Weight lifted as Tamika breaks 'drought' with dashing double

By Tamika Upton’s standards it’s been a lean World Cup as far as tries are concerned with gun No.1 scoring just two of the Jillaroos' 43 tries across the three pool games.

That's a far cry from the outrageous strike rate she boasts in the NRLW with 61 tries in her 64 games, including 15 in 14 matches for the Broncos this year. 

When it comes to the international stage she is second to Julia Robinson and Jaime Chapman (six each) for the most tries scored in a match by a Jillaroo. 

Upton’s five came last February in Las Vegas when Australia took on England. 
But in 195 minutes of football during the 2026 World Cup, Upton had not crossed that white line although her 12 try assists meant others had in the wins over Samoa, England and Wales. 

However, her two-game drought ended in the 55th minute of the Wales game, when Upton finally unleashed one of her weaving runs to cross for the Jillaroos’ 17th try.  

She did it again 13 minutes later following five-eighth Jesse Southwell after she made a break up the middle.  

“I honestly don’t think about it when I’m actually playing and looking for options,” Upton told NRL.com after Australia’s record-breaking 124-6 win over Wales. 

“I feel like I’m a pass-first player. I’m always looking to see if my winger is open or my centre is open.

“If you look at the players we have in this team, if I can help put someone like Jaime Chapman in a bit of space she’s going to score. 

“So I’m definitely not thinking about whether I can score or not, when I’m out there playing.” 

Still, the three-time winner of the Dally M Player of the Year has won’t deny it was a nice feeling to ground the ball twice at CommBank Stadium on Sunday. 

“Absolutely because I also do pride myself on pushing through, being the support player everyone strives to be,” Upton said. 

Some have questioned if the Jillaroos can gauge how well they’re performing because of how they’ve dominated oppositions – against Wales they enjoyed nearly 80 per cent possession. 

“Yes we have been able to hold possession but we work very hard during the week at training and do a lot of defence too,” she said.  

“We have girls in our team who pride themselves on being that wall. Although we haven’t seen too much of it just yet I can assure you it is a big focus for us each session.” 

Upton was diplomatic on the question of who out of the three Jillaroos halves – Jesse Southwell, Jocelyn Kelleher and Tarryn Aiken – she would want to see in next Sunday’s semi-final against Fiji. 

Southwell sat out Australia’s opening two games against Samoa and England, but set a Jillaroos points-scoring (44) against Wales with 20 conversions and a try.  

Kelleher set the previous record just a week earlier with 26 with two tries and nine goals. 

“We work really well together as a spine in all those combinations at training,” Upton said. 

“So whoever they want to go with, we will all respect. 

“Tarryn is obviously a massive voice out there, but everyone has a role in what shape we play with. We train for all those variations.”