Blues second rowers Kezie Apps and Talesha Quinn are great mates
FROM the moment Kezie Apps saw Talesha Quinn on a football field last year, she just had to meet her. These days, some struggle to tell them apart on field and off it, they’re almost inseparable.
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FROM the moment Kezie Apps saw Talesha Quinn on a football field last year, she just had to meet her.
Still on crutches after breaking her ankle at the Auckland Nines, Apps went to watch friend and teammate Maddie Studdon playing in the Sydney competition.
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It was there that she saw a player who looked like her. She played in the second row and ran like her.
And she was good.
“‘Who is this girl? She’s such a good player. Runs really good lines. She’s tall, she’s blonde. She runs like me,’” Apps said.
“I was like, ‘this chick’s awesome, where has she come from?’”
Apps introduced herself to Quinn after the game and it was only a few months later they were playing alongside each other for NSW.
At that stage, Apps was well-established on the representative scene, so Quinn already knew a bit about her second-row partner.
“I remember watching Kez on TV and looking up to her in a way because she was there and doing everything that I wanted to be doing,” Quinn said.
“She played second row. Runs like me. Looked like me. I kind of already knew a lot about Kez in a non-creepy way before I met her.”
Once in camp together, the bond was instant. They bicker like sisters, but quickly move on from it, and just enjoy each other’s company.
Which is a good thing, because they spend a lot of time together.
This camp is the third time they’ve paired as roomies having bunked in at the World Cup and Origin last year.
“I even bought us matching pyjamas (this time) because she bought us matching pyjamas for World Cup,” Apps said. “So I was like I have to do that this time so I surprised her.
“Now when we have showers and are just chilling in our room we put our matching pyjamas on.”
That ability to relax with each other, to feel at home and like family with teammates, is what Apps and Quinn say is special about this NSW team.
Being on opposite sides of the field, the Blues’ number 11 and 12 don’t cross paths too often during a match, except to have a “bit of a cuddle” and “some banter” at scrums and then get on with the job.
But this type of friendship isn’t restricted to just them. Every player would give everything for the person next to them.
“I have complete trust through our whole team, knowing that everyone is going to do their job,” Apps said.
“It’s relieving, I guess, that we’ve got that trust.”
Quinn couldn’t agree more.
“You’ve got to be comfortable with the girls. If you don’t trust each other off the field you’re not going to trust each other on the field,” she said.
“I was only talking to Kez about it this week to say just how lucky we are and how well we’ve bonded and on that field we back each other 100 per cent.
“There’s no ever thinking ‘is that person going to catch that ball or is she going to make that tackle?’ because there’s that much confidence that we have in each other.
“I think there’s no other way to go into an Origin game.”
The women’s State of Origin kicks off at 7.40pm on Friday night at North Sydney Oval. Broadcast on Fox League and Channel 9.