NSW women's coach Matt Everard suspects Queensland will feel the absence of banned biter Liz Patu in Sunday's pivotal Super W showdown in Sydney.
With the competition's two most dominant sides unbeaten, this weekend's winners will almost certainly host the 2019 grand final in a likely rematch of last year's title game won in extra time by NSW.
Prop Patu, the incumbent Australia Test captain, will be a significant loss for Queensland after she was suspended for six weeks - the rest of the competition - for biting fellow Wallaroos forward Rebecca Clough last Saturday.
"It changes the picture a lot more obviously for Queensland than it does for us," Everard said.
"She's the captain and leader of their team, she runs their scrums and lineouts.
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"So they're going to have to have a few changes they make this week.
"That being said, for us it doesn't really change a lot.
"We plan around a team's actions, around set pieces more than one individual."
Despite insisting the biting incident hadn't been a focus for his team, Everard admitted it wasn't a good look for the game.
"It's obviously an incident that no-one wants to see in rugby," he said.
"But that's why they've got these judicial processes in place.
"She's had to face the consequences for her own actions and that's been dealt with, her being given time out of the game and hopefully she learns from that.
"Players do make mistakes but, again, it's not something obviously we'd ever endorse."
