RL Cares at NRL player welfare conference 2023

Rugby League Cares has issued a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Australia’s National Rugby League for the warm welcome given to the charity’s Director of Welfare, Steve McCormack this week.

Steve has spent the last seven days in Sydney attending the NRL’s annual wellbeing conference, where club representatives and the governing body shared information on all aspects of player welfare.

RL Cares and the NRL have an excellent relationship and this week gave everyone a great opportunity to come together to share ideas and enhance our player welfare provision, both in Super League and the NRL.

Subjects discussed at the three-day conference included player transition, career development, inspirational wellbeing case studies, NRL clubs best practice, cultural awareness, psychological support for players, how to thrive and financial wellbeing.

Steve was invited to the conference by Paul Heptonstall, the NRL’s Senior Welfare and Education, and was a guest speaker on Day 3 of the conference.

“It’s been a great week, I’ve learned an awful lot and will be sharing those learnings with my colleagues at RL Cares and the club player welfare managers on my return,” said Steve.

“I’d like to thank the NRL, and Paul in particular, for the kind invitation and for being so receptive to my presentation on Thursday.

“RL Cares and the NRL have an excellent relationship and this week gave everyone a great opportunity to come together to share ideas and enhance our player welfare provision, both in Super League and the NRL.”

Steve’s presentation saw him update delegates on the work of RL Cares, RFL and the wellbeing provision of both Super League and the England Performance Unit.

He outlined how RL Cares measures outcomes of welfare and wellbeing and discussed the improvements to player welfare provision made by the charity since it took on responsibility for this important area in 2019.

Steve also introduced the conference to the RL Players Portal, our dedicated online resource for the playing community, and examined ways in which club welfare managers in both the NRL and Super League can establish better relationships to help players and families moving to and from both competitions.