Harvey Norman Sky Blues halfback Jesse Southwell is looking forward to renewing the battle with her Origin opposite half Zahara Temara, when the Newcastle Knights travel to GIO Stadium to face the Canberra Raiders tomorrow (Saturday 2 September).
The NRLW top-four clash brings two of the leading kickers and game controllers in the women’s game head-to-head as they did in the two-match Ampol State of Origin series.
Southwell and Temara are in the top-three of the competition for both kick metres and the number of attacking kicks and in the top-four for goalkickers.
“I’ll have a look at a few things she does but I don’t really study the other halves in-depth because sometimes teams are reshuffled the day before,” Southwell told nswrl.com.au
“But I admire Zahara for what she’s doing with the Raiders.
“They’re a new club, bit of a dark horse really and under-rated in my eyes, and they’re a very physical side led by my Sky Blues teammate ‘Mimes’ (Simaima Taufa) at the front of the pack.
“We’ve got some pretty good forwards too so that’s going to be entertaining.”
Southwell is in just her second year of NRLW but hasn’t missed a game so far for the Knights in two seasons.
“It’s a different competition to last year but I feel like I’ve grown in a few different areas.
“I think I’m a better ball-player but I know there’s a long way to go because there’s a lot I want to get right more often.
“I get excited by that because I’m eager to learn and see how I go in achieving the things I want to do.”
A fair bit has been achieved already by Southwell – the 2022 NRLW Premiership win over the Parramatta Eels, named NRLW Rookie of the Year, and an Origin debut in 2023.
“I feel like I’m a bit of slow burn in some things but you always learn from different experiences and being in different teams,” she said.
“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, months and years you’ll see me doing the things more often that every quality halfback should be doing.”
Well for starters, sending the winning conversion sweetly over the black dot against the Brisbane Broncos (22-20) a fortnight ago as the fulltime hooter sounded wasn’t bad.
“But that’s my job to kick goals … it’s one of the fun things I get to do.”
