Sky Blues five-eighth Kirra Dibb made an unforgettable return to Women's State of Origin, her pivotal performance in the halves alongside Dragons no.7 Rachael Pearson guiding NSW to a 20-14 victory over Queensland in Canberra on Friday night.
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Dibb and Pearson's new combination was a highlight of the series. At halfback, Pearson perfectly complemented Dibb's game, and contributed a handy 2/3 conversions and 2/2 penalty goals for NSW.
The Sky Blues five-eighth said from the very first Origin training session with Pearson it was clear the pair was onto something special.
"It was a little scary at the beginning. You're like, 'Is it really this good'? But Rachael and I were able to connect really well," Dibb said.
"Playing with Rachael was incredible. Having kicking games on both sides gave us a lot of confidence regardless of where we went. Hopefully it's a combo that can grow in the future."
Dibb was one of the standouts in front of a record women's Origin crowd of 11,321 at GIO Stadium.
After two years without NSW representative honours, the 24-year-old made the most of her opportunity, scoring a sensational solo-effort try, making four tackle breaks and 118 kicking metres.
"Winning Origin is the greatest feeling ever," Dibb said post-game with an ear-to-ear grin, before quickly vowing to retain the No.6 Sky Blues jersey moving forward.
"Missing out for those couple of years was really hard. The second you take this jersey off, all of your work goes into getting it back on. It's been taken from me before so I'm definitely not going to get complacent or think that it's just mine now.
"I'm still going to work every day to make sure that next year I give them no choice but to select me."
NSW coach Kylie Hilder was blown away by how both players directed the attack in such a fast-paced, high-intensity encounter.
"Her and Rachael combining at six and seven was unbelievable," Hilder said.
"That's what we need at this level and I'm so happy for Kirra actually - to score a try and play the way she did."
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Melanie Dinjaski
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know. If you have a story worth sharing, get in touch!
