Women’s State of Origin 2023: Seven things to watch for in decider
Will the crowd be high enough? Or the quality improved? How will Isabelle Kelly go facing contact again? Here are seven things to watch for in Women’s Origin II.
State of Origin is rife with talking points and the women’s game is no different.
Quality of performances, crowd expectations and fierce rivalries on the field are just a few.
As you’re watching Thursday night’s Origin II in Townsville, here are seven things to keep an eye on.
CHASING POINTS
The reality is NSW need to score a lot of points and defend their backsides off on Thursday night.
A winner will be determined on aggregate points if Queensland lose game two.
The Maroons beat NSW 18-10 at Commbank Stadium on June 1, so they have a huge advantage for Thursday night. For the Blues to bring home the shield, they’ll need to not only win, but by more than eight points.
HIGHER QUALITY
The first game wasn’t up to the standard we’ve been used to, and most of that comes down to the timing of the NRLW season and the Origin series itself.
Many of the players finished their state competitions months earlier, and had only played a handful of games all year, while the NRLW pre-season started the week they went into camp.
As a result, both teams struggled across the 70 minutes. There were 24 errors in total and completion rates of below 70 per cent for each team, as well as a combined 44 missed tackles.
This time, the women have had a few weeks of pre-season training with their NRLW clubs, plus an Origin game and two camps to sharpen up.
ISABELLE KELLY
The Blues co-captain has shown remarkable courage to get back onto the field after a scary throat injury in game one. She spent two days in the ICU after Julia Robinson’s elbow jammed into her throat as she made a tackle.
The pair have played a lot of football together for the Jillaroos, and Kelly insists there’s no bad blood there, but there’s a sense of injustice within the NSW team about it all (especially because play didn’t stop when Kelly was obviously in distress and the Maroons scored soon after).
That has the Blues fired up.
But Kelly also has mental demons that she needs to overcome, and strong early contact will be essential to silencing any voices.
NEW BLUES COMBOS
The Blues had to make changes after game one and halfback Rachael Pearson was the unfortunate cut.
Titans half Taliah Fuimaono, who was in the centres in Sydney, comes into the halves to partner teenage Newcastle star Jesse Southwell.
Fuimaono is fast, has a good running game and could be the shake up the Blues need as they chase points on Thursday night.
Raiders enforcer Simaima Taufa is also a huge inclusion for the Blues after missing game one with injury. Expect her to come off the back fence with some big hit ups.
QUEENSLAND SPINE
Across both camps, the Maroons have been the more relaxed side but that is especially true coming into game two.
Part of that has to do with Queensland’s settled and successful spine combination of Ali Brigginshaw at lock, Tarryn Aiken and Zahara Temara in the halves, with Destiny Brill at dummy half and Tamika Upton at fullback.
Upton is tipped by many to be the best player in the game, but has only played a handful of games this year. After a few weeks of training, expect her to bounce back to her electric self that saw her awarded the Karyn Murphy Medal in the NRLW grand final victory with the Knights last year.
CROWD
Game one in Sydney was a record crowd for a women’s interstate match, but Thursday night’s game is on track to break the record again.
Hold the pats on the back.
The crowd was 12,972 in Sydney but there’s plenty of people around the game who feel it should have been higher.
However, it’ll be interesting to see how fans react to the first two-match series for the women’s game, in Townsville, where Cowboys supporters are used to traveling hours in droves to attend matches.
There is no real reason why, with the right promotion, that stadium shouldn’t be close to packed (with a capacity of 25,000).
If the women’s game is serious about growth, that should be the aim at the very least.
EXPANSION
Women’s Origin was increased from one game to two this year, but as the game expands, there’s a bigger conversation about what the game as a whole looks like.
It’s inevitable the women’s series will increase to three games in the coming years, and it’s already bulked up from six teams to 10 for the NRLW competition this season.
How a beefed up representative schedule will fit in around the NRLW season, pre-season and state tournaments needs big consideration to get the most out of not only the athletes, but sponsorship and broadcasting dollars in the future.
KELLY ON ‘TRAUMATIC’ THROAT INJURY
NSW co-captain Isabelle Kelly admits it’s ‘a raw one’ between her and good friend Julia Robinson after contact from the Queensland winger’s elbow left the Blues star in the ICU for two days.
Speaking for the first time since suffering a serious throat injury in game one of State of Origin on June 1, Kelly said she is still dealing with the mental demons of it all.
The pair are close friends and have played for Australia together, but Kelly has revealed the mixed emotions she has around the hit and her injury, for which she has been medically cleared to play in game two on Thursday night.
“It’s a very raw one for me because Robbo and I are quite good friends – she’s been my winger before (Jillaroos)… she is one of the most beautiful people,” she said.
“It’s just one of those freak accidents that can happen in rugby league.
“She did send me flowers and reached out to me. It will never hurt our relationship because I know she didn’t intentionally go in there to hurt me.
