After an NRLW season spent working under Ben Jeffries at the Cowboys, Tallisha Harden is expecting her club coach to use his inside knowledge on a number of the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII players to his advantage this Saturday.
Jeffries is again in charge of the Papua New Guinea women's team – who this week will run out as a PNG PM's XIII rather than an Orchids Test side – and will come up against plenty of Australian talent he's coached in the past, including 2023 Cowboys Harden, Emma Manzelmann, China Polata and Tiana Raftstrand-Smith.
“I think it's going to be an interesting time on Saturday, obviously Ben is really familiar with not only myself, but other girls playing [for the Australia PM's XIII]," Harden said at a joint press conference ahead of Saturday's games at Santos National Football Stadium.
"He does his homework really well and selected a really strong PNG team."
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Having last faced a PNG side during the semi-finals of last year's World Cup in England, Harden was full of praise for how far they have come in the women's game.
In addition to facing her coach on Saturday, Harden will be taking on Cowboys teammates Jessikah Reeves, Essay Banu, Sera Koroi and Shellie Long.
“We have an enormous amount of respect for the PNG side and how they play, they are very tough and exciting to watch," Harden said.
Match Highlights: Australian PM's XIII v PNG PM's XIII
"For us, we’re really excited because for some of our girls it’s their first ever trip overseas and lots of girls haven’t worn the green and gold before.”
Australia coach Brad Donald echoed those thoughts and was proud to have the chance to bring his side to PNG for the first time since 2018.
“This will be the third time for us in PNG, we came in 2017 and 2018, and I think one of the things that we're most proud of is what it's done for the women’s team here and the Orchids,” Donald said.
“We saw after the visit in 2017, the Orchids played at the 2017 World Cup and the World Cup under Ben (Jeffries) there last year.
We love spreading the rugby league word amongst the female athletes here. Hopefully it inspires a whole generation of young Papua New Guinean ladies to play the sport.
Brad Donald
Much like the men’s teams taking part in the weekend’s games, Donald also had one eye on the upcoming Pacific Championships, with players expected to make the most of their chance to impress on the international stage.
“Very similar to the Australian men's team, we've got a few players still playing (finals), we've got a number of players like Tallisha who are Jillaroos representatives and we've got some young players that it's their first time to play representative football. We've also got some players that haven't played NRLW as well,” Donald said.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to come and see everything that you guys (in PNG) offer on and off the field and see how they see how they handle the big crowd on Saturday.”