Brown Sees Bright Future For Jillaroos

After receiving $4000 to play five matches at last year's World Cup, Australia Jillaroos winger Karina Brown was happy to earn $3000 for the recent one-off Test against the New Zealand Kiwi Ferns.

Brown has heard the stories of the days Jillaroos players had to pay their own way in order to wear the green and gold. To go from that to their biggest paycheque yet for a single match shows the steps the women's game has made.

"It just seems to get better and better each time and that's all we're really asking for," Brown said.

"We got the 3k [thousand] match payment which was the most that we've received for a Jillaroos match ... so it's not the same as the boys, it's probably the only thing that was different, however, it was more than we received from the World Cup last year."

Before 2013, females only played representative footy if they could cover the costs of getting to matches and finding accommodation.

"2013 was first time the trip was fully funded by the NRL, so flights ... accommodation was all taken care of," Brown said.

"They used to pay to go to World Cups, pay thousands and thousands of dollars to go."

The Jillaroos also enjoyed having their own motel rooms for the first time - a luxury long enjoyed by the Kangaroos.

It's a big step forward according to coach Brad Donald who said his squad also enjoyed a new level of off-field support.

"Access to all the same technologies like athlete management system, we had a professor in sleep talk to all three teams, but the girls got the humidifier to utilise in their rooms to work on their best quality sleep," Donald said.

The Kangaroos were given $20,000 to play against the Kiwis men's side, but did take a pay cut to play Mate Ma'a Tonga which meant they too earnt $3000 dollars. That was the same amount the Jillaroos earned in their sole 2018 Test appearance.

The improved financial benefits come off the back of their World Cup victory and the success of the inaugural NRL Holden Women's Premiership.