Source : ABC NEWS
The Queensland Maroons will line up next week in a Women’s State of Origin game without star fullback Tamika Upton for the first time in six years.
Hayley Maddick will slot into the number one jersey for Game III in Newcastle on Thursday, May 29, as injury and desperation prompt multiple changes for Queensland as Tahnee Norris’s side tries to avoid a clean sweep in the series finale.
Upton injured her hip after NSW winger Jaime Chapman stepped her while scoring a try in the Blues’ series-clinching 26-6 win in Origin II.
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Not turning out in the third game ends a run of nine straight Origin outings since her 2020 debut, with 32-year-old debutant Maddick the first woman other than Upton to line up as Queensland’s custodian since Chelsea Baker in 2019.
Norris has also named Cronulla playmaker Georgia Hannaway to make her debut off the bench and moved out-of-sorts Ali Brigginshaw from the halves as they fight to avoid a State of Origin series whitewash.
Brigginshaw has shifted to lock to replace Keilee Joseph, set to miss next Thursday’s Origin III in Newcastle for medical reasons.
Ali Brigginshaw has struggled at halfback in the first two games. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Veteran Brigginshaw has been unable to spark the Queenslanders in two 20-point losses this year and reverts to the position where she has played five of her 12 Origin games.
That pushes utility Lauren Brown into the halves to partner Tarryn Aiken at Hunter Stadium, with Destiny Brill returning to the starting side in Brown’s hooker spot.
Queensland will hope Brown can repeat her heroics from last year’s trip to Newcastle, where she iced the Maroons’ Game II victory with a field goal in torrential rain.
The Maroons’ middle forward rotation remains unchanged despite being completely dominated by their NSW counterparts in the first two matches.
NSW have named an unchanged team with Jess Sergis named despite missing the second half of Origin II with a neck injury.
Olivia Higgins usurps Shaylee Bent as replacement player for NSW.
Queensland: Hayley Maddick, Julia Robinson, Shenae Ciesiolka, Rory Owen, Jasmine Peters, Tarryn Aiken, Lauren Brown, Makenzie Weale, Destiny Brill, Jessika Elliston, Sienna Lofipo, Romy Teitzel, Ali Brigginshaw, Georgia Hannaway, Sophie Holyman, Chelsea Lenarduzzi, Tavarna Papalii, Jada Ferguson (replacement player)
New South Wales: Abbi Church, Jaime Chapman, Jess Sergis, Isabelle Kelly, Jayme Fressard, Tiana Penitani Gray, Jesse Southwell, Simaima Taufa, Keeley Davis, Ellie Johnston, Kezie Apps, Yasmin Clydsdale, Olivia Kernick, Kennedy Cherrington, Sarah Togatuki, Emma Verran, Olivia Higgins (replacement player)
AAP/ABC
