Jillaroos in focus: Competition heating up for No.9 jersey

The race to secure the starting No.9 jersey is heating up with the upcoming NRL Telstra Women's Premiership season set to go a long way in determining who will be Australia's next dummy half.

The Jillaroos have been blessed with a rich history of talented dummy halves led by former player Nat Dwyer and the current batch of hookers available will give Australian coach Brad Donald a selection headache to ponder in the coming months.

In a 10-week editorial series, NRL.com takes a look at who is in contention for a World Cup spot in the Harvey Norman Australian Jillaroos by position, thanks to leading partners Harvey Norman.

• Position: Hooker
• World Cup spots available: 2

Only two spots in the Jillaroos World Cup squad are up for grabs for specialist dummy halves with the hope that a couple of utilities in the squad are also capable of filling in if required throughout the tournament. 

The Jillaroos used Brittany Breayley-Nati predominantly at hooker during the 2017 tournament while retired utility Lavina O'Mealey also filled in at dummy half. 

Breayley-Nati started in the World Cup final while O'Mealey and Roosters playmaker Zahara Temara came off the bench against New Zealand.

In 2019, Botille Vette-Welsh was the utility in jersey No.14 and rotated with incumbent Keeley Davis. 

The Incumbent

Keeley Davis (St George Illawarra Dragons)

Dragons hooker Keeley Davis made her Test debut against New Zealand in 2019 and in doing so achieved a rare feat by going straight to a national jersey despite not playing State of Origin previously. 

Davis started her career in the halves but has transitioned to hooker in recent seasons and has made every post a winner.

She took her opportunity at the national level when Brittany Breayley-Nati withdrew from the last Test match played due to work and family commitments.

Since then Davis has gone on to make her Origin debut and still remains a front-runner for the No.9 jersey at season's end.

The Contenders

There are a few candidates on Davis's heels for the hooking role going into season five of the NRLW and the World Cup in November.

Titans captain Brittany Breayley-Nati is an obvious contender with 10 Tests to her name since she made her international debut against the Kiwi Ferns in 2014. 

The 2018 Dally M medal winner returned to the game at the right time this year after a 12-month break previously and finished the 2021 NRLW season with two tries and three try assists in six appearances. 

At the Dragons, Davis' NSW teammate Quincy Dodd has also had a similar transition to hooker in recent years and would be a handy player to have in any squad, particularly coming off the bench.

The Indigenous All Stars co-captain allowed Davis to move to a ball-playing first receiver role when she came onto the field, a combination that has also worked at the Origin level.

New Roosters recruit Destiny Brill spent time at hooker and lock during her time at the Titans and is likely to do so again at the Tricolours with Shawden Burton and Chante Temara also on their books.

Brill is an exciting teenage talent coming through the ranks but is probably a bit behind Davis, Breayley-Nati and Dodd in the pecking order at this stage.

Knights hooker Olivia Higgins had an impressive maiden NRLW season at the Roosters and is another worthy of a mention as she gets set to play for her local side in the Hunter.

She'll battle it out for Newcastle's No.9 jersey with North Queensland product Emma Manzelmann, who returns to the Knights after a strong personal season earlier this year.

Emerging young guns Rueben Cherrington and Lily-Rose Kolc, who have excelled in the under 19s program this year, are set to challenge for spots in 2025 after landing NRLW contracts for the upcoming season. 

Another utility who offers value at hooker is Renee Targett with the NFL convert signed by the Dragons for another season.

The Bolter

New Titans recruit Lauren Brown may be joining the club to play in the halves but her dummy half efforts at the Broncos earlier this year will be enough to convince all of her status as one of the best utilities in the game.

Brown took on the hooker role earlier this year at Red Hill and returned with five try assists, six line break assists, four forced line drop outs and an average of 87.9 kick metres per game. 

After leading the NRLW last season on points tallied with 38 personally through 19 goals kicked, Brown claimed the club's players' player award before announcing her departure to the Titans.

Although she'll play alongside Breayley-Nati at the Titans in a different position, the pair teamed up for the Maroons in June to offer their own one-two punch out of dummy half. 

She could quite easily board a flight to England and play as a rake after coming off an NRLW season in the halves.

The Last Word

"We've got a plethora of players who can play at hooker and that will make some decisions really hard to make there. Keeley is our incumbent at the moment but you've also got Britto who had hold of the jersey for a fair few years before that. Quincy Dodd has been playing some great footy and Lauren Brown is an option too. I'm quite mindful again of the workload with our forward pack, it's good to have utility players who can slot in and play all over the park and that's the same here with our dummy halves. We've seen the hooker role evolve in the last few years, having a kicking game is really handy and with 80-minute matches over there they'll need to get through a lot of work defensively too." - Jillaroos coach Brad Donald.