“Obviously we have to look after the safety of our players. I feel bad she’s missing a State of Origin game but at the same time actions have consequences.
“No hard feelings whatsoever and I know when we get back to being on the same team one day, things will be exactly how they were between us.”
The NSW centre is still traumatised by the injury that left her on all fours and struggling to breathe in the Blues’ loss to Queensland in game one.
Robinson, who was carrying the ball, made contact with Kelly’s throat as she attempted a tackle and the 26-year-old dropped to the ground in immediate distress.
She was taken from the field and rushed to hospital, where she spent days recovering from a swollen throat.
She says it was an eye-opening experience.
“I’ve obviously had my fair share of injuries like every player has, but that was more traumatic for me as it kind of showed me the bigger picture outside of football as well,” she said.
“And that is that health is so important … yes, it was distressing, scary on the night, but everyone was so helpful. I felt so well-supported from my team, my family – I knew everyone was behind me.”
The NSW players came into camp on Thursday last week before heading straight to Townsville, where they need to win game two by more than eight points to claim the shield.
Kelly declined to do interviews coming into camp, and has only spoken to NSWRL in a controlled interview as she works through the trauma of the injury and her on-field comeback.
“It probably wasn’t until about four days after the incident that I realised how it had affected me more mentally than possibly physically,” she continued.
“But I was really lucky in that sense as pre-season for (Sydney) Roosters (NRLW team) had started so for me that was a massive safe place for me mentally.
“I could go back to football and start training at a safe level with all the Roosters medical staff around me.
“They made sure everything I did was a slow progress to me building my confidence back … I’m still getting it back… but I was in an environment where I felt safe on the field.
“I had Roosters staff and players to talk to, then the NSWRL (Origin) staff and teammates, and obviously my friends to talk to.
“So as hard as it was, I never felt alone. I always felt well-supported in my situation.
“Now all I need to do is my job on Thursday night and that’s what I want to do.”
NRLW’s best sends scary Origin warning to Blues
She has a five-year NRLW contract, three premierships and now Tamika Upton is one win away from another State of Origin win with Queensland.
The 26-year-old Newcastle fullback was also voted the best player in the game in a recent poll of NRLW coaches.
But in a warning to NSW on Thursday night, she says she hasn’t hit her peak yet.
“There’s a few girls contracted for multi years and we’re going to be able to build combinations now, and that’s never really been a possibility,” she said.
“Even just that alone, I think I’ve got a lot more to give.”
The Maroons are in pole position to claim the Origin shield in Townsville on Thursday night, needing only to win the game to take out the two-game series.
For Upton, it’s another chance to warm into the season – albeit in the most intense game of the year.
Like many women’s Origin stars, has played only four games of rugby league this year, including the 18-10 Origin I win in Sydney three weeks ago.
The NRLW pre-season had only just begun when Origin camps gathered ahead of game one.
She also pulled out of the Rugby League World Cup at the end of last season with a niggling calf injury, and used the time off to build her body up, putting on muscle and fitness to be ready for this season.
“I haven’t played a season yet of NRLW yet without being injured,” she explained.
“I had a serious back injury in 2020 so I played with that, and I wasn’t quite right in 2021 and had a few concussions, so it was just really frustrating for me not getting through a season and it’s only five or six games.
“So it wasn’t too hard of a decision (to withdraw from the World Cup) because I needed a lot of time to recover. It sucked to have to do that but my priority was just getting my body a lot better.”
The additional training has built up her confidence ahead of game two and another season with the Knights, which starts at the end of July.
“I was going to the gym because I wanted to. I’m feeling a lot better for it,” she said.
“I linked up with a local Newcastle company, Urban Based Fitness, outside of footy and they had a whole new perspective for me and we basically started from the beginning in terms of strength work and building my body up.
“I’ve noticed a whole heap of different things, I’m pulling up better after games and feeling just a lot better.
“I’ve put on some good weight and holding a bit more fitness now, I’m able to stay in drills and not load managing, I’m full training. It’s been a lot better.”
Blues fullback and Sharks recruit Emma Tonegato knows just how dangerous Upton can be.
The Blues have been in camp in Townsville since Thursday last week, acclimatising to the environment as they prepare to win by nine points or more to retain the shield.
Upton, of course, is part of that game study.
“She’s an amazing fullback and very talented, and we know we need to stop her and if we do that we’ll go a long way towards winning the game,” Tonegato said.
A record breaking crowd of more than 13,000 is expected at Queensland Country Bank Stadium for the decider.
But the hostile vibes haven’t caught on in NSW camp, yet.
“Not really, we’ve kind of just been keeping to ourselves in our hotel, but we do know it’s going to be a hostile crowd,” Tonegato said.
“But at the end of the day it’s just a piece of grass and that’s how I’m looking at it anyway. We can only control what we can control.”
Originally published as Women’s State of Origin 2023: Seven things to watch for in decider
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