Match Result:
The Queensland Maroons have taken out the first game of the 2015 State of Origin series by a single point over the New South Wales Blues.
More Origin 3
» REPORT: Queensland send Slater off a winner, NSW win series
» Seven talking points from Origin 3
» State of Origin 3 live scores, blog
» WATCH: Billy Slater comes oh so close to starting his Origin farewell with a try
» WATCH: Maloney binned for ‘professional foul’ on Slater
» WATCH: Tariq Sims has brain fade – tackles marker
In what was a very physical game of football, the Maroons were the dominant team and deserved to win. The Blues really had to stay tough in defence throughout the game, with 61% of the game played in the New South Wales defensive half.
Full State of Origin 1 wrap:
>> ORIGIN 1 MATCH REPORT
>> FULL ORIGIN RESULTS
>> Live blog and highlights
>> Cameron Smith given man of the match
>> The Roar’s Origin 1 player ratings: Queensland
>> The Roar’s Origin 1 player ratings: New South Wales
HOW TO LIVE STREAM NRL, WATCH ONLINE
The Maroons dominated the early phases of the game, with a disallowed try to Billy Slater before Cooper Cronk crashed over on the right hand side to open the scoring in the 13th minute. It was set off by some good dummy half work from Cameron Smith and a good set that rolled up the field.
The Blues then played themselves back into the game and held the ascendancy for the rest of the first half putting on two tries to Josh Morris set up by a Josh Dugan chip kick. When Beau Scott crossed six minutes later, the Blues took the lead for the first time in the game and the rest of the first half was a very physical battle with no more scoring.
At halftime the score line read New South Wales 10–Queensland 6.
After halftime, and for the whole of the second half it was all Queensland, and it was incredible that they only managed to score 5 points for all their dominance.
New South Wales, in attack were shocking, dropping the ball and not executing any of their plays. The Maroons had plenty of opportunities and spent the whole second half it seemed camped on the Blues’ line.
At one point the Blues had multiple drop outs in a row and then in the 55th minute it was Will Chambers who managed to cross in the right hand corner for the Maroons. Thurston and Cronk, again exceptional in setting up the try.
The attacking raids on the Blues defensive line continued until with about 10 minutes to go the Maroons received a penalty just over half way. In a strange decision, when you felt the Blues could have cracked at any time with more attack, Johnathan Thurston and the Maroons hierarchy decided to take the penalty goal.
It fell short of the posts and the Blues managed to finally play some decent football putting themselves into position for a field goal. However they decided to run it and Michael Jennings grubbered it dead.
Cooper Cronk then stepped up for Queensland, kicking the field goal that would see the Maroons take a 1-point lead.
The Blues did have one more chance for a field goal but passed to Dugan instead of Hodkinson and after being rushed he missed the shot.
The Maroons then managed to control the last couple of minutes and despite the Blues having one last play, with just 1 second on the clock couldn’t force anything, meaning the Maroons took game 1 by a single point.
Thurston, Cronk and Slater were all exceptional as were Smith, Scott and Thaiday for the Maroons whilst for the Blues Dugan, Woods, Tamou and Pearce in patches were their best on ground.
The series now moves to Game 2 at the MCG, one the Blues have to win to keep themselves in the series.
Final Score:
Queensland Maroons 11
New South Wales Blues 10
Match Preview:
The New South Wales Blues will look to begin their State of Origin defence with a win against the Queensland Maroons at ANZ Stadium in what promises to be a cracker of a game. Join The Roar from 8:00pm (AEST) for live scores and coverage.
In 2014 the Blues broke an eight-year losing streak, narrowly winning Games 1 and Game 2.
State of Origin 1 match report – Queensland win 11-10
The Maroons then came back in Game 3 at Suncorp Stadium, recording a big win.
The first two games were low-scoring, and if the Blues are to win in 2015, it looks like the same method will be required – winning the battle of the forwards in the middle of the park – will have to be applied.
For the Blues Josh Dugan moves from centre to fullback to replace Jarryd Hayne, which means Josh Morris and Michael Jennings are the centre pairing. Will Hopoate plays on the injured Brett Morris’ wing, while Mitchell Pearce is favoured for another opportunity in the halves over Josh Reynolds, with Trent Hodkinson keeping his spot.
Robbie Farah is the captain with Paul Gallen out and Josh Jackson taking his spot at lock, meaning Trent Merrin stays on the bench. Boyd Cordner, Andrew Fifita and debutante David Klemmer round out the bench.
The Maroons look almost the same as 2014, with a few minor changes. The retired Brent Tate is replaced by Will Chambers, who will be keen to impress and take Justin Hodges’ centre spot next year. Michael Morgan replaces the injured Daly Cherry-Evans on the bench, and Josh McGuire makes his Origin debut on the bench, with Dylan Napa the 18th man.
With Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk calling the shots in attack, if the Maroons win the battle of field possession in the middle, it could get ugly for New South Wales.
Pearce and Hodkinson will need to control things for the Blues with their kicking games, but the most important player is shaping up to be Josh Dugan. He has been in fantastic form and needs a massive game if the Blues are to win.
The Blues also desperately need to win this game as Game 3 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane will be close to impossible to win.
Prediction
Despite New South Wales’ size on the bench, Queensland will be firing on all cylinders as they look to avenge last year’s defeat and should be able to overcome the Blues.
Queensland by 14.
Join The Roar for our live coverage of State of Origin 1 from 7:45pm (AEST) and don’t forget to comment in the section below!
