When Shannon Mato and Evania Isa’ako announced they’d be sitting out the 2025 season due to pregnancy, the Titans were left with a 357-metre per game hole to fill.Â
That was the average yardage haul the pair combined for last year, with their go-forward forming a key part of coach Karyn Murphy’s game plan on the Glitter Strip.
That point wasn’t lost on prop Jessika Elliston, who has stepped up through the opening month of the 2025 campaign to register the best numbers to date in her seven-season NRLW career.Â
A 196-metre haul in the Round 4 victory over the Warriors came after a monster 200-plus effort a week earlier against the Wests Tigers, with Elliston’s season average of 179 putting her fourth in the competition heading into NRLW Magic Round.
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Warriors v Titans – Round 4, 2025
“Losing ‘Shan’ and ‘Vani’ has given me an awesome chance to bring my role up a level and lead from the front more,” Elliston told NRL.com.
“I’ve had to change my mentality to get in there and want more ball.
“My job has been clarified in that way now… my role is to get that done.
“I now know that I can push myself to the limit a bit more. That’s all added to it.
“It’s a good feeling to be leaving that field knowing I’ve emptied the tank.”
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Elliston claims Player of the match honours
After the disappointment of missing out on the Jillaroos team to take on England in Las Vegas at the start of the year – and instead watching the action from the sideline as Australia’s replacement player – Elliston admitted to having some extra motivation by the time the Titans’ pre-season rolled around.
Every time you miss out on a team it does light a fire.
Jessika Elliston
“That’s something that has driven me, but the Premiership dream we have as a team is driving me even more.”
That dream has had new life breathed into it recently, with the Gold Coast picking up back-to-back wins following a horror start which saw them concede 64 points and score just 10 through the opening fortnight of the season.
After downing the Warriors 20-10 in Auckland, in front of a boisterous home crowd which measured 5400 prior to kick-off and hit over 16,000 before full-time, Murphy applauded her side’s resilience through what she always anticipated would be a tough start to the season.Â
“We have essentially got one home game in the first [five], so it’s a tough start to our season,” Murphy said.
“Those first two weeks, it was really disappointing with our brand of football.
“We really want to be that gritty defensive team, and that clearly wasn’t there in those first two rounds… for the last two to three weeks most of the training sessions we have had together has just been starting again with that defence.”
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NRLW Best Moments – Round 4
Meanwhile Elliston threw her support behind this week’s NRLW Magic Round being hosted in Newcastle, despite her experiences at the venue so far all being with the passionate crowd against her.
“Playing Origin there, it’s one of the best grounds, and I don’t even care if they are booing us,” she said.
We’ve got the Bulldogs this weekend – thank goodness we don’t have Newcastle – whoever has Newcastle, good luck!
Jessika Elliston
“But it’s a great stadium where you can feel the energy echoing around.
“I think Newy is the best place for it. Newy people bloody love their footy.”