Andrew Johns is urging the NRL to step in and block a potential Jesse Southwell move from Newcastle to Brisbane.
Rumours are swirling the young gun NRLW halfback could join her former Knights premiership-winning teammate and Dally M winner Tamika Upton in the Queensland capital next year.
Southwell, 20, is the NSW Blues halfback and arguably the most talented playmaker in the women’s game. Johns has been singing her praises for years.
And while rumours of her looming defection have been hosed down by the Knights and by her own management, they are enough to put fear into Johns.
“The gulf between the Roosters and Brisbane to the bottom teams is huge. It goes Roosters, Brisbane, then just below them is the Knights, then it’s a big drop off,” Johns said on Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour.
“If Jesse Southwell goes to Brisbane they will win every week by 40 or 50, and that is being conservative. If she is in that team no one will get near them.
“It is Jesse’s decision, but the NRL has to come in here. If Jesse goes to Brisbane you may as well just have one round, just have a grand final – Brisbane vs. the Roosters.
“I just hope she doesn’t go. Take away my loyalty to Newcastle… for the good of the competition this can not happen, because they will be absolutely unbeatable.
“Her kicking game is miles ahead of anyone else’s in the game… put that into Brisbane with their strong forward, Tamika at the back, Julia Robinson… no one is going to get near them.
“Every week they will be winning by 40 or 50 points, which will be sad.”
The Knights halfback has options in her contract for 2026 and 2027 but could reportedly entertain a move north if there was an offer.
The prospect of her moving to Brisbane won’t sit well with many Knights fans, as well as fans of the wider competition.
The Broncos dominated the early years of the NRLW, claiming the first three premierships and the first four minor premierships. They were again minor premiers last year, only to fall over in the finals.
League great Ruan Sims doesn’t want to buy into the rumoured Southwell move.
“Rumours are just rumours until there is any fact to back it up,” Sims said on Wide World of Sports’ NRLW Weekly.
“My understanding is that her management has come out and said it is just a rumour.
“It would have to be something pretty significant for her to break two more years of a contract. I don’t like buying into it until there are some guts to it.
“If the rumour was to be that the Broncos were chasing her, why wouldn’t they? She is one of the best halves going around in the game. Her whole year has been fantastic.
“The Broncos are allowed to chase who they want. Jesse is allowed to look around if she wants to, if she is not breaking any contracts.
“I know that Knights fans would be hurting because they’ve lost really good players. They would be like, ‘Oh no, not another one. We can’t let another one go’.
“I wouldn’t begrudge her if she chose to go somewhere else. That is completely up to the player, it is up to her.”
If Southwell is to make the move to the sunshine state, it would see her team up with former teammate Upton in the Broncos jersey.
The Knights – who won back to back NRLW premierships in 2022 and 2023 – also lost gun forward Millie Elliott to the Roosters last year.
