Rachael Pearson will enter the NRLW season fitter and stronger than ever, and the Parramatta halfback can thank her disappointing omission from NSW's State of Origin set-up.
Pearson was left on the Origin scrapheap when John Strange took over from Kylie Hilder as coach ahead of NSW's 2-1 series win that concluded in May.
The five-time NSW representative was the only incumbent starting player overlooked on form for Strange's 30-player squad ahead of the series, and was hurt to miss out.
"I had a really good chat with John Strange. He called me, we spoke about it. I really respected that he did that," she told AAP.
"I think you've just got to feel the feelings that you need to feel. I watched the games. I'm obviously going for NSW, I'm from NSW, I bleed Blue. To see them win the series was great."
The plus side was there were no representative duties to distract from Pearson's preparation for the NRLW season, a luxury she hadn't known since before her debut in 2021.
While Pearson had been sequestered to Origin camp ahead of the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons, she was able to knuckle down at the Eels' new centre of excellence this time, with NRLW head of performance Brendan Inkster particularly helpful.
"BJ (Inkster) has got me probably the strongest and fittest that I've been in my career," she said.
"I've been there before, I've missed out on teams and obviously missing out on Origin this year, it hurts. But you can't stay where you were because you need to change, you need to improve.
"There are areas where I thought I can improve. I've been working on those, like we mentioned, strength, fitness."
Eels coach Steve Georgallis has seen the Origin omission light a fire in Pearson as Parramatta target a return to finals for the first time since 2022.
"She would've been disappointed she didn't make that NSW team and I think that's another thing that's going to push her on this year, to prove a few people wrong," he said.
"Rach is probably the lynchpin of our team this year."
