The Maroons are fast approaching their shortest price this century and are the raging favourites heading into Game 2 at Suncorp Stadium next Wednesday against a walking wounded Blues outfit.
Queensland are into $1.46 which is the second-shortest they’ve ever been with the TAB — only the invincible 2010 side were shorter at $1.40 in Game 3.
The spine for Queensland that night was current coach Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer and Cameron Smith – with Cooper Cronk on the bench.
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They won 23-18 in Sydney to complete a series whitewash and clinch their fifth consecutive series en route to a record eight straight.
Fast forward 13 years and Slater is back haunting the Blues with the help of Thurston and Smith as his assistants.
The Maroons current spine is frighteningly similar: blistering fullback Reece Walsh, freakish five-eighth Cameron Munster, premiership-winning halfback Daly Cherry-Evans and Kangaroos hookers Harry Grant and Ben Hunt.
Queensland head into Game 2 almost at full-strength, while the NSW have lost two of their best players in Nathan Cleary (hamstring) and Latrell Mitchell (calf), while Cameron Murray (groin) and Liam Martin (concussion) remain under an injury cloud.
Cleary’s injury saw the Maroons become favourites for the first time since 2019 and then Mitchell ruling himself out on Thursday saw the Blues balloon to $2.80.
If the injuries trend continues and Murray or Martin are scratched, then the odds trajectory will continue and Queensland could start in the $1.30s for the first time in history.
The Maroons haven’t been anywhere near their current price of $1.46 (and are as low as $1.39 with some bookmakers) since they started at $1.50 in Game 2 of 2016 — which they won 26-16 to clinch the series.
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The TAB confirmed 60 per cent of all bets taken have been on Queensland, but they expect the Blues to bounce back closer to kick-off.
“It’s hard to look past the Maroons, the money has been going all Queensland since the series started and especially after Game 1,” TAB spokesperson Rohan Welsh said.
“In the hours after Game 1 the money came in for Queensland, with the Suncorp advantage, and then losing Cleary then Mitchell, that was a huge blow.
“This is the shortest the Maroons have been since their absolute golden era when their side was full of future Immortals.
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“We still expect New South Wales to take money closer to the game because they’re very rarely at this price and have a big punter base.
“But no Blues side has ever gone to Brisbane and forced a decider and then gone on to win the series.”
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