It took a one-point field goal from a 21-year-old to settle it, but New South Wales lead the 2026 Ampol Women's State of Origin series 1-0 after their first ever Newcastle home win. McDonald Jones Stadium drew over 20,000 fans for Game I and got a contest that was, on the Blues' coach John Strange's read, an arm-wrestle decided by handfuls of moments.
The field-goal moment belonged to a rookie playmaker who had her first attempt charged down by Maroons centre Destiny Brew, then composed herself off the very next set of six and iced the kick. Strange did not hide the pride.
"She had an opportunity, and got charged down by Destiny Brew, which is good for them," he said. "Then obviously they went on the attack but then she got another opportunity and then the very next set off the back of a seven-tackle set and iced it. So the fact that she did that after the first time, it just testament to who she is. She's got a really strong positive mindset as a young half, which we obviously need."
NSW captain Isabelle Kelly underlined the same point about her young teammate. "She backs herself," Kelly said. "And for me as a coach I want all these players to back themselves. That's why they're in this team." Speaking later about the rookie's growth alongside long-time playmaker Jesse Southwell, Kelly added: "She's grown quite a lot and I think she's very well respected within our group, and she's kind of like a little sister to all of us. But yeah, she's come so far in the last two years. I think now she's just really comfortable within this squad and really confident with steering us around."
The Blues' decisive moments were not all in attack. Jocelyn Kelleher's line-shooting hit on the left edge forced an error which led to a Liv Higgins try a minute later, and Abbi Church's try-saving tackle on Maroons forward Keziah Apps killed the tourists' last serious raid. "That was a big hit from Joss," Strange said. "She shot out of line, but it's, you know, part of our system as well to do that… If you're going to do that, you've got to hit, and she certainly did."
Kelly, who herself had a foot concern coming into the match — "It's good. She'll be sweet. It's not about me at the moment," she joked when asked — was unmoved by the tightness of the scoreline. "Our defence with them coming out of yardage was so good," she said. "Everyone aimed up. Our middles were working really hard with making sure that they could cover the edges, and then we were really getting up on the edges trying to shut down their outside back carriers… Everyone did their job, and I was so proud of the whole group."
Kelleher's growth as a closer drew its own line of questioning, with Strange linking it explicitly to her summer programme alongside Kelly. "She's been working on her game. She always works on her game, Joss… She's a great defender, just keeps working on it with her technique. It was always really good to have her in there for kicks as well… She brings to this team… to have two different options."
Kelly was also honest about a flashpoint: a tackle on Charlotte Caslick that she felt should have been put on report. "I would have been pretty disappointed if they scored that try," she said. "On the replay it looked like a hip drop, but yeah, I don't know. That's up to the MRC to have a look at that and adjudicate on it. It would have been good for that to be acknowledged during the game, potentially stopped … but it wasn't."
Strange would not commit to changes for Game II at Suncorp Stadium beyond medical assessments. "Really happy with the way they went," he said. "We're certainly going to want to improve, definitely. But that's not around making changes. I'm really happy with the performance of all the girls out there."
Game II is at Suncorp on May 23, with NSW now needing one more win to seal back-to-back series. As Strange put it: "In Origin you want to win the first game, definitely."
