{"id":448716,"date":"2025-04-30T21:20:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=448716"},"modified":"2025-04-30T22:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T22:12:42","slug":"blues-great-explains-concern-about-major-halves-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=448716","title":{"rendered":"Blues great explains 'concern' about major halves gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffll eyes will be on halfback Jesse Southwell<\/a> in the women's State of Origin opener as the "biggest concern" facing NSW becomes clear.<\/p>\n

The young gun was overlooked for last year's series, but has earned a recall under new coach John Strange<\/a> as he shakes things up after the Blues suffered a 2-1 loss in the historic three-game series against Queensland.<\/p>\n

Southwell \ufeffwill partner vice captain Tiana Penitani-Gray in the halves, with the Sharks superstar leaving her usual position in the outside backs to wear the No.6 jumper.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Astonishing $1.5m call that could send NRL market into frenzy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Sinner almost quit tennis during Australian Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Reason behind subtle detail on Maroons jersey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Penitani-Gray's positional switch has allowed both Isabelle Kelly and Jessica Sergis to start in the centres, giving Strange a host of attacking weapons in the backline.<\/p>\n

However, while \ufeffspeaking on Nine's NRLW Wrap<\/em><\/a> ahead of the first game at Suncorp Stadium, former playmaker Allana Ferguson admitted the side needed "more answers" \ufeffwhen it comes to the general-play kicking outside of young gun Southwell.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Looking at face value when the two teams were announced, that was probably the part that stood out to me," she said.<\/p>\n

"I've always thought that Jesse Southwell has those Origin footy qualities and I'm stoked that she gets the shot, she well and truly deserves it.<\/p>\n

"It's just the lack of kicking options in that starting side. It looks like all that responsibility of getting out of trouble in particular is all on Jesse's shoulders.<\/p>\n

"Queensland are gonna look at Jesse Southwell and target her. I'm unsure how they will navigate their way around that. I hope that we've got a back-up plan.<\/p>\n

"That's probably my biggest concern in terms of NSW – I hope we've got more answers."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Women's State of Origin series live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Southwell has experience at Origin level, but will now be tasked with steering the ship for the Blues alongside an out-of-position halves partner.\ufeff<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Queensland boast a spine that has plenty of kicking options, including gun fullback Tamika Upton and dummy-half Lauren Brown.<\/p>\n

\"Maroons<\/p>\n

Ferguson \ufeffadmits the key playmakers from the Maroons have her worried.<\/p>\n

"It's the class of their spine, without a doubt – I think that's their biggest asset," she said.<\/p>\n

"We can't have players like Tamika Upton and Tarryn Aiken getting that fast ball. Lauren Brown is a weapon, Ali Brigginshaw has been steering the ship for a very long time now.<\/p>\n

"They are a force to be reckoned with and the leadership in that spine is what scares me the most from a Blues perspective."\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffll eyes will be on halfback Jesse Southwell in the women's State of Origin opener as the "biggest concern" facing NSW becomes clear. The young […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":448718,"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\/448716"}],"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=448716"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448720,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448716\/revisions\/448720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/448718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=448716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=448716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=448716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}