Women’s State of Origin: NSW captain Ruan Sims rules herself out through injury
NSW captain Ruan Sims has ruled herself out of the inaugural Women’s State of Origin after undergoing hand surgery and preparing for a nose operation.
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THE Blues may be without some big name players but coach Ben Cross is still incredibly happy at being able to name an Origin team oozing with state and international experience.
Captain Ruan Sims was ruled out this week after undergoing hand surgery and will have surgery on her nose later this week. She sits out alongside hooker Kylie Hilder (medial, knee) plus halfback Caitlin Moran (ACL) and outside backs Jessica Sergis (ankle) and Jasmin Allende (ACL).
Cross knows those quality of those players missing, but said the ones he has selected have all earned their spot and there are stars of the future too.
“The amount of girls who have already played NSW or for Australia gives a deep roster,” he said.
“Some of the girls I’ve seen playing their club footy, someone like Taleena Simon, if she isn’t playing for Australia in the next two years I’m a pretty poor judge. That’s how good a player she is.
“The development of girls like Holli Wheeler and Hannah Southwell — she’s just an athlete and is pretty adaptable to a lot of sports she’s played in and been involved in — she’s picked up the game pretty quickly and shows she knows what she’s doing out on the field.”
New South Wales have won the past two interstate matches against Queensland after a long run of losses that lasted more than 15 years.
They will be confident of making it three on the trot after NSW City and NSW Country progressed to the National Championship final earlier this month.
In the first year the fixture comes under the State of Origin banner, the Blues also have home ground advantage with it being played at North Sydney Oval on Friday June 22.
Queensland coach Jason Hetherington has spoken about wanting to bring in the ‘Queenslander’ Origin attitude in his first year at the helm of the women’s side.
Cross said he expects a hard contest upfront, which he planned to match while staying true to his team’s strengths.
“They’ve picked, I would say, a bigger body kind of forward pack and what I saw of those players (at the National Championship), they play that bit more of a physical confrontation type of rugby league,” he said.
“That’s first and foremost in the mindset of our players as well. But I’m going to make sure they’ve got free rein to play what they see in front of them and use a bit of the structure that’s there on our blueprint to follow.
“It’s very much about playing to our strengths and what those are will probably just remain with me and our team for now.”
2018 NSW TEAM: 1 Sam Bremner (Helensburgh Tigers), 2 Taleena Simon (South Sydney Rabbitohs), 3 Corban McGregor (Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks ), 4 Isabelle Kelly (CRL Newcastle), 5 Nakia Davis-Welsh (South Sydney Rabbitohs), 6 Lavina O’Mealey (South Sydney Rabbitohs), 7 Maddison Studdon (C, South Sydney Rabbitohs), 8 Elianna Walton (VC, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), 9 Rebecca Riley (South Sydney Rabbitohs), 10 Simaima Taufa (Mounties), 11 Talesha Quinn (Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks), 12 Kezie Apps (Helensburgh Tigers), 13 Vanessa Foliaki (Brisbane Easts).
Interchange: 14 Nita Maynard (Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks), 15 Rebecca Young (CRL Newcastle), 16 Holli Wheeler (CRL Newcastle), 17 Hannah Southwell (CRL Newcastle), 18 Quincy Dodd (Cronulla-Caringbah Sharks).