Game 1 of the 2016 State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and the NSW Blues is scheduled for a kick-off time of 8pm AEST on Wednesday June 1, at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
Take that with a grain of salt, however, because it is quite common for the kick-off to be rescheduled for later in the night during Origin matches, due to delays resulting from pre-game entertainment and Channel Nine specials.
An adjusted start time somewhere around 8:20pm AEST is a probable result.
» State of Origin kick off time – live page
The match will be broadcast live exclusively on the Nine Network through Channel 9 and 9HD. Their coverage of the match is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm AEST, and to conclude at 10:30pm AEST.
As usual, the match will be the first in a series of three with the following two matches to come on June 22 and July 13, both of them Wednesdays, and both also scheduled to start at 8pm AEST, but the same issues apply with that time as Game 1.
The second match will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, while the third will see the series return to Sydney and ANZ Stadium.
There have been a number of developments in the lead-up to the match regarding just who will be lining up for either side on the day.
VIEW THE FULL TEAMS FOR STATE OF ORIGIN GAME 1 HERE
On Sunday it was revealed that Josh Dugan would be ruled out for the Blues due to an elbow injury, and it’s quite possible that he will miss the entire State of Origin series as a result. Josh Morris will come into the Blues’ Game 1 side to replace him.
There has also been an ongoing saga revolving around an ankle injury to Cooper Cronk, suffered at training on Friday. Jacob Lillyman is the man who will step in should Cronk be unavailable.
The NSW Blues are narrow favourites to claim the win in Game 1, priced at $1.85 with betting companies while Queensland are out not much further to the price of $2.
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