Blues Watch returns for the festive season with nswrl.com.au casting its eye over some of the players who could be on the cusp of a NSW jersey in 2025. Keep an eye out for Blues Watch highlights over the next few weeks and let us know what you think in the comments section.
Kicking off with NSW Women's Origin, here are four names who could be in the mix next year.
Kasey Reh
The incumbent No.7 for the Westpac NSW Under 19s Women’s State of Origin team, Reh (pictured above) could make it back-to-back Blues wins as she is again eligible for the U19s in 2025.
Her speed off the mark, quick passing and good game-sense made her a standout skipper for NSW in their decisive 46-4 win over Queensland at Leichhardt Oval in June.
Westpac Tarsha Gale Cup (U19s) fans would have noticed her in April lifting the premiership trophy on the NSWRL Junior Reps Grand Final Day at CommBank Stadium, as halfback and captain of the Illawarra Steelers in the 24-12 win over Newcastle Knights. She was also named Tarsha Gale Cup Player of the Series.
Her next triumph came in May holding up the Westpac NSW Country U19s Women’s shield as skipper after beating NSW City 26-18 in extra time at the annual Country-City weekend.
After those three successes Reh was offered a NRLW contract with St George Illawarra Dragons. She made her debut off the bench in Round One against Gold Coast Titans. Reh played all nine games of the season at hooker or five-eighth, scoring two tries, two try assists, and two line-break assists.
She was named NRLW Rookie of the Year at this year’s Dally M awards.
Evah McEwen
McEwen is another rising star in the NSW women’s arena with three representative jerseys to her name in 2024.
The talented second-rower was named in the Westpac NSW City U19s team in May after helping her Newcastle Knights Tarsha Gale Cup side to the Grand Final in April.
She was unfortunately on the losing side of both those matches, but victory finally came as a member of the Westpac NSW U19s Women’s State of Origin side in the 46-4 win over Queensland, where McEwen scored the fourth of NSW’s nine tries.
Her third rep jumper was a stunning international debut with Fetu Samoa in the 30-16 win over Tonga in the Pacific Championships match in Suva in October. McEwen came off the bench for 50 minutes, had eight runs for 114 metres, broke out of 12 tackles, had a line-break assist, three offloads, and made 17 tackles.
In between those various rep duties, McEwen made her NRLW debut for the Knights in Round Nine and was part of the 25-16 Semi-final loss against the Sydney Roosters in September.
She had a busy pathways season with the Knights playing nine games (12 tries) in Tarsha Gale Cup and seven games (five tries) in the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership.
Lilly-Ann White
This Raymond Terrace Roosters junior rode the NSWRL pathways right up into the elite level in 2024.
A key member of the Newcastle Knights club, White played in both the Westpac Tarsha Gale Cup (U19s) Grand Final in April, scoring a try, and the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership decider in September.
Despite losses to the Illawarra Steelers on both occasions, White had much better luck as fullback for the NSW Country U19s side in their win over NSW City in May, and then for the Westpac NSW U19s Women’s State of Origin team over Queensland in June.
The heavy playing schedule for the skilful fullback didn’t end there as she was given a NRLW development contract with the Knights in 2024 and played five games scoring three tries. She averaged 105 metres alongside seven tackle-busts and five line-breaks.
White played a total of eight games in the Knights’ Tarsha Gale Cup and NSW Women’s Premiership teams this year scoring seven tries altogether.
Ellie Johnston
The 24-year-old Kendall Blues junior has come close to her Westpac NSW Women’s State of Origin debut having been named on the extended bench four times – Game One in 2023 and for all three games of the 2024 series.
Her rise may be attributed to newfound NRLW success at the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
After scoring two tries in three seasons - St George Illawarra Dragons (2020) and Parramatta Eels (2021-22) – Johnston (pictured above) has been one of the best front-rowers in the competition scoring 10 tries in the past two years with the Sharks. She averaged 110 metres in NRLW this season and had a 98.2 per cent tackle efficiency, alongside 25 tackle-busts and an average 11 hit-ups.
Her highest representative jersey has been for NSW Country in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
The Taree product played two seasons with South Sydney Rabbitohs’ Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership side before joining the Sharks in 2023 – scoring two tries in nine games.
