In the end, it had to be Jesse Southwell. The Blues halfback may have chosen to leave her home town club Newcastle for Brisbane this year, but in familiar surrounds at McDonald Jones Stadium in front of 20,000 fans on Thursday it was her who proved coolest as New South Wales won the opening Women’s State of Origin game, 11-6.
Her field goal with seven minutes to go stole the glory from a valiant Queensland, who went close to the winning try before Blues centre Jess Sergis scored a sealer on the whistle.
Southwell described it as “probably the fastest” and “definitely the toughest” game she had ever played.
“It was end-to-end and Queensland never let up,” she said. “It just goes to show what the women’s game is doing.”
The result hung in the balance until the very end, and with scores locked at 6-6 Lauren Brown – who kicked the Maroons to victory two years ago on this ground – hit her field goal attempt left of the posts. Earlier, Southwell had a one-pointer blocked by prop Destiny Brill, who was only brought on late after the Maroons lost two players to head impacts.
The result could have been reversed however with just three minutes left on the clock. The Maroons looked certain to score when hooker Jada Ferguson darted out of dummy half metres out from the try-line. But Blues fullback Abbi Church and Millie Elliott – playing her first top-level match in more than a year after becoming a mother and just seven months after giving birth – managed to keep the ball off the white chalk.
It was a heartbreaking near-miss given Queensland’s effort throughout the evening. The visitors held a surprise 6-0 lead at half-time. Southwell, however, said her side didn’t doubt they would come back.
“We knew within ourselves that we were going to be sweet,” she said. “Coaching staff at half-time were so calm, our leaders were so calm, so we knew we just had to hold on to the ball and keep doing what we’re doing.”
In the end, the revamped Maroons held out the marauding Blues for 45 minutes. They had defended smartly, desperately, and everything in between, but the pressure took its toll. The crack was found by Ellie Johnston, the imposing prop whose momentum is kryptonite for even the most heroic defensive lines, who jumpstarted the Blues’ shield defence.
NSW had been dominant in the two opening matches last year, running up an aggregate score of 58-18 before the Maroons claimed a consolation in Game 3. That was the swansong of longtime coach Tahnee Norris, and former assistant and current Dragons NRLW coach Nathan Cross stepped in this year.
The new era of the Maroons couldn’t have started any worse. In the very first hit up of the match, Makenzie Weale was driven back by a mass of three Blues and hit her head on the hard Hunter turf. She was ordered from the field and wasn’t to return.
This was a team with three debutants, and no Ali Brigginshaw to steady the ship against the heavily favoured home side bursting with Jillaroos. But those three debutants stood up to the challenge. New Zealand international Otesa Pule, called in thanks to tweaked eligibility rules, came on for Weale and crashed over to put her side ahead in only the fourth minute.
From five-eighth, Chantay Kiria-Ratu bombarded the Blues back three with towering kicks that almost created two tries. And on the wing, teenager Phoenix-Raine Hippi showed masterful instincts, jamming NSW fullback Abbi Church one moment and then standing up to Isabelle Kelly the next.
But in an arm-wrestle of a first half, the standouts were the forwards. None was better than the Maroons’ Keilee Joseph, who had accrued 24 tackles by half-time, including two front-on marvels. With 12 minutes to ago, she had 32 – more than any other player – but in attempting the 33rd her head collected the hip of Tiana Penitani Gray and she was taken from the field on a medicab.
The long delay gave the players a moment of rest, and marked the start of the game’s final act. It offered plenty of drama, but for the Maroons players, no fairytale. Now they must go to Queensland for matches two and three, and show – like Southwell – there’s no place like home.
