Across Queensland, spines were straightened, chests puffed out, beer bellies were tucked in and citizens of that resilient state reached for another can of XXXX to celebrate their State of Origin victory over the despised Blues.
Honour restored. For most of the match, fielding a team of lower quality than NSW, the Maroons outplayed, outhit, outsmarted and finally outlasted Laurie Daley’s team, triumphing 26-24 in Perth.
When short on gifts, Queensland rely on guts.
Yet again it was a case of the Maroons defying expectations, feeding off their underdog status after losing three consecutive Origin matches, including the 2025 opener on their own turf. Just when you think Queensland can’t win, shouldn’t win, won’t win, they win.
However, as this columnist predicted when warning of an ambush, penalties had a massive influence on the outcome. The Maroons led 26-6 at half-time, benefiting from a penalty count of 8-0. In the second half, the penalties favoured the Blues, together with a flurry of six-again rulings that saw them score four tries to nil.
It was a repeat of 2024 when the Blues, after losing the opener, won the first-half calls in Melbourne and consequently the match. It set up a decider in the third match and once again the series moves 1-1 to what will be a full house in Sydney.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow of the Maroons scores a try.Credit: Getty Images
Wet weather also had a major influence, resulting in loss of possession at critical times. As a spectacle, given the pressure and the driving rain, there were bizarre periods where the match was stuck somewhere between mediocrity and calamity.
It was as if neither side could find the panic button, let alone press it.
However, the Maroons played smarter in the first half with their glut of possession, while the Blues charged one out at the defensive line with all the grace of a well-hurled bowling ball. The NSW forwards seemed more intent on winning a battle of collisions than securing a victory.
Rugby league’s two best centres, Latrell Mitchell and Stephen Crichton, were starved of the ball, given the penalties and wet, greasy conditions.
The game was, therefore, decided by players with the No.8 and higher on their backs and the Maroons edged NSW in this area. Incoming forward Kurt Capewell, a veteran of Origin, proved to be a welcome gap-plugger, run-stopper and back-up man. The Queensland pack found the go forward that had been missing in Brisbane.
It wasn’t as if NSW did not expect a Queensland fightback. A text message from the Blues dressing-room minutes before kick off read: “We need to get through the opening onslaught and we should be OK.”
NSW actually scored the first try when the Penrith halves combination that won four consecutive NRL premierships saw Nathan Cleary passing to Jarome Luai who grubbered through for another Panther and NSW’s best, Brian To’o, to score. But the Blues frustration with penalties and dropped ball grew, resulting in a first-half completion rate of 56%.
Wolfmother perform at Optus Stadium.Credit: Getty Images
Queenslanders see omens everywhere at Origin time, including in the pre-match entertainment at Perth’s Optus Stadium. Wolfmother sang “Joker and the Thief”.
Cameron Munster, the man of the match is known as a joker, although he wore his game face in his debut as captain. Harry Grant, his Melbourne teammate, played the role of thief, stealing metres from dummy half, including setting up Munster’s try to give the Maroons a 20-6 lead.
Queensland coach Billy Slater surprised by starting with his nominated team, despite leaving his best two forwards from the first game – Jeremiah Nanai and Pat Carrigan – on the bench. Carrigan’s presence was needed when some of the inexperienced Maroons tired.
Slater looked composed throughout, compared to the lead-up when, under sustained criticism, his normal unflappable self looked extremely flapped.
Once again, the negative pre-match publicity fed the Queensland underdog psyche, with Munster revealing afterwards that the Maroons were motivated to “turn up for our coach”.
Joker and the Thief: Cameron Munster and Harry Grant were crucial for the Maroons.Credit: Getty Images
In the long history of Origin, how many times have we seen Queensland, when facing defeat, claw back, in the adrenalised manner of someone fighting off death?
Still, the result would have been different if two of the conversion attempts of NSW winger Zac Lomax had not hit the uprights.
Similarly, in the Brisbane game, Cleary failed with three goal attempts, although in that match it did not matter.
In the final analysis, the Maroons out-hustled, outwitted and outlasted the Blues, and we now move to Homebush for the decider on July 9.
Unexpected, maybe. Unbelievable, perhaps. Unfinished, certainly.
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