If you want to get even more up to speed before tonight’s game, check out Jack Snape’s excellent preview, including Jessika Elliston’s description of how the crowd in Newcastle last year made her chest rattle with their sheer volume.
So both teams have named four debutants in their line ups for tonight! For the Maroons, centre Rory Owen and winger Jasmine Peters will both make their debuts, as well as Tavarna Papali’i and Jada Ferguson on the interchange bench. For the Blues it will be prop Ellie Johnston, fullback Abbi Church, winger Jayme Fressard and Jocelyn Kelleher from the bench who will enter the Origin arena for the first time.
Tiana Penitani is better known for playing in the centres, but she will be in five-eighth in this reshuffled line up. While the Maroons have 10 players from their winning 2024 squad in tonight’s line up, it’s also worth noting that the Blues have seven members of theNRLWpremiership-winning Roosters team among their numbers.
It should be a fascinating battle between these two powerhouse teams – the changes have added an extra element of intrigue.
1 Abbi Church
2 Jaime Chapman
3 Jessica Sergis
4 Isabelle Kelly
5 Jayme Fressard
6 Tiana Penitani
7 Jesse Southwell
8 Simaima Taufa
9 Keeley Davis
10 Ellie Johnston
11 Kezie Apps
12 Yasmin Clydsdale
13 Olivia Kernick
Interchange:
14 Jocelyn Kelleher
15 Kennedy Cherrington
16 Sarah Togatuki
17 Emma Verran
Reserve:
18 Shaylee Bent
1 Tamika Upton
2 Julia Robinson
3 Shenae Ciesiolka
4 Rory Owen
5 Jasmine Peters
6 Tarryn Aiken
7 Ali Brigginshaw
8 Keilee Joseph
9 Lauren Brown
10 Jessika Elliston
11 Sienna Lofipo
12 Romy Teitzel
13 Destiny Brill
Interchange:
14 Jada Ferguson
15 Sophie Holyman
16 Makenzie Weale
17 Tavarna Papalii
Reserve:
18 Georgia Hannaway
Hello and welcome to the second ever three-match women’s Origin series! Last year’s series proved the value of the three-match format, with the series locked at 1-1 going into the final match after a nail-biting one-point win by the Maroons in the pouring rain at Newcastle in Game 2. It was the Queenslanders who were good enough to finish it off and come away with the series win, after a dominant victory in Townsville in Game 3.
This year it is NSW who have the two home games, meaning that if they pull off a win at Suncorp Stadium tonight – as they did in Game 1 last year – they will have the psychological advantage of knowing they go into the next two games with the crowd behind them at Allianz in Sydney and McDonald Jones in Newcastle.
While there has been an injury cloud hanging over star Maroons five-eighth Tarryn Aiken, she has confirmed she is fit to play tonight, which will be a great relief to Queenslanders everywhere – Aiken last year won not only the Origin series, but theNRLWpremiership, the Karyn Murphy Medal for player of the NRLW grand final and the International Rugby League Golden Boot award. She is pivotal to the success of the Maroons tonight.
There have been plenty of shake ups to the squads, which we will delve into very soon, but expect a few new faces and some rejigged line ups when the teams take the field tonight.
John Strange makes his Origin head coaching debut for the Blues tonight, following a premiership win with the Roosters in 2024. He will be keen to make his mark on the series and kicking off with a win in the cauldron of Suncorp Stadium would be the very definition of a perfect start.
There is plenty to discuss and not long until the game gets underway at 7.45pm AEST, so let’s get into it!