NSW Blues halfback Jesse Southwell delivers killer blows missing from Origin series past

Australia Broadcast Center

01-05-2025

The Blues hunt in packs.
Kezie Apps is a living legend sharing a scrum with back-row mainstays Yasmin Clydsdale and Olivia Kernick, both of whom refuse to leave the field.
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Abbi Church is mobbed by NSW Blues teammates during the Women's State of Origin Game I.
The Blues dominate the second half of the Women's State of Origin series opener, winning 32-12 in front of a record 26,022 people at Lang Park.
Centres Isabelle Kelly and Jessica Sergis spend most of the game miles apart but always feel like a package deal.
But, for a team that has picked itself in so many positions over the years, the halves have been in constant flux.
For the past decade, Queensland have picked some combination of Ali Brigginshaw, Tarryn Aiken and/or Zehara Temara while NSW has named a new partnership every year, ultimately naming 11 different sixes and sevens in the same time Queensland has used five.
But in
Tiana Penitani-Gray, the Sharks captain and a centre by trade, didn't kick the ball once but did her job as a running five-eighth, including a second-half line break.
She was praised by first-time Origin coach John Strange for her defensive work on opposite number Tarryn Aiken, and her experience in one of the most fast-twitch defensive positions in the game no doubt helped her corral superstar fullback Tamika Upton on a number of occasions.
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She's still only 20 years old and yet her elevation feels belated because
Her class with ball in hand was crucial in the series-opening win and her control with the boot ensured almost every NSW set had an ending befitting the six tackles that preceded it.
In the first set, after Brigginshaw booted out on the full with her first offering, Southwell showed the old hand how it's done, with a tidy dink into the in-goal for a repeat set.
Jesse Southwell's creativity and control was just what new coach John Strange wanted.
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Getty Images: Chris Hyde
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A few plays later the Blues opened the scoring through Jess Sergis.
Last year, halfback Rachael Pearson struggled particularly in the high-pressure decider in Newcastle, and it cost the Blues.
They dominated through the middle thanks to a forward pack led by gun props Millie Elliott and Caitlan Johnston, both of whom will miss the 2025 series while having children.
Photo shows
Composite image of Jesse Southwell, Ali Brigginshaw and Ellie Johnston in Women's State of Origin I.
Eye gouges, hair pulls, a classic duel and a glorious night for the new kids on the block. Here are five quick hits from the Women's State of Origin series opener.
Strange replaced them with Caitlan's sister, Ellie, who stormed over for a try on debut in very Caitlan fashion, and veteran middle Simaima Taufa, who has been playing rep footy for over a decade.
But while NSW corrected their issues and covered their losses, the Maroons appear to have a tougher task plugging up gaps in the middle.
Shannon Mato's pregnancy means last year's player of the series is missing from the Queensland forward pack, and her equally damaging offsider, Tazmin Rapana, has retired from representative football.
That's a lot of impact to have in
Mato's replacement, Keilee Joseph, made just 17 post-contact metres in her seven charges. Front-row partners Jessika Elliston and Lauren Brown took six hit-ups and missed six tackles respectively.
Without Mato and Rapana, Romy Teitzel was the only Queenslander who ran for over 100 metres, and most of that came after she was moved to the centres to cover for the concussed Jasmine Peters.
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If none of the Maroons can find their front in a tackle, it won't allow the likes of Aiken, Upton and Julia Robinson to "get their footy on", as men's coach Billy Slater is so fond of saying.
Queensland's Origin folklore is almost entirely on a bedrock held together by welterweights taking on heavies, but the Blues peeled off every bit of paper and revealed a host of cracks that Tahnee Norris, Brigginshaw, Upton and Co have just two weeks to address.
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