State of Origin NSW Women's Squad named

[Manfred Mann]

Because there only four teams playing in the NRL Women's competition, and one of those teams is from New Zealand, the State of Origin squads turn out to be a combination of overwhelmingly Sydney Roosters and St George Illawarra players for New South Wales, and overwhelmingly Brisbane Broncos players for Queensland.

 

Here is the New South Wales squad, just announced:

 

NSW Blues squad

• Kezie Apps (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Shaylee Bent (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Millie Boyle (Brisbane Broncos)
• Kennedy Cherrington (Sydney Roosters)   
• Keeley Davis (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Quincy Dodd (Sydney Roosters)   
• Filomina Hanisi (Sydney Roosters)
• Kylie Hilder
• Melanie Howard (Sydney Roosters)
• Isabelle Kelly (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Corban McGregor (Sydney Roosters)
• Yasmin Meakes (Sydney Roosters)
• Brydie Parker (Sydney Roosters)
• Shanice Parker (Sydney Roosters)
• Tiana Penitani (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Jessica Sergis (St George Illawarra Dragons)
• Hannah Southwell (Sydney Roosters)
• Simaima Taufa (Sydney Roosters)
• Sarah Togatuki (Sydney Roosters)
• Botille Vette-Welsh (Sydney Roosters)

[Manfred Mann]

There has been talk of expansion of the NRLW. I certainly hope that that happens. But unless one of those expansion clubs is Melbourne (which I would hope would be the case) there are not going to be many other options for finding NRL clubs for Queensland women to play for, given the unlikelihood of the next stage of expansion including the Gold Coast and North Queensland.

For the record I hope that expansion would be at least two more teams, consisting of a western Sydney club plus Melbourne. But it would be much, much better if the NRLW competition could expand to eight, with two more Sydney teams (two out of Parramatta, Penrith, Canterbury-Bankstown and Wests Tigers), plus Melbourne, and either Canberra or Newcastle.

[unapologetic pedant]

26 minutes ago, Manfred Mann said:

There has been talk of expansion of the NRLW. I certainly hope that that happens. But unless one of those expansion clubs is Melbourne (which I would hope would be the case) there are not going to be many other options for finding NRL clubs for Queensland women to play for, given the unlikelihood of the next stage of expansion including the Gold Coast and North Queensland.

For the record I hope that expansion would be at least two more teams, consisting of a western Sydney club plus Melbourne. But it would be much, much better if the NRLW competition could expand to eight, with two more Sydney teams (two out of Parramatta, Penrith, Canterbury-Bankstown and Wests Tigers), plus Melbourne, and either Canberra or Newcastle.

With 3 games plus GF the NRLW is like a rep comp. Only listing each player`s NRLW club gives a false impression. All the squad members have regular season clubs. In the QLD Origin announcement these were attached alongside their NRLW club.

The NSW players` clubs this year were -

Kezie Apps - (Helensburgh Tigers), Shaylee Bent - (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Millie Boyle - (Burleigh Bears), Kennedy Cherrington - (Cronulla Sharks), Keeley Davis - (Cronulla Sharks), Quincy Dodd - (Canterbury Bulldogs), Filomina Hanisi - (Wests Tigers), Kylie Hilder - (Central Coast Roosters), Melanie Howard - (Central Coast Roosters), Isabelle Kelly - (Central Coast Roosters), Corban McGregor - (Cronulla Sharks), Yasmin Meakes - (Central Coast Roosters), Brydie Parker - (Central Coast Roosters), Shanice Parker - (North Sydney Bears), Tiana Penitani - (Cronulla Sharks), Jessica Sergis - (Helensburgh Tigers), Hannah Southwell - (Central Coast Roosters), Simaima Taufa - (North Sydney Bears), Sarah Togatuki - (Canterbury Bulldogs), Botille Vette-Welsh - (Wests Tigers).

There was the 8-team QLD statewide BHP Cup earlier this year, which because of Covid only managed one round, then had to be revamped to an SEQ 5-team comp.