JESSE Southwell remembers the pain.
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A die-hard Blue, she felt it like every other NSW supporter. It's her predominant State of Origin memory.
"Watching the men's series, I just remember our boys losing eight years in a row, which was very disappointing and it sucked as a kid," the Knights halfback told the Newcastle Herald.
"All the Queensland boys in school would rub it in your face, rocking up to school with a Queensland scarf on.
"That's kind of all I can remember. That eight-year long stint of Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston [and] Cameron Smith just running riot over us."
Queensland's record run of series wins is why Southwell, who at 18 will become the youngest player - male or female - to debut for NSW tonight, has such an ingrained desire to beat the Maroons.
But while the men might have spurred her disdain for Queensland, it was watching her older sister Hannah's Origin debut that inspired her to want to do the same.
Hannah, 24, who is recovering from a knee injury and unavailable for the game, debuted for NSW in 2018, the year the women's Origin was revitalised and first televised in prime time. Southwell, then in her early teens, witnessed her sister enjoy a famous 16-10 victory.
"A very happy memory for me is watching Hannah win her first Origin game in 2018 at North Sydney Oval," she said. "Getting to see that was so cool. I got to run out onto the field once they won and there was a big crowd around all the girls."
Now, just as she did in the NRLW, Southwell will follow in her sister's footsteps when she dons a NSW jersey for the first time tonight, breaking Brad Fittler's 33-year-old record in the process.
At 18 years and 109 days old, Southwell will be five days younger than Fittler was when he made his first NSW appearance in 1980.
The Cameron Park product is not daunted by the thought of playing in rugby league's toughest arena.
She has already proven she can handle the pressure of playing at the elite level.
Southwell won a gold medal at last year's Commonwealth Games playing rugby sevens. She then steered Newcastle to their first NRLW premiership in her maiden campaign, named Dally M rookie of the year for her efforts.
All this before she turned 18 in February.
"Every football game is a challenge," Southwell said.
"There's different challenges in every game and there will be in this one.
"It's just getting down to playing some good footy and having some fun."
A halfback for Newcastle, Southwell will play five-eighth for the Sky Blues at ComnBank Stadium. But she said her role would largely remain the same with NSW coach Kylie Hilder letting her play her natural game.
"Kylie has given me a lot of confidence and told me to have fun out there," she said.
"She is very good at telling us we need to know our role and do our job."
As for her sister's advice: "Run hard, tackle hard."
The Sky Blues have won five of the last seven women's Origin games, including last year's fixture.
Two matches will be played this year, rather than one. If each team wins a game, the winner will be determined on points aggregate. But Southwell is keen to win the series outright.
"You never want to let the Maroons win, whether it's sevens, cricket, league - you never want to let them win," she said. "Every girl in this side will do whatever they can to make NSW happy."
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