Expert
The Queensland Maroons have brought up an Origin point scoring record this evening along with a half century of points with a dominating performance to win the deciding match of the 2015 State of Origin Series by 46 points 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
The Blues might have come out of the sheds firing, but were in the contest for all of about the first three minutes before the Maroons took over with champion performances from the likes of Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston backed up by a forwards pack that rolled over the Blues pack all night.
The Blues opened the scoring with a penalty goal in the fourth minute of the game before the Maroons did the same down the other end just a couple of minutes later.
The first try meanwhile was scored by Dane Gagai, on his Origin debut in the right corner of the ground following a long pass from the middle and some sloppy offloading.
From there things only got better for the Maroons as Papalii crossed on the left hand side from a Johnathan Thurston pass in the face of some incredibly soft defence.
The next try came in the 35th minute to Greg Inglis, again a soft try set up by the play making duo of Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston.
At half time the score line read 22-2 and it was clear the Blues were going to have to come out firing in the second half.
However the second half started even worse than the first half ended for the Blues with David Klemmer making a mistake on the second play of the half, which allowed Matt Gillett to cross for a try.
It was however an incredible try. After a grubber kick went into the in goal, Justin Hodges chased it down to bat it back into the field of play, from a fair distance out and it sat up for Gillett to score the opening try of the second half.
Michael Morgan was next to score for the Maroons runing through a Blues defence that resembled a leaking ship by that point. The Maroons were keeping the foot on the pedal and werent letting up on anything, fighting for every lose ball and defending hard.
The Blues could hardly get out of their own end and in the 57th minute it was Darius Boyd who scored in the left corner from a wonderful long ball, provided by Thurston.
The Maroons however, in the 61st minute finally made a mistake and Michael Jennings was able to pounce on an intercept to run 60 metres and score.
That try made the score 40-6, however the Maroons went right back to heaping the misery on the Blues scoring two tries before the end of the game to Will Chambers in the 68th minute and Aiden Guerra in the 78th minute, set up by a Greg Inglis pass from dummy half.
Johnathan Thurston’s goal kicking must also be taken into account, not missing one all night in an incredible performance with the boot.
There was nothing to like about the Blues performance, however Josh Dugan was solid at the back, whilst Michael Jennings and Brett Morris looked threatening at times.
In the end an incredible performance from the Maroons, one that no one could have predicted at the start of the game and they reclaim the State of Origin Shield in 2015.
Full Time:
Queensland Maroons 52
New South Wales Blues 6
The 2015 State of Origin series between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues will be decided tonight. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 8pm (AEST).
Will the Maroons reclaim the shield or will the Blues make it two series in a row?
The Queensland Maroons took the first game of the series in a nail biter, with the game closed out by a Cooper Cronk field goal.
Game 2 saw the series go to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where NSW won by eight points in one of the most free-flowing games in recent Origin history.
The stage is now set for the decider as the series heads to Suncorp Stadium, where the Maroons have a brilliant record in recent times, with the Blues only able to win three from the last 10 games.
Lang Park is generally rated to be the best place to watch league in Australia due to the incredible atmosphere the ground creates. This will be a major stumbling block for the Blues and a good start is essential.
The Maroons welcome back star half Cronk in what is a massive plus for the side. He is swapped straight in for Daly Cherry-Evans, with Michael Morgan retaining his bench spot.
In a massive out for the Maroons, Billy Slater has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Greg Inglis moves from the centres to fullback, Will Chambers moves to the centres and Dane Gagai comes in on the wing for his Origin debut. Josh McGuire is also out with injury, with Josh Papalii into the side on the bench. Edrick Lee is the 18th man.
The Blues have been named as unchanged however that is likely to change. Robbie Farah had surgery on a broken hand last week and is unlikely to take his place, with Michael Ennis to be brought in.
It will take a complete and total team performance to win tonight, however each team has a player who could have a large influence.
For the Maroons it is Cronk. When he is not playing the Maroons tend to get a little bit lost in attack, as we saw in last year’s series and the second game in Melbourne. Cronk’s cool head and calm thinking improves the Maroons.
Josh Dugan was close to the Blues’ best in Game 1 and despite being quiet in Game 2 he still scored the winning try. The key will be his kick returns and influence in attack.
Prediction
The Maroons should be able to get the job done on the back of a returning Cooper Cronk and massive home support. It will be a close one though.
Maroons by 2.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of this deciding State of Origin match from 8pm (AEST) and don’t hesitate to leave your comments below.