Just days before beginning her quest to become one of Brisbane’s new heroes, Jesse Southwell was Queensland’s cruellest heartbreaker.
The New South Wales halfback made the difference in yesterday’s State of Origin series opener with a 65th-minute field goal that broke the deadlock en route to an 11-6 victory in Newcastle.
It was the first drop goal the 21-year-old has landed in a game in her entire life and, with Southwell moving from Newcastle to Brisbane this very weekend, a fitting farewell to the only rugby league home she has ever known.
“I’ve never kicked a field goal in a real game before. It was (Olivia) Kernick; we had a discussion earlier about setting up for a field goal,” Southwell said.
“She told me to go for the first one. I missed it, and the second one, she said, ‘Jesse, kick it now!’ I was like, ‘sweet’ and I had lots of time.
“I don’t think I’ve ever kicked one in any game. It was a good time to start.
“But you practice them all the time, so you know what’s coming. You can put that kind of pressure on yourself at training; six-all, in a State of Origin game, minute to go, you have to get it to win. You put that in your brain when you kick it at training.
“I move on Sunday. We have some stuff next week for Bronx. I’ve been flying up and back.”
The field goal will be Southwell’s last rugby league act in the Hunter until who knows when — Brisbane are not scheduled to play Newcastle away in this year’s NRLW regular season.
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But despite Southwell leading the Knights to two premierships, capturing Origin glory at home was a longtime coming, given Queensland had won the previous two matches in the Hunter.
“It was really cool, really surreal, to be at home and have a good game with the girls and break that streak. We’ve (NSW) lost here a few times, so it’s good,” Southwell said.
“It was still five minutes left, and I knew the game wasn’t over yet. Queensland have done it to New South Wales in the men’s and the women’s time and time again.
“I was just thinking about my next job, and not losing the game from there.”
The pressure on Southwell in Brisbane, which is coming off a premiership win of its own, will be immense, but that is nothing new for her.
Since she burst onto the scene in 2022 as a 17-year-old, expectations have always been heightened when it comes to her career.
She is among the first of a generation of players who are pure footballers, and she has it in her to be the best of them.
A game like yesterday’s, where chances were hard to come by, but Southwell came up with the key play when it counted most, is as important a part of the journey as the masterclasses.
It is also proof that for Southwell, be it for New South Wales or Brisbane, and despite her many achievements thus far, the best is yet to come.
“I think we have a lot to improve on. Personally, as the half, there’s a lot I can clean up,” Southwell said.
“But that’s our first game of the year, our first hit out. Everyone wanted a three-game series, and we’ve got it, so there’s a lot of cool improvement to come.
“We knew at half-time that we were actually on top. The scoreboard didn’t show that, but we knew we were on top.
“The coaching staff had a lot of faith in us, the group had a lot of faith in each other. We know what we can do; we just had to stay in the grind.”
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