The significance of the third Women’s State of Origin game is not lost on Queensland’s newest player Hayley Maddick, the fullback and former touch football ace drafted in for the Maroons’ mission to restore pride on Thursday night.
After two humbling defeats to New South Wales, Queensland’s players are at risk of suffering the ignominy of the first women’s Origin clean sweep since the series was extended to three games last season.
“The shield’s gone, but we still have plenty to play for,” Maddick said ahead of her Origin debut. “We’ve got family coming down, we’ve got people watching the game, and we’re playing for a bit of dignity.”
Queensland fought back in last year’s series to claim game two and then the decider, but this year the contest has been more one-sided. The Blues have been dominant in the first two games – with 32–12 and 26–6 victories – and the Maroons’ fortunes took another blow when Jillaroos fullback Tamika Upton was ruled out of the third match.
The 33-year-old Maddick’s football fate has long been intertwined with Upton’s. They both enjoyed outstanding touch football careers before joining the Broncos in the NRLW and both are elusive ball runners and playmakers. Maddick describes Upton, who is five years younger than her, as one of her best friends. The pair will even reunite at the Broncos this year after Upton’s departure from the Knights.
Maddick’s elevation from Maroons backup looked likely when Upton went down clutching her leg, but her debut was not guaranteed until a call from coach Tahnee Norris. “I saw her calling and my heart started racing,” Maddick said.
The former NRL touch player of the year only debuted in the NRLW in her late 20s, and speaks with reverence about the likes of Upton and Tarryn Aiken. “It’s funny, because I’m inspired by so many people that are so much younger than me, and I love listening to them speak and the way they think about the game, like Tamika and Tarryn,” Maddick said.
She was invited to trial with the NRLW Broncos in 2020 but actually turned down her first contract offer. “I was probably a little bit naive,” she said. “I wanted to keep playing touch [football]. But the second I said no, I regretted it.”
Maddick is now making up for lost time, and in 2024 produced the best season of her short career. “It’s not unusual in women’s sport, because everyone has a different background, but I only really started playing footy seriously in my late 20s, and in all honesty, it felt like last year I’ve finally got a grasp on the game properly.”
She will face a confident Blues line-up, who made the most of an error-ridden Maroons in game one and adjusted better to torrential rain in game two. “Conditions really were awful in the last game, so that obviously changes a lot of things in the style that you want to play,” Maddick said.
“It probably benefited New South Wales and the fact that they’ve got really big, strong girls, I think we’ve got really good, crafty, smart players, but conditions didn’t really allow for a lot of ball movement.”
The Maroons must also overcome an opponent buoyed by strong home support in Newcastle, the city which has become the capital for women’s rugby league. But the team remains optimistic given the outcome at McDonald Jones Stadium last year, when Lauren Brown slotted a late field goal that swung momentum to the Maroons on their way to the shield.
A near-capacity crowd of 25,782 attended that night despite the inclement weather, underlining the emergence of the women’s game. “I’d love to be a teenager at this point coming into the game now,” Maddick said. But she noted it still had some way to go. “I hope it gets to a full-time wage – at the moment, it’s not – but even still, just being a part of it while it’s growing to that point is exciting.”
