Four players from the 2020 Sharks Harvey Norman Women’s Premiership (HNWP) team have been named in the 20-player NSW Women’s State of Origin squad to take on Queensland at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Friday, November13.
Nine players are in line to make their debut, amongst them Sharks hooker Keeley Davis and back rower Kennedy Cherrington, the pair joining Cronulla teammates Corban McGregor and Tiana Penitani in the Blues side.
Following a season in which the Sharks won through to the Grand Final qualifying match before bowing out to the North Sydney Bears, 10 players subsequently went on to the play in the NRLW competition, the highest representation from any NSWRL HNWP club.
Davis enjoyed a standout season for the Sharks, with her slick dummy half service and running game from hooker a feature, while Cherrington emerged as a player of the future, the powerful forward leading the way in the middle of the field for the Cronulla side.
Davis and Cherrington join Filomina Hanisi (Wests Tigers), Shanice Parker (North Sydney Bears), Quincy Dodd, Sarah Togatuki (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs), Melanie Howard, Yasmin Meakes and Brydie Parker (Central Coast Roosters) in being named for the first time.
Back in the NSW squad, McGregor, who can play fullback, centre or wing, and Penitani a strong running outside back, will be hoping to repeat the NSW success of 2019 when NSW registered an exciting victory over the Maroons.
The women’s interstate match was held under the Origin banner for the first time in 2018 and NSW will be chasing their third straight title after winning the first two matches.
It is the first time a women’s Origin match will be played on the Sunshine Coast after the previous encounters were conducted at North Sydney Oval.
Coach Andrew Patmore, captain Kezie Apps and the NSW team will travel to the Sunshine Coast tomorrow (Friday, October 30), where they will enter a biosecurity bubble ahead of the November 13 game.
Harvey Norman NSW Women’s squad, in alphabetical order
Kezie Apps (Helensburgh Tigers)
Shaylee Bent (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
Millie Boyle (Burleigh Bears)
Kennedy Cherrington (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks)
Keeley Davis (Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks)
Quincy Dodd (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs)
Filomina Hanisi (Wests Tigers)
Kylie Hilder (Central Coast Roosters)
Melanie Howard (Central Coast Roosters)
Isabelle Kelly (Central Coast Roosters)
Corban McGregor (Cronulla Sharks)
Yasmin Meakes (Central Coast Roosters)
Brydie Parker (Central Coast Roosters)
Shanice Parker (North Sydney Bears)
Tiana Penitani (Cronulla Sharks)
Jessica Sergis (Helensburgh Tigers)
Hannah Southwell (Central Coast Roosters)
Simaima Taufa (North Sydney Bears)
Sarah Togatuki (Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs)
Botille Vette-Welsh (Wests Tigers)
