Queensland are just one win away from winning their tenth series in the last eleven years after outlasting a determined New South Wales side 6-4 to take the opening game in Sydney.
The lead-up to the game centred around whether Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk would take his place in the line-up after he suffered what appeared to be a serious ankle injury at training last Friday.
More from State of Origin 1:
» Five talking points
» The big issues examined
» The Liebke Ratings
» Laurie Daley drops a post-Origin bombshell
» State of Origin Game 1 full time: Queensland hold on to win
» All the action in our live blog
While the Melbourne Storm halfback was able to take his place, the Blues suffered a huge setback when Josh Dugan was forced to withdraw after he re-aggravated an elbow injury initially suffered in the Dragons’ Round 11 loss to the Rabbitohs.
It eventually proved to be the difference as the Maroons took the opening game in Sydney for just the third time, following similar efforts in 2010 and last year.
After a dour opening 15 minutes, Queensland struck first when Johnathan Thurston potted a penalty goal to put the Maroons ahead 2-0. However, the Blues would be the first over the line when Boyd Cordner scored just over ten minutes later.
That made it 4-2 in the Blues’ favour, but their lead would not last long as Dane Gagai scored for the Maroons another ten minutes later; the missed conversion attempt from Johnathan Thurston would see the northerners take a 6-4 lead into half-time.
What followed was a scoreless second half in which both teams would throw everything at each other, with Josh Morris being denied a try when it was ruled by the bunker that he had fallen just short of the tryline.
Eventually the Maroons would hold on for a 6-4 victory after the Blues failed to make the most of their chances in the face of some heroic Queensland defence.
Kevin Walters’ men will have the chance to wrap up the series when it moves to Suncorp Stadium in three weeks’ time, and a victory there could see them go for the clean sweep back at ANZ Stadium on July 13.
It means that the Blues will have to return to the scene of last year’s Game III humiliation if they are to indeed keep the series alive, and they’ll also have to break two massive hoodoos if they are to do so.
Not since 2000 have the Blues won a Game II in Brisbane, which they did to claim the series that year, and not since 2005 have they come from 1-0 down to win a series.
That is the task facing Laurie Daley as they attempt to prevent the loss of a tenth series in the past eleven years, and with that there will be some tough decisions to be made at the selection table.
Apart from the concussion suffered by Michael Morgan in the second half, there were no injuries reported by either state, which means that most players should be able to back up for their clubs when Round 13 of the NRL kicks off this Friday night between the Canberra Raiders and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
It’s all there for either state come three weeks’ time. Can the Blues keep the series alive in front of what is expected to be a mostly-Maroon crowd of over 50,000 on June 22, or can Kevin Walters get his Origin coaching career off to a dream start by winning Queensland their tenth series dating back to 2006?
We will all wait to see.
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