NRLW 2025: Qld clubs in scramble to land competition’s biggest free agent Tamika Upton
Tamika Upton has returned to Queensland and her early release from Newcastle has NRLW clubs in a desperate scramble to land the game’s best player.
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A three-horse race is heating up in Queensland with Tamika Upton’s release igniting a scramble to sign her for the 2025 NRLW season.
The Broncos and Titans are favourites to land the 27-year-old Jillaroos and Queensland Origin star, while the Cowboys are also interested in bringing her up north.
The best women’s player in the world, Upton’s influence will have an immediate impact on her next club who will likely rocket straight to NRLW premiership favourites for 2025.
It comes after the four-time premiership winner was released from the remaining three years of her contract with the Knights last week on compassionate grounds.
Upton was struggling living in Newcastle away from her Rockhampton-based home while dealing with a private family matter.
She has returned to Queensland to be with her family and is committed to staying in the state to be closer to home.
And while her immediate playing future isn’t first priority, NRLW clubs are scrambling to impress.
The Broncos are keen for her to return to the club where she won the first of four premierships in 2019 and 2020 before she moved to the Knights in 2022.
Upton was named vice-captain of the Maroons this year and could be a long term replacement for Broncos skipper Ali Brigginshaw at Origin and club level.
Broncos fullback Hayley Maddick had her best season in the No.1 jersey this year, but could make way for Upton in the squad with a shift to bench utility.
The Titans are also hot on the chase and could slot her into fullback or five-eighth.
Representative star Evania Pelite is the current Titans fullback, but would be shifted to the centres to make way for Upton as she does at Origin level.
The Titans also struggled for a genuine game-breaker this year, and the other option would be to play Upton in the halves alongside Queensland teammate Lauren Brown, with Taliah Fuimaono to make way.
Should Upton chose the Titans, it would reunite the two-time Karyn Murphy medallist with the namesake, as well as turn the club into immediate favourites for the title in 2025 with Jaime Chapman, Brown and Pelite in the star-studded squad.
The Cowboys will have to compete with the two glamour clubs of Queensland for her signature, but Rockhampton’s location is a huge plus for the Townsville-based side.
Of all three clubs, Upton could have the biggest influence on North Queensland who finished sixth last year and are yet to make the NRLW finals.
Fran Goldthorp and Krystal Blackwell shared fullback duties this season but Upton would slot right in at No.1 while adding much-needed experience to the young squad.
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Originally published as NRLW 2025: Qld clubs in scramble to land competition’s biggest free agent Tamika Upton
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