The Canberra Raiders have announced the experienced Darrin Borthwick as their inaugural NRLW head coach ahead of the club's maiden season in the competition.
Borthwick has the runs on the board when it comes to the women's game, assistant coaching Parramatta across their past two seasons while also head coaching the Mounties in the Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership.
The mentor is no stranger to the NRLW, involved with the Sydney Roosters for the first two seasons of the competition before moving to the Warriors for their COVID-affected maiden 2020 NRLW season.
It means this will be the third time Borthwick will take the reins in a club's first season in the NRLW.
Despite the Raiders not even kicking a ball in the NRLW yet, Borthwick already believes the club has the potential to become a powerhouse.
“I have had an association with Canberra for a while with the feeder club at Mounties so I know the place really well anyway. It's good to be back and just feels right,” Borthwick told NRL.com following the announcement.
“I'm super excited to get in there and get to work.”
“I'm really excited about getting out to the regional areas and finding the next big talent. We are in a position where we will have to recruit from outside but I guess if I'm using players outside of the Raiders in the women's space I'm looking for the next Isabelle Kelly or Jess Sergis.”
Canberra's CEO Don Furner is delighted to have someone with so many runs on the board steering the ship for their inaugural season.
“Darrin has had a long association with the Raiders through Mounties and we are excited to have him as the inaugural Raiders NRLW coach,” Furner said.
“His extensive knowledge and experience of the women's game will bring great insight to the club in our inaugural NRLW season. Darrin will have a blank canvas to start our whole program with a large regional area to promote and develop from, not unlike the men's team when we commenced 40 years ago.
"At that time, we recruited from areas like New Zealand, Queensland and regional areas because they had no NRL teams back then and we mixed them in with the local talent. It will be an exciting experience for young female talent in the greater region to know they don't have to move to Sydney to chase their opportunities and dreams.”
The Raiders will join the North Queensland Cowboys, Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks, as well as the current sides, in forming a ten-team NRLW competition, kicking off early next season.
