way from the Northern Beaches. She’s got a lot of attributes about her that resonate to me that she’s a Raider. I’m really happy to have her and I’m keen to see her development over the next year.
“I was excited about that phone call when I decided to go with Maddy. I met Maddy a few years ago when I first got here and she wasn’t quite ready then and she probably thought the time was never going to come. The clear message is that we are always looking and we want to be able to recruit from our own area and that’s another good example that if you go away and you work hard, you can get recognised again. It was a really good phone call, she was quite shocked and it’s happened rather quickly but I’m very happy to have her, she’s fit in really well. I’m looking forward to working with her and I don’t think she’s too far away from getting a crack either at some stage.
“Uta is very similar to Maddy, they’ve come through our Tarsha Gale pathway. Maddy obviously played Tarsha Gale for us and then played Katrina Fanning Shield. Uta on the other hand, she came through our under 17s program last year, the Lisa Fiaola squad that played a few trial games and was in our Valkyrie squad after that. She played Tarsha Gale Cup for us this year and performed really well. At such a young age, I only think she’s going to benefit as well being in our system. She’s a local girl that never thought this opportunity would come as quick as it has but that’s the women’s game. I wouldn’t be going down that road if I didn’t think a player like Uta was ready to be thrown into this environment. I’m really excited to work with her, she had a really good Tarsha Gale season. She’s very athletic and there’s other stuff I think she’ll benefit from with working with us and the players she’ll have around her.”
