Kennedy Cherrington has a way of getting under people’s skin – and that’s just how she likes it.
When tensions are high and the scoreboard tight, that’s when the NSW State of Origin representative will start “chirping”.
“Just a bit of banter,” Cherrington says of the harmless “mind games” she likes to play with the opposition team. But the grin on her face says otherwise.
“Like [yelling], ‘oh they’re tired’, or ‘six again’, or ‘ref, what was that?’ That’s just part of the game. I’m the older sister of four younger siblings, so they keep me on my toes, so I feel like that banter game comes from them.”
For Origin fans, there’s one moment more than any other that shows just how much the 27-year-old Blues enforcer can get under her opponents’ skin: the 34th minute of game two in 2025.
“Well I love State of Origin,” Cherrington prefaces, before she dives into recounting the moment. “It’s that DNA you’re born with, representing your state so proudly.”
With NSW ahead 12-6 and Queensland on the cusp of scoring an equaliser, Maroons’ No.16 Chelsea Lenarduzzi fumbled the play-the-ball.
It was a turning point – a significant error at a critical point in the match – and Cherrington knew it.
She stood over Lenarduzzi and roared, getting right up in her face before giving her a shove in the back.
“I felt like a bit of my personality, a bit of my Kennedy Cherrington energy came out in that moment,” she recalls. “I love Origin, I love memories like that.
“Chelsea got up and there was a bit of a push, a bit of jersey slinging, but it is what it is.”
Despite the fiery exchange – where the two had to be separated – it was just another day in the Origin arena for Cherrington and Lenarduzzi.
“Stuff like that in footy just gets blown out of proportion because we obviously play a very intense, aggressive game, and Origin is the most intense, aggressive game you can play,” Lenarduzzi says.
“But for me, you’re not really seeing the other person. You’re just seeing the opposition in the blue jersey.”
The moment went viral, and brought back memories of another flashpoint from another Origin series: Jarome Luai standing over an injured Felise Kaufusi in 2021.
The comparison between Luai and Cherrington is natural. They’re both larger-than-life characters who take on a boisterous alter ego when they step onto the field, and that divides the fans: in their case, loved by NSW, loathed by Queenslanders.
Cherrington’s confident approach is something she’s been criticised for: because it is not as common in women’s sport, and because people mistake it for cockiness.
“I think it’s an Australian sport thing because you see people are quite reserved, and then when people come out of that narrative that we’ve formed, it’s like, ‘pipe down, you’re too much’, and we come down harder,” Cherrington says.
“I’ve faced that kind of criticism with showing a lot of personality. So have boys like Jarome Luai.”
It’s something Cherrington and Lenarduzzi agree on – that these personalities aren’t afforded as much space in the women’s game because people expect women, and female athletes, to act a certain way.
“This is the thing that annoys me when we talk about women’s sport,” Lenarduzzi says. “We always lean into the softer elements of being female, which is a really beautiful part of femininity, but the other part of it is that we’re also female athletes, and the athlete part is that you want to do anything to win.
“We really champion male athletes across lots of different sports who get up and scream and pump their fists or beat their chests.”
Where Luai embraces the “villain” persona, Cherrington doesn’t see herself that way.
“I wouldn’t describe myself like that, but I would say that I lean into it because I know personality has got to grow the game,” she says.
“I think I’ve kind of been a pioneer in that sense. It is kind of a balance because there’s a lot of criticism from people thinking that you’ve got to act a certain way, and I’ve always been outspoken and confident, and I think people see that as cockiness.
“But that’s the way my parents have brought me up – to be authentically Kennedy Cherrington … it comes with criticism, but this game is a spectacle [under] a microscope. Not everyone is going to agree with you, but I think the women’s game needs a little more personality.”
The criticism often comes in the form of social media abuse – people sending Cherrington hateful messages, commenting on her posts, or making videos about her.
It’s a tricky minefield to navigate, especially when Cherrington – like many female athletes – uses social media as a way to supplement the pay gap in women’s sport.
“Some of my family members do monitor my social media and filter my comments and look after me that way,” Cherrington says.
“Those are people that I care about, and they protect me, but also I’m not going to listen to others because I was brought up better than that.”
While Cherrington is often the loudest person in the room – the player who bounces around with the boom box – NSW coach John Strange says she can also be the most considerate.
“She’s a great person, she’s a really honest and caring human being, and that’s what all staff and teammates see off the field,” Strange says.
“There’s a lot of players in the NRL and NRLW that get themselves in a certain frame of mind to go out to battle, and that’s just what Kennedy does to help her have the energy, bring the energy and the intensity that she does.
“But off the field, she’s a completely different person, she’s a lot more relaxed. She’s still got a lot of energy around the group, but she settles down, and she’s really comfortable and happy in her own skin.”
Cherrington and Lenarduzzi will go head-to-head once more in game one of the 2026 series, which gets under way in Newcastle on April 30.
But, funnily enough, the two have never spoken about that Origin moment, despite both sitting on the board for the Rugby League Players Association.
“I think we just kind of avoided it. I think we had a board meeting a few weeks later and everyone was just like, ‘that’s State of Origin guys, we’ll put that aside’,” Cherrington says.
“I think it’s good banter, and I think it’s good personality to come out both Queensland and NSW because I think the game needs it.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
