It's Newcastle Herald sports reporter Renee Valentine here with this week's footy newsletter.
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The women's State of Origin is proving the hottest ticket in town with a sold-out McDonald Jones Stadium expected for Game 2 in Newcastle next Thursday night. Capacity is 30,000 and the match, the second in a first-ever series of three, could break the women's Origin crowd record as well as be the largest attendance for a sporting event at the venue in its current format.
Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes expects the Origin match to put eyeballs on Newcastle and prove a marketing weapon as the city aggressively pursues hosting rights to more blockbuster sporting events.
Strike weapon Apostolos Stamatelopoulos has continued his break-out A-League season with a Socceroos call-up while news broke that home-grown talent Archie Goodwin is among a host of his Newcastle Jets teammates departing the club.
Renee Valentine, Journalist