Points aggregate will determine the victor of the first women's State of Origin series in a "weird" scenario initially rejected as an option by the NRL.
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After five years of one-off games, Queensland and NSW will battle for Origin honours in a two-game series that begins at Parramatta's CommBank Stadium next Thursday.
Game two is in Townsville on June 22, with the series victor determined by the aggregated scores across the two matches.
The two-game series, rather than a three-game event like the men's, was met with some raised eyebrows when announced last year.
When asked by AAP at the time how a two-game series would be decided, the NRL waved away the adoption of a points aggregate system.
But in justifying the decision on Friday, the NRL said neither state body or the RLPA supported the option of retaining the trophy in the result of a 1-1 draw and that it would promote attacking football.
This year's two-game Bledisloe Cup rugby union series will be awarded to the current title-holders New Zealand if it's drawn 1-1, although it's convention in soccer playoffs for teams' goal aggregates in a home-and-away series to determine the victor.
Blues coach Kylie Hilder on Thursday said the scenario was "a bit weird" while Maroons captain Ali Brigginshaw admitted it favoured her side, given the Blues won't carry in any advantage from their 20-14 victory last year.
Both camps insist it won't change their approach though, except to knock on the head tongue-in-cheek chat of an unofficial decider.
"We've had a bit of a joke with some of the Blues girls we'll just coordinate our own third game," Brigginshaw said from their Gold Coast training base on Friday.
"Obviously NSW weren't onboard with points aggregate but we've always had the focus on just winning the two games anyway.
"You never want to think about, if you lose the first one, what that looks like.
"We don't even want to talk about losing."
Brigginshaw was clear on her desire for a three-game series though, saying fan feedback and growth of women's rugby league was demanding it.
"Three games is Origin - we love this time of year," she said.
"So three games is where we want it to get to, but if you ask any female player, they just want to play footy.
"Tell them when and where and they'll be there."
Australian Associated Press
