{"id":393973,"date":"2024-05-15T06:09:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T06:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393973"},"modified":"2024-05-15T07:05:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:05:22","slug":"star-thankful-for-awkward-bizarre-origin-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393973","title":{"rendered":"Star thankful for 'awkward', 'bizarre' Origin moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW Sky Blues<\/a> co-skipper Kezie Apps has praised the expansion of the women's State of Origin<\/a> from two to three games after the "awkward" end to last year's series.<\/p>\n

The two sides were locked at one game apiece after the second match, but Queensland<\/a> were awarded the trophy on points aggregate.<\/p>\n

The Maroons won the first clash at Commbank Stadium 18-10, before the Sky Blues won the second in Townsville 18-14. Queensland won the series by four points.<\/p>\n

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Speaking to media at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's series-opener, Apps suggested the series would've remained at two games had one side swept the 2023 series.<\/p>\n

\"TOWNSVILLE,<\/p>\n

"Winning that game and ending the series like it did isn't what we set our goals out for," she said.<\/p>\n

"Every game you play you want to win, so for us to lose the series that way was awkward and bizarre \u2013 I don't know why they thought two games was OK.<\/p>\n

"But I'm glad it finished 1-1 because we wouldn't have got three games this year."<\/p>\n

Apps and Isabelle Kelly will lead the Sky Blues onto Suncorp Stadium in front of an expected record crowd. More than 20,000 tickets have already been sold for the clash that will precede NRL Magic Round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Women's State of Origin series, starting Thursday May 16\ufeff on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"NSW<\/p>\n

The current record for a Women's Origin clash stands at 18,275, set in the second game of last year's series in Townsville.<\/p>\n

Maroons skipper Ali Brigginshaw issued an ominous warning about gun fullback Tamika Upton.<\/p>\n

"It's the fittest and happiest I've ever seen Tamika," Brigginshaw said.<\/p>\n

Playing for the Knights, Upton cleaned up in the 2023 NRLW season and unsurprisingly won the Dally M. Brigginshaw reckons Upton is only about to get better.<\/p>\n

"She's so relaxed and she's just really taken a key to little moments in her game," Brigginshaw said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"She always wants to be better. That's the one thing about Tamika, she'll play one game, win the award for best player, but still go to her notebook about how to be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"She's a one of a kind player, she's a superstar. I'm glad she's on my team and I'll do whatever I can to get around the park so she can score those tries."<\/p>\n

Brigginshaw said playing in front of such a large home crowd would undoubtedly lift her team, but it would also present new challenges.<\/p>\n

She said such a large crowd also gave the women's game a validation boost.<\/p>\n

\"2023<\/p>\n

"We don't always play in front of 20,000 \u2013 getting used to the noise, not being able to hear the person next to you, it's new for some people," she said.<\/p>\n

"Every time we play, (when) we come off the field we hope our game is getting the recognition that it deserves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"We've got our families coming and we always have that support, but knowing Queensland is supporting us through that game is going to be huge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Every time we play, I think both states, you just want to make sure you're ticking that box, 'yep, that's a new record'. We've done that every single year and we plan on doing that for the rest of the series."<\/p>\n

The Origin series opener kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday and is live and free on Nine and 9Now, with coverage from 7.30pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NSW Sky Blues co-skipper Kezie Apps has praised the expansion of the women's State of Origin from two to three games after the "awkward" end […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":331717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393973"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393981,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393973\/revisions\/393981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/331717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}