'I remembered why I play': Ali vows to fight on

After leading an injury-hit Maroons team to an 18-14 win that helped restore Queensland’s wounded pride, Ali Brigginshaw declared that she wasn’t finished at representative level just yet.

The 35-year-old Queensland and Australian co-captain put aside two weeks of criticism and social media trolling to spark the Maroons to a come from behind win in the unfamiliar role as an impact bench player.

With Rory Owen flown to a Sydney hospital before the game and Destiny Brill (ribs), Shenae Ciesiolka (knee) and Tavarna Papalii (HIA) finishing the match on the sideline, it was a victory that typified Queensland’s renowned Origin spirit.

Brigginshaw also showed her character to come on after 13 minutes and steer the Maroons to a face-saving win after back-to-back losses in Brisbane and Sydney by plotting the winning try by long time team-mate Chelsea Lenarduzzi.

“It was good to play out there tonight. I remembered why I play footy. I love it and I got to do that again tonight,” Brigginshaw said.

“It just feels good to play good, as well, as a team, and what was so disappointing after those losses is that we just weren't playing how we were training.

“It wasn't clicking, and then tonight we played a bit of footy and we showed people that we can play and we're tough. I think we got down to one person on the bench.

“It shouldn't take that for us to play footy, but we had nothing to lose, and I was just so proud to lead them.”

After winning the player-of-the-match in the last World Cup final at Old Trafford in 2022, Brigginshaw told anyone who had been writing her off because of her age that she intended to still be play at the next World Cup.

While that has now been postponed to 2026 in Australia and Papua New Guinea, Brigginshaw said she wanted to play at Origin and Test level for as long as she was worthy of selection.

“I do want to keep playing on. I think people just look at your age and think 'that's enough', and there were still comments out tonight about ‘when am I going to retire’,” she said.

“I still love my footy, and if I get picked, I get picked, but I'm not saying people have to pick me just because I've been here before.

I want to prove that I can play in this jersey and hopefully I did that tonight. I'll do whatever it takes for this jersey.

“I want to prove that I can play in this jersey and hopefully I did that tonight. I'll do whatever it takes for this jersey.

“I've had some great people to look up to who've worn this jersey and I'm really proud to represent Queensland, and probably what hurts is that people, surely, can see how proud I am to do that.