Patrick Effeney
Editor
I'll give you the stats guys. It got over 137,000, which is a Roar record for everything except Melbourne Cup. Melbourne Cup once did over 150,000. This is up there though! Incredible. The day of Origin was also the biggest in Roar history, except Melbourne Cup days. Great work Scott!
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
xoxo
dissapointedNSWfan
Guest
The refereeing 'consistent???' wow you are a gluten for punishment, I thought that the refereeing was disgraceful and really swung the game Qld way, they didn't police the 10 they didn't caution or put players on report for some pretty nasty tackles and that Sutton should really be able to make a crucial decision, for gods sake he is a and supposed to be our top referee, he continually holds the game up with going to the video ref??? And Ch9 have used their 'use by date' and should never ever be given the NRL contract to commentate and televise the NRL ever again.
dissapointedNSWfan
Guest
Hodkinson had a shocker and his kicking was bad, not kicking the ball into touch was a big mistake (especially that he is playing for NSW and not the Dogs) his bombs were useless and ineffective and he just had a very bad game, Cronk outclassed him in every department. If Reynolds (if he is 100% fit) is not picked for the 2nd SOO then NSW will make a very big mistake. The kicking game is 90% of RL and if NSW does not execute that correctly then they will be done in the 2nd game, especially up there with all them Qld one eyed supporters.
dissapointedNSWfan
Guest
Farrah was injured because of that dirty low (nearly on his head) slam dunk which luckily ended on his shoulder by Hodges (who is one of the dirtiest players in the league). It's an absolute disgrace that the referee didn't even caution or put Hodges on report, yes they did penalise Qld for a similar thing but it wasn't as bad as the Hodges incident that really injured Farrah. Farrah was not the same after that Hodges tackle and he avoided most of the hard plays and that affected his game.
dissapointedNSWfan
Guest
Yes Reynolds has to come into SOO just for his kicking and kicking at goal, but no matter who we put into the NSW squad we need someone to make some hard decisions on the field as a captain. Not being ready to take an important field goal attempt, and passing the ball to Dugan (who wasn't ready for it) with 5 minutes to go was a disgraceful effort and another crucial point of the game. NSW dropped the ball too much and in the 2nd half were a disgrace to watch. Some of the refereeing decisions were also and as usual very???? That Sutton I'm sure cannot walk down the road without having everything on camera so he can get a video replay, the low act by Slater on Dugan should have been put on report and that 'so called 'strip' with about 1 minute to go was another disgraceful decision made by the referees, there were a few more decisions that were very questionable also. NSW didn't deserve to win, even if they lost by 1 point.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
It doesn't come into it. Hayne left at the end of last season for NFL, Gallen was injured and Bird was suspended. I thought Dugan went well, better than I expected and he did a great job setting up Morris. The forwards weren't too bad with both starting props looking good. Klemmer didn't do a lot when he came on. Maybe changes to the bench. The backs were where the problem were. Dugan and Morris were the pick. Hopoate OK but Tupou and jennings weren't that hot. Come the halves. Too many errors, little flair and both were outplayed. The NSW chase from their kickers was ordinary. The Maroons chased hard and kept play in the NSW half, too often Queensland ran the ball back and gained 30-40 meters.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I agree. The voluntary tackle is still in the rule book. It should have been a penalty to Qld.
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
equals the ground record for a league match, 107k at ANZ for the '99 GF.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Boyd didn't play well. He bombed a sure try when he wasn't in position for the catch and pass. And Morris ran an extra 15 metres to take that kick and Boyd didn't lay a finger on him.
Jay C
Roar Guru
Gus Gould really ruins it for me. He is so one eyed. And when the results aren't going his way he chucks a massive tanty. I hope Channel 9 lose the contract for 2018.
Jay C
Roar Guru
It surprises me that you were happy with your forwards. they were given the tortoise treatment on nearly every hit up and letting QLD make 12-13 metres every hit up in the second half.
Jay C
Roar Guru
It's 107,000 now anyway. so must be the tippy top.
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
What did Hodges do wrong? Gave Hoffman a pat on the back, that was it...
Bronco Juggernaut
Guest
NSW need Adam Reynolds, Moylan, Gallen and Brett Morris to have any chance of winning a game this series. That was the worst I have seen QLD play since Game 3 2005 and yet they still won.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Call of the night Johnno.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Maybe it was a 2013 game.
Johnno
Guest
Don't think it did Scott. Game 1 last year got 95K, so it's close. Just checked last years game 3 blog it got 78,000. Game 2 got 41,000 last year
Renegade
Roar Guru
Expected QLD to win but I must say we were a lot closer than I thought we would be... It was quite amazing that QLD only scored 1 try in the second half when they dominated the territory and possession. Credit to our defence but points was always going to be our problem. Wasnt a good game of footy by any stretch but glad it was close - still think we'll struggle to win a game this series. We'll have Gal back next game but it would have been great if Adam reynolds was fit and if Matt Moylan was fullback but can't see either of those happening... Forwards will have to bash their way to a victory.
V.O.R.
Guest
JH, ..and the no try was given a try on field right? Anyway I totally agree with getting the grub factor out of the game...Mal has jumped on that in the past...hopefully he does so again.....I fear Hodges is beyond rehabilitation...the head pat is his trademark.. .The crowd is always going to have some influence on the refs...shouldn't but it envariably does...Re: the knock-on call against NSW on their line turned over on review - the video ref playing in is still a point of interest for me..plenty of room to be selective there. Needs to be looked at. Where was the video ref last year when Woods touched it in goal off the kick off with minutes to go? We all saw it on the big screen. Big calls in these types of matches.