Penitani Gray closes in on rare slice of Origin history

Ahead of the opening game of the 2026 Ampol Women’s State of Origin at McDonald Jones Stadium on Thursday night (30 April), Tiana Penitani Gray will claim a unique piece of history when she runs out at second row in her 12th appearance for the Westpac NSW Blues Women.

The La Perouse junior will become just the second player in NSW Origin history – and first in the women’s game – to play in four different starting positions, joining True Blue Brad Mackay (centre, five-eighth, lock, second row).

But despite the positional switch, Penitani Gray is embracing her versatility, and the 30-year-old is keen to take the opportunity with both hands.

“It absolutely is (pleasing),” she said.

“It’s exciting when you’re coached by someone like ‘Strangey’ (John Strange) who sees your attributes and wants to challenge you.”

Speaking of attributes, Penitani Gray can certainly understand the thinking behind her new position based on past experiences on the edge, be it wing, centre or five-eighth.

“I’ve definitely not played at back row, but can absolutely see his thought process,” Penitani Gray explained.

“I’m a very aggressive centre, I like to think, and having trained and played at six the last couple of years has definitely helped my footy IQ, so being able to be closer to the ball, to protect my half and being given that role is something that I’m jumping at the opportunity for.

“I definitely think it’s a compliment for the staff to see that in me and I just want to do a really good job there.”

As for the preparation, it won’t change too much for Penitani Gray who’s a student of the game and knows that anything can happen on the Origin stage.

“The preparation doesn’t change, the Origin arena is the Origin arena and you can end up absolutely anywhere depending on how the game goes anyway,” she said.

“I think my focus this week will be those little cues and the specialist stuff around back row.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to play on an edge and be impacted by good back-rowers. So I absolutely understand how much my job as back-rower impacts the edge, and how important it is to connect that edge in the middle.”

No matter the number on her back, however, Penitani Gray is well aware of what it takes to earn any Origin jersey and knows her side will be fit and firing for Game One.

“It’s probably the toughest six-week block we’ve done, the intensity we’ve never trained at before,” she recalled.

“You could see that in the trials, I think we played at a higher intensity than we did in Origin last year.

“To be honest, the 31 in our squad, anyone could have been in the 20. Everyone is in such incredible shape and it made it (the training block) very competitive.”

Next week in Newcastle is also the first time since becoming a three-game format that the series begins on home turf before finishing up with back-to-back games in Queensland, making a strong start even more important for Strange’s side.

“I think all the Blues fans that rock up to Newcastle in support of us are so passionate and we want to make them proud,” Penitani Gray said.

“We also want to make ourselves proud with how hard we’ve worked over this last six to eight weeks, show what we’re capable of as a squad and what the women’s game is capable of as well, and I think us playing our best footy is that.

“We want to make sure that we hit the ground running (in Newcastle) before going into two hostile environments in Game Two and Game Three, so to get a good start is very important for us.”