Why this old-school 20-year-old is already one of my favourite halfbacks
NSW Origin halfback Jesse Southwell is only 20 years old and has so much improvement still to come in her game.
But already, she's one of my favourites as an old-school, on-ball halfback where she runs her team's show.
I've had the chance to work with Jesse and I keep forgetting how young she is because she's just so good.
When I was working with Newcastle's NRL halves a few years ago, Jesse would jump into skills sessions when she would have been 18 years old at most. But it's safe to say that everyone on the field in those training sessions was blown away by the skill level she has.
Going into the first women's Origin game, NSW picked Tiana Penitani at five-eighth when she is usually a centre or outside back.
People were worried about how Jesse would go as the dominant half, and I could only laugh. Already, she's the kind of player who thrives with more pressure and more responsibility on her – it brings the best out of her and we saw that in Origin I.
Her short kicking game was incredible against the Maroons, and it's a credit to her. Jesse has put a lot of work in over the off-season and was coming down to Sydney several times over summer to work on her kicking.
All the credit goes to Jesse though because a kicking game is something that really comes together with time and practice. It's clear that she's put the work in.
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