Jillaroos coach Jess Skinner has declared Jesse Southwell ready to play for Australia, labelling the 20-year-old halfback the future of the women's game.
Southwell is in line to make her Test debut in the Pacific Championships, as one of five uncapped players in Skinner's 21-player squad.
Long considered the best rising talent in the NRLW, Southwell's call up comes after Sydney Roosters star Tarryn Aiken had her season ended early with a knee injury.
But it is likely Southwell would have found herself in the squad anyway, with the Brisbane-bound Newcastle star always viewed as a Jillaroo-in-waiting.
Skinner has known Southwell since her teens, having been an assistant at Newcastle when the playmaker first made her mark.
She also coached her in the Prime Minister's XIII last year, before being an assistant when Southwell spent a week in Jillaroos camp during last year's Pacific Cup.
"She is the future of our game and deserves to be in this team," Skinner said.
"She's a really smart footballer. I met her when she was 17 years of age and she knows football but she also is a sponge and loves to learn.
"She has a really good growth mindset. So to see her from the early days when she was in development and then progressing through her NRLW journey.
"She is definitely ready to step up."
A two-time premiership winner at Newcastle, Southwell also took NSW to State of Origin success after being recalled following her omission last year.
"For me it was seeing her in the PM's last year and having to work with her as her head coach," Skinner said.
"How much she really bought into what we're about in the green and gold.
"And then to chuck her in for that week she stood up against these girls in training, physically and also socially as well."
Roosters half Jocelyn Kelleher is also in the squad following Aiken's injury, while props Rima Butler, Ellie Johnston and second-rower Sienna Lofipo are the other new faces.
Skinner joked that she had endured a sketchy moment in Sunday's NRLW grand final, when Butler, Isabelle Kelly and Keeley Davis were all hurt in the same set.
Butler and Kelly clashed heads, while Davis suffered an injury to her eye late in the Roosters' 22-18 loss.
All three of the players remained on the field, despite the Roosters trying to remove them.
Skinner said she had spoken to the Roosters on Monday, and was confident the trio would be fit to join the camp and face New Zealand and Samoa.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD FOR PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Kezie Apps (co-capt), Ali Brigginshaw (co-capt), Rima Butler, Yasmin Clydsdale, Keeley Davis, Quincy Dodd, Jessika Elliston, Ellie Johnston, Keilee Joseph, Jocelyn Kelleher, Isabelle Kelly, Olivia Kernick, Sienna Lofipo, Tiana Penitani Gray, Julia Robinson, Jessica Sergis, Jesse Southwell, Sarah Togatuki, Tamika Upton, Jakiya Whitfeld, Emma Verran.
