Jesse Southwell will wear her noise-cancelling headphones this week. Press the mute button. Silence the sounds of others.
By steering the Knights to a 34-20 victory over Gold Coast in the NRLW elimination final at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday, Southwell set up another sudden-death showdown with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium next Sunday.
Despite having two years left on her contract with Newcastle, Southwell has player options in her favour – allowing her to leave the Knights if she chooses – and there has been speculation linking the 20-year-old NSW halfback to the Broncos.
It was reported late last month that Brisbane have targeted Southwell as a possible halves partner for veteran Ali Brigginshaw, who recently signed a one-year extension to remain at the Broncos until the end of 2026.
Brisbane are considering their scrum-base options as five-eighth Gayle Broughton is understood to be heading back to New Zealand next season to join the Warriors, and Southwell would be an ideal replacement.
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But the gifted Newcastle playmaker is worried about one game, not next season, and gives the impression she is blissfully unaware of what is said or written about her playing future.
“I just shut it all out, to be honest,” Southwell told media after the Titans win.
“I don’t really know what’s going on half the time with all the media stuff.
“I kind of block it all and I don’t really follow too many people on Instagram and things like that, so I think it’s just to keep, you know, my headspace a bit safer.
“So yeah, look, it doesn’t really bother me because I don’t really know.”
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Southwell has it on a string
Southwell said she was just embracing the challenge of upsetting the Broncos in front of a likely sell-out home crowd in the first leg of a preliminary final double-header.
“Yeah, definitely. We’ve got a job to do,” she said.
“And yeah, I’m just looking forward to getting up there and having a good crack.”
Brisbane recovered from an early 16-4 deficit to crush the Knights 46-16 at McDonald Jones Stadium on August 24, handing Newcastle their only home defeat this season.
That result, Brisbane’s imposing 10-1 win-loss record this season, and their star-studded side spearheaded by former Knights match-winner Tamika Upton are some of the reasons why Southwell was already thinking about Sunday’s game not long after beating the Titans.
“Straight after the game, we sat down with the girls and the coaches and just said our prep starts now,” Southwell said.
“This is finals football and yeah, this is what we’re playing footy for, to play these types of games, and yeah, just super-excited to get up there and have a crack.”
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Olivia Higgins Try
Southwell acknowledged the Knights were left with a pile of homework after the heavy loss to Brisbane last month but “it’s been like that in every game”.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons from every game that we’ve played and, yeah, that game was no different,” she said.
The Knights led the Titans 18-0 at half-time and 24-0 early in the second half but handling errors and a lack of poise allowed the visitors back into the game, and it took late tries by Kayla Romaniuk and Shanice Parker to seal the deal.
Newcastle walked a similar path in their previous two wins against the Titans and Dragons, in the final rounds of the regular season, having to repel late rallies to secure those results.
“Obviously they were playing for their season, so they were going to do everything they could to try and fight back,” she said.
“I think that’s something that we’ve learned from the past couple of games, that we’ve had to wrestle with momentum, and I think the past three weeks we’ve learnt from our mistakes and done that pretty well.”
Just as she has done by ignoring talk about her own future, Southwell said the Knights have disregarded outside noise about the 2025 NRLW premiership being a two-horse race between the Broncos and unbeaten Sydney Roosters.
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“Honestly, I don’t think it’s bothered us,” she said.
“I don’t know about any of the other teams, but yeah, we haven’t really bought into it or anything like that.
“We’ve just been trying to build each week on our footy and focusing on us and what we can do better and how we can be better. So I don’t think it’s bothered us, to be honest.”