Section Editor, Beth Nicholls, sums up the 2024 Women’s State of Origin series, and talks about the growth of women’s rugby league in Australia.
The Women’s State of Origin is an annual rugby league fixture between the Australian representative players from New South Wales and Queensland, which was known as the Interstate Challenge until 2018. 2024 saw the first ever three match series played, which was following the 2023 series which was a two game series which was then decided based on points aggregate in the case of a tie.
Women’s sport is continuing to grow across Australia, as well as on the international stage, and the rugby league is of no question. The NRLW was first established in 2018 with four clubs competing for the premiership, now in 2024 there are ten clubs which will be expanded to twelve in 2025.
The State of Origin arena is where the best of the best players get to represent their state, and it becomes in many cases state vs state and mate vs mate.
The 2024 series was nothing short of a thriller, and was a masterclass of footy across all three matches.
Game I, 16 May Suncorp Stadium Brisbane
The first of three games kicked off in QLD’s backyard, although it didn’t quite end in the way the Maroons would have hoped. The Sky Blues kicked off the series on a high, scoring two tries in the first ten minutes, and finished strong with a try in the final six minutes to seal the win. The match finished with a 22-12 final score to the Sky Blues, the QLD side were dominated in every way possible and they started the series on a deficit.
Game II, 6 June McDonald Jones Stadium Newcastle
It was do or die for QLD, whilst NSW were looking to seal a series win and avoid having to play a decider back on enemy territory. It was a rainy night in Newcastle and both sides were playing some good footy despite the torrential onslaught. With ten minutes to go NSW was ahead and set to win the series, but then QLD scored a try to even the score, and then to make it even sweeter, Titans representative, Lauren Brown, iced a field goal in the final two minutes to give the Maroons a one point lead and the win, with the final score line being 11-10.
Game III, 27 June QLD Country Bank Stadium Townsville
A special game, a special night; the first ever decider for the Women’s State of Origin series. Yet again another rainy night, which seemed to be the Sky Blues achilles heel, where the side was ill-disciplined and struggled to string together coherent attack. QLD came out on top 22-6, which meant that they were 2024 Champions and won back-to-back series’.
Shannon Mato, Titans prop, received the Nellie Doherty Medal for Player of the Series, where she appeared in Game I and III, making a total of two tackle breaks, three offloads and 32 tackles.
Despite the loss for the Sky Blues, this series was one for the history books regardless of the side you play for or support, with the series seeing over 70k fans flock through stadium gates. Game I also saw a record-breaking number of TV viewers, with a total TV national audience of more than 940,000, the highest ever for a women’s game in rugby league. [1]
This milestone series is only the start of a new beginning for the future of women’s rugby league in Australia, with there being so much consistent growth over the past five years, and the NRL finally answering to the fans and players question of having a three-game State of Origin series. QLD captain and halfback, Ali Brigginshaw, commented: “We’ve wanted this for so many years, and finally, for both teams, we’ve been able to achieve it.” [2]
The NRLW season kicked off in late July, where the ten teams play each other once across nine rounds before heading into finals to battle it out for the coveted NRLW Premiership Title and Trophy.
ENDNOTES
[1] NRL.com. “Women's State of Origin opener breaks rugby league records.” NRL. [online] 17 May. 2024. Available at: https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/05/17/womens-origin-opener-breaks-rugby-league-records/
[2] Snape, Jack. “Queensland claim Women’s State of Origin series in historic decider against NSW.” The Guardian. [online] 27 Jun, 2024. Available at:
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