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NRLW stars Tamika Upton and Millie Elliott are expecting next year’s Women’s State of Origin series to be the best yet after the decision to expand it into a three-game series.
Elliott’s NSW side were left frustrated after Queensland reclaimed the shield this year on aggregate despite the two-game series being tied 1-1 after the Sky Blues took Origin II.
The aggregate score will be a thing of the past in 2024 and beyond, when the Women’s State of Origin series expands to three games, mirroring the men’s competition.
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However, there still remains one key difference: the women will have their Origin campaign prior to the start of the NRLW season, while the men will play theirs in-season.
It’s a difference that Upton, this year’s NRLW Player of the Year, hopes is gone in coming years.
“Ideally, from a players’ perspective that (moving women’s Origin to mid-season) would be the way to do it purely because we just don’t come off any good quality footy into the games,” she told Wide World of Sports.
“There will be some sort of club competition we can come off, but if we’re all peaking during our NRLW (season), the Origin games would be unreal.”
Elliott doesn’t mind the current position of the Origin series, but said the league needed to find a way for players to work off their rust prior to the representative campaign.
“It’s great that we have a plan for the NRLW, but what our season looks like before that (needs to be figured out), because everyone plays their club footy … that’s not really clear at the moment,” she told Wide World of Sports.
“That’s something that probably needs to get smoothed out now with the NRLW draw being released.
“I think we just need more footy in our local areas leading into Origin.”
Both players agreed that the expansion of Women’s Origin will make for a better spectacle.
”The fact that we get three games, we’ll be able to build game upon game and actually put in a bit of a game plan and structure,” Upton said.
“We’ve seen the quality of the product over the years, so the fact that there’s going to be three (games), it’s really exciting.
“We’re going to see a really good start to the women’s rugby league calendar. The NRLW product was unreal this year with the expansion, and I just think we’re going to go from strength to strength.”
Elliott said both NSW and Queensland would’ve benefitted from a decider to this year’s thrilling series.
”We would’ve seen a better game in that third game,” she said.
“The first game was really disappointing. Not only did we lose, but I think from both sides, we hadn’t played much footy leading into it. That third game would’ve been more of an indication of the playing teams’ abilities.
“Hopefully we’ve learnt from that for next year and we’ll have more footy leading into game one and by game three you’re gelling together and getting those combos together, and hopefully that means a better outcome.
“We definitely want to win, but we also want a good product for people to watch, so that’s what we’ll get from the third game.”
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