Tarryn Aiken struggled to contain her emotions as Queensland retained the Women’s State of Origin shield in a historic inaugural decider in Townsville.
The host’s fought back from a 1-0 deficit to win the first ever three-game series, with the wet conditions proving to be too strenuous for the Sky Blues.
Queensland led from start to finish, with Aiken a driving force in the Maroons first half onslaught, making one linebreak, one linebreak assist and 111 run metres.
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Aiken’s talent proved to be too skilful for NSW in the poor weather conditions, as she engineered her side’s opening two tries to take a 14-nil lead into halftime.
League great Phil Gould declared the visitors had “been their own worst enemy”, while a “physical” Queensland line remained “hard to run down.”
Gould also described Aiken’s display as “crafty” after she laid on a try with a deft grubber kick for Julia Robinson in the first half.
Watch the 2024 Women’s State of Origin series on Nine and 9Now.
Speaking with Nine’s Emma Lawrence and Allana Ferguson after the match, the victory had seemingly yet to sink in for AIken, who was left speechless by the Maroons effort.
“I was just talking to Robbo [Julia Robinson] and we were just saying that it doesn’t feel real at the moment,” she said.
“I mean, to come out in conditions like this – the atmosphere was unreal and the crowd was so good. It was unreal.
“We could hear the fans the whole time, especially in the last 10 minutes.”
The wet weather conditions produced significant flaws within both sides, with NSW topping the error tally with 17 mistakes to Queensland’s 13.
Aiken labelled the match as “the hardest game [she] had ever played.’
“It was so hard out there,” she said.
“I think in that second half I was just trying to hang on. We spoke before the game about how we were just going to get energy off our defence. We made a big point during the week on our effort areas and how our defence could win us the game.
“We just wanted to complete and do our effort areas right, and we knew our attack would come with the players we have in our team.
“It wasn’t our [initial] mind set but I’m happy it worked out that way. It got us there in the end.”