Eleven of the past 12 State of Origin series have been won by Queensland, but with the Maroons entering this year’s opener without their big-four, pre-match talk had centred on the possibility of one era ending, and a new one beginning. After 80 minutes of bruising, exhilarating and entertaining Origin football at the MCG that ended with a 22-12 win for New South Wales, the signs are good for the Blues.
Of course, a series isn’t won after the first game – nor is an era ended – but history does lean favourably towards the team that emerges victorious from the opening game. With that in mind, Blues coach Brad Fittler can be mighty pleased with his night’s work after three of the Blues’ 11 Origin debutants – Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr – scored tries. The brilliant James Tedesco, named man of the match, opened the scoring, while James Maloney had a hand in three of his team’s tries.
Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai were on the scoresheet for the weakened Queenslanders – without Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater – but their efforts were in vain as Greg Inglis’s first game as captain ended in disappointing, if not entirely unforeseen, defeat.
Kevin Walters’ preparations for the series opener could not have been more disrupted. Just three weeks before the series opener, Smith joined Cronk and Thurston in representative retirement, and when Slater indicated he would follow suit after one final series – and then was ruled out of Game 1 with a hamstring complaint anyway – Queenslanders were left to contemplate the unthinkable: the break up of their big four and potentially an end to their dominance.
A compound dislocation of Dane Gagai’s finger did nothing to help either, although both he and Ben Hunt, who was also an injury doubt pre-match, were named as starters and ran out behind new captain Inglis, the man charged with leading Queensland into this new era as Smith’s successor.
NSW, by contrast, had no such drama in their build-up, although with so many debutants named by Fittler, himself taking his Origin debut as coach, there were as many unanswered questions as in their rivals’ camp as to how this game would unfold. Yet it was Queensland, labelled underdogs by some, who started by far the stronger of the two in the early stages of what was a fast-paced, tight and end-to-end first half that finished up 8-6 in the Blues’ favour.
Having weathered the early storm, Maloney, one of the Blues’ more senior players, began to pull the strings and it was the Penrith five-eighth who landed the first points of the game with a penalty goal in the 18th minute. Four minutes later NSW opened an 8-0 lead after some brilliant, aggressive play at dummy half from hooker Damian Cook, who scooped up the ball and tore into the Queensland defence before offloading to Maloney who in turn dished to Tedesco to sprint over the line.
But Maloney, who was heavily involved throughout, was to turn from hero to zero six minutes later when his pass was intercepted by his former Sharks team-mate Holmes, who gleefully sprinted 90m to open the Maroons’ account. Holmes, charged with filling Smith’s sizeable kicking boots, added the extras and grabbed the limelight, but it was Inglis who may justifiably claim to have laid the groundwork; his bone-crunching welcome-to-Origin tackle on Trbojevic – a feat he would later repeat on Nathan Cleary – had sparked a minor melee moments earlier, and had the desired effect of lifting his team.
Momentum initially remained with the Maroons after the break as Maloney threw a sloppy forward pass almost straight from the restart and there were barely three minutes on the second half clock before Queensland took the lead for the first time on the night. Hunt’s grubber into the Blues’ in-goal caught Addo-Carr on his heels and Gagai, last year’s Wally Lewis medal winner, capitalised to score his eighth Origin try.
But the pendulum was to swing once again as two tries in as many minutes turned the match on its head. Mitchell barged over from Tedesco’s feed on 48 minutes before Trbojevic leapt with Holmes to contest Maloney’s kick, the former ripping the ball from the latter’s grip before falling across the goal-line. Maloney, who failed to convert Mitchell’s try, landed the second attempt and NSW opened up a six-point lead.
That became 12 on 70 minutes as Addo-Carr profited from some more inspired work from Tedesco, who burst through three tackles before bouncing off another, to score the try of the night in the corner. Continuing his up-and-down evening, Maloney was again off target with his boot, but the damage had been done and Queensland were unable to recover.
It could have got even better for the Blues, but Mitchell was denied a second on debut after he was held up on the line by Anthony Milford, and then Addo-Carr was similarly frustrated, this time under pressure from Gagai as time ran out.
Had those chances been converted into points, the scoreline would have shimmered with more of a gloss, and perhaps the Maroons would have left Melbourne a little more deflated, but New South Wales will not care; this victory sets them up nicely for Game 2 in Sydney, where they can seal the series and perhaps yet usher in a new era in State of Origin football.
