Inside Origin star’s Jaime Chapman’s intense training and work schedule after broken back

Just two months ago NSW star Jaime Chapman suffered a broken back when a tackle went horribly wrong - Pamela Whaley reveals Chapman’s incredible comeback story.

Jaime Chapman is fighting for her spot in John Strange’s NSW Origin side less than two months after fracturing her back playing for the Indigenous All Stars.

The Sky Blues star spent two weeks barely moving as she recovered from a fracture in her L2 vertebrae in her lower lumbar spine she suffered while scoring a try in the 20-18 win over the Maori side.

Despite the pain she finished the game, but knew something was wrong the next day when it intensified.

Scans revealed a fracture, which left her fearing for not only her beloved Origin jersey but her NRLW season with the Titans too.

“When I went over for that try in the first 10 minutes, and I kind of got twisted funny and I’m not sure if it was the knee of Shanice Parker, or the way I twisted when I scored,” she explains.

The moment that Jaime Chapman suffered a fractured spine.

“I’ve never broken a bone before, so pretty hectic one for a first bone break. But it was quite painful. I played through it not knowing I had a broken bone and then I got a scan when I got home and I couldn’t move very much.

“I was quite shocked to be honest because I could still do most of the movements, but the way I pulled up I was extremely sore the next day I knew something was wrong,” she continues.

“I didn’t really know what to think of it, and I was pretty stressed about will I play Origin, will I be okay for NRLW, but I guess it sounds worse than it actually was. I was very lucky with the type of break that it was and where it was.”

The 23-year-old spent two weeks laying down to recover, which she says drove her crazy with boredom, before slowly starting to run, incorporating change of direction and now sprinting and 100 per cent contact.

Blues centre Jaime Chapman in Brisbane at the announcement of the inaugural 3 game Womens Origin series for 2024. Picture Lachie Millard

The past few weeks have intensified across a weekly training camp with the NSW Origin squad, for which she has been flying between her home on the Gold Coast and Sydney several times a week to participate in.

“I was coming to NSW training pretty much to do rehab running, so it was pretty hectic on the mind when you are competing for spots and you know you’re not 100 per cent but everyone else is putting in all the work at training,” she says.

“It is pretty hard to just be on the sideline and do some rehab running, but I knew I was in good hands.”

BIG BLUES CHANGES

This training block has been new coach John Strange’s first chance to get a look at his options for the series with plenty of changes expected across the side, including a new halves pairing with Kirra Dibb, Jesse Southwell and Tayla Preston all pushing for the job.

There’s a fullback battle between Abbi Church and Emma Verran (nee Tonegato), while Chapman is desperate to earn her place for game one in the centres or wing among a hot field of contenders.

“It’s an awesome thing for us to have in NSW, we have so many girls competing for spots and I guess it makes us a bit hungrier for a spot, because you see how hard everyone is working,” she says.

“The professionalism in NSW as a whole has gone to a whole new level and I think Strangey has had a lot to do with that as well.”

Thursday night is the first of two in-house scrimmages between the squad, with the next to follow in a week before the final teams are picked.

They’re expected to be announced on April 23 before the squad goes into camp the following day for game one on May 1 at Suncorp Stadium.

ORIGIN CAMP CHAOS

It’s a jam-packed schedule for the squad who have dedicated to this block of training to replicate match fitness and conditioning with no active women’s rugby league competitions before the three-game series.

A typical week is hectic, especially for the Queensland-based players including Olivia Kernick and Brydie Parker, but is made easier for Chapman who works for the Titans in the community team.

The first three days are big work days to make up her hours, with a training program to complete in either the mornings or afternoons.

She then flies to Sydney on Thursday to train, spends Fridays with her family in NSW, trains with the squad on Saturdays and then flies back to the Gold Coast that night to have Sunday off.

Across the past few weeks she has been flying in on Tuesdays too and doing the round trip up to three days a week.

“My frequent flyer points are great though,” she laughs.

“(Tuesday) was a huge day, I do a lot of driving, so I woke up at 5am, drove two and a half hours to South Grafton to do a jail visit, played touch with those boys, drove two and a half hours straight to the airport, and then went straight to training, had a shower within five minutes after training, got into a taxi and back to the airport and then landed at the Gold Coast and drove to Brisbane last night.

“I got home at midnight.

“We’re on a gym program so we make sure we get in every gym session as well, so if that’s waking up before work and getting that done, or getting it done in the afternoons after work. It’s been a pretty hectic six weeks but it’ll be all worth it in the end.”

Originally published as Inside Origin star’s Jaime Chapman’s intense training and work schedule after broken back