THE day after the men stared down defeat at home and a likely series defeat in the opening match of their Origin series, NSW’s women completed a ‘Blue Rinse’.
The 12-4 women’s Origin III win over Queensland at CBUS Super Stadium made it 3-0 in a rain affected dead rubber.
The women’s interstate series only went to three games in 2024 so it’s not quite the historic milestone that it may seem.
But given than NSW’s coach John Strange’s son is Origin I tryscorer and star performer Ethan, it did seem like the culmination of a fortunate 24 hours for those south of the Tweed.
The Blues men haven’t won a series in clean sweep since 2000.
Referring to the timing of the series at the start of the women’s season, Maroons captain Lauren Brown told reporters: “I think it’s crazy that our first footy of the year is meant to be the highest quality game of the year.
“It’s unfair to the players and the product to expect us to be at our best quality of football. In the NRL this would still be their trial games.
“The girls, the majority, would love it to be intertwined into NRLW season, however, we play the cards we’re dealt and this year Origin’s at this time.
“We had a great preparation we had a great pre-series but obviously would love to have more footy under the belt before Origin.”
NSW 12 (I Kelly J Frezzard tries J Southwell 2 goals) beat QUEENSLAND 4 (J Peters try) at CBUS Super Stadium. Referee: B Sharpe.
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