Growing the game: Wanderers help upskill Hunter's newest women's rugby team

But Hunter Rugby Women's newcomers Cooks Hill, mostly made up of partners and friends of the club's men's side plus a few players sourced through Tinder, are keen to learn and jumped at an invitation to train with the region's most successful women's team ahead of their second outing.

Wanderers ran a training session for their inner-city neighbours at No.2 Sportsground on Thursday night in a move Two Blues coach Geoff Davy said was motivated by a want to strengthen women's rugby in the region.

"It's around promoting an inclusive and supportive environment to increase the skill set of women rugby players in the Hunter," Davy, who is also head coach of the Hunter women's representative side, said.

"We also want to provide a pathway into the rep team and into the Corellas NSW Country squad and then hopefully into Super W.

"We want to collaborate in a supportive environment that leads to healthy competition and increases the skill set for the longevity of the women's game."

READ MORE: How Tinder helped build a Hunter rugby union side

The Hunter competition has expanded to eight teams with the addition of the Brown Snakes this year after dropping as low as just four teams in recent years.

"The more girls we can get playing union is great," Wanderers co-captain Britney Duff said.

"The more that this competition grows, the more exposure Newcastle will get then the more people will get picked for [NSW] Country and so on and so forth."

Wanderers kicked off their premiership defence with an 83-0 rout of Southern Beaches while Cooks Hill went down 60-0 to Nelson Bay in their first ever outing.

In round two on Saturday, the Two Blues host Nelson Bay, Cooks Hill are home to Maitland, Hamilton travel to Southern Beaches and Merewether play University at Townson Oval.

Cooks Hill captain Bonnie Bremner conceded players were a little bruised and battered after their first hit-out but were "taking as much as we can" from training with the experienced Wanderers women.