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The Westpac NSW Blues have declared they have learnt the lessons of last year's State of Origin defeat as they look to close out the series on Thursday night.
The Blues enter Game Two in the same position as 2024, 1-0 up and desperate to win the Origin Shield for the first time since 2022.
Queensland recovered to win games two and three last year, a Lauren Brown field goal securing victory in Newcastle before the Maroons ran rampant in the decider in Townsville.
After a dominant 32-12 triumph at Suncorp Stadium earlier this month, coach John Strange made a point of ensuring there is no complacency heading into Game Two.
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QLD Maroons v NSW Blues – Round I, 2025
“After the game Strangey gave us a big rap but he said ‘this happened last year, we don’t get complacent. Enjoy the win, but we have so much to work on’,” Blues forward Kennedy Cherrington told NRL.com. “Everyone in the room agreed. We know it was a great performance but how do we go 10 times better?
“They are going to show up for Game Two. That’s the nature of Queensland, they’re not going to let us bully them. They’re going to show up for Game Two and Game Three but we want to make a statement that NSW came to play.”
The Blues must defy history if they are to prevail at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night, with their last victory in NSW coming back in 2019.
That was a 14-4 triumph at North Sydney Oval. Much has changed on and off the field since that victory with the NRLW rapidly growing, Origin expanding to a three-game series and ratings and attendances surging to record highs.
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Relive the 2019 Women's Origin
A record crowd turned out for Game One at Suncorp Stadium and the Blues are pushing for another big turnout at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night to help get them over the line.
“The games at North Sydney Oval were some of my favourite games in the Blues jersey,” skipper Isabelle Kelly said. “Having everyone turn up for us and playing there, it was a ground everybody got around.
“We’re at the level now where playing at Allianz is exactly where we deserve to be. Both teams are going to put on a show. Queensland are going to come out firing, we need to be ready for that.
“I have full confidence in everyone, I haven’t felt like this in a long time within this squad. We’ve got the right people in the right positions and everyone’s willing to do everything for each other.”
Match: Blues Women v Maroons
Game 2 -
home Team
Blues Women
away Team
Maroons
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Strange has named an unchanged 17 for Game Two in Sydney, with Tiana Penitani to partner young star Jesse Southwell in the halves for the second-straight match.
The five-eighth has not forgotten last year’s defeat in Newcastle, when the Blues let a 10-4 lead slip with less than 10 minutes to go.
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The winning moment: Brown
Having been burnt by the Maroons 12 months ago, Penitani said NSW won’t make the same mistake again this year.
“A big thing for us is concentration,” she told NRL.com. “We dropped our concentration a lot in the second game, particularly in the last 10 minutes. We were on top, we had a lapse in concentration and we let them back in the game.
“We need to have a relentless mentality. We want to win and win convincingly. It’s a cliché but we need to play the full 70. It’s so easy for momentum to swing against you in Origin, when they have players like Tamika [Upton] and Tarryn [Aiken] always looking for opportunities. It’s something we did poorly in Game Two last year and it’s not a mistake we want to make two years in a row.”
