New South Wales have taken a one-nil lead in the 2018 State of Origin series with a hard-fought 22-12 win over Queensland in Game 1.
A grinding opening hour had the game in the absolute balance before the baby Blues ran away with a late try against a tiring Maroons outfit.
With 14 debutants, long-range tries and the shadow of a dynasty hovering over the game, here are six talking points from Game 1.
More State of Origin 1
» State of Origin live scores, blog
» WATCH: James Tedesco scores the first Origin try of 2018
» WATCH: Valentine Holmes races away to score a crucial intercept try
» WATCH: Dislocated finger can’t stop Dane Gagai scoring an incredible try
Has Maloney and Cleary put an end to the revolving door of halves pairings?
There are not enough digits on your hands and feet to count the amount of different halves combinations New South Wales have tried in the past 13 years.
This is a point and a question raised after nearly every single game in that same period, but is this FINALLY the pairing that will stick?
Maloney is the old dog with all the class and experience to anchor a very, very young side and Cleary is the young prodigy making his way in the game and learning on the run.
While full of potential and natural talent, at just 20-years of age, the son of Ivan is still green at the top level.
A perfect example of the combination clicking to a degree was Cleary’s kicking game.
It left a lot to be desired and it showed early in the game as he struggled to find open space and anything of note in terms of distance. Enter Maloney.
With a level head, the Panthers playmaker took over duties and put on a masterclass in the second half in particular, finding touch, plenty of green grass to keep the Maroons on the back foot and, more importantly, take the pressure off Cleary to concentrate on the rest of the game.
As the backline began to run rampant in the second stanza, the connection, vision and understanding began to show.
They didn’t get in each others way and they just made things work. That’s all they needed to do, was make things work and they can improve as a combination as the series goes on.
It’s no Johns-Fitler, but there are certainly promising signs.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Queensland make baby steps covering the post-Big 4 era
The day was always going to come where the famed dynasty would die down.
Many believed it would align with the absence of the big four and their stranglehold on the hapless New South Wales defence year after year… after year.
Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater. That’s 42, 37, 38 and 29 Origin games respectively.
While Slater will – further injury aside – play another role in his legendary rep career, Queensland is now without the 117 games of experience that came with the other three aforementioned legends.
In stark contrast, Ben Hunt, Cameron Munster and Andrew McCullough had a whole four rep games between them leading into Game 1, including McCullough making his debut.
It wasn’t the disaster many were predicting leading up to the game but you better believe there’s still a lot of work to do.
Baby steps.
McCullough was zippy around the ruck, if not a little afraid to play out of his comfort zone, in a reasonable debut that was neither outstanding nor disastrous.
Hunt was arguably the best of the new halves pairing as Munster struggled with inconsistency despite a few highlight moments pushing to the right side.
They just didn’t match the opposition halves but much like Maloney and Cleary, there’s time and room for improvement to come and Queensland should have faith that the loss of the big four should be celebration for a new wave of talent.
Not sure why, but Inglis really had it out for Tom Trbojevic
Greg Inglis just bullied Tom Trbojevic in Game 1. Plain and simple.
In the first half, two crunching impacts stood out in particular.
The first being a monstrous display of strength, literally picking up the young man off the ground and body slamming him back to the turf.
The second being an absolute monster of a hit rushing out of the line, giving the poor Manly star’s ribs a painful welcome to the Origin arena, and despite him being called for offside, Inglis let him know that he has his number and there will be no free rides on this side of the field.
Again in the second half, Inglis came back to haunt Trbojevic, this time under the high ball, as if he had a personal vendetta against the poor bloke as his ribs continued to take a beating
If that wasn’t enough, GI continued one of his best games at Origin level in a long time, pulling off a borderline assault on poor little Nathan Cleary who could do nothing but look up from his hospital pass and cop one.
Inglis might be one of the last men standing from the dynasty era but he certainly had a point to prove as the new skipper and an elder statesman of the side.
If there’s one thing New South Wales know for Game 2, it’s that Greg Inglis is still a force to be reckoned with.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
In a sea of debutants, who belongs in Origin and who gets washed away?
Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell, James Roberts, Josh Addo-Carr, Nathan Cleary, Damien Cook, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan, Angus Crichton and Tyrone Peachey for the Blues.
Andrew McCullough, Felise Kaufusi and Jai Arrow for Queensland.
To have 14 debutants in one game is something very extraordinary and rare in any sport, yet here we sit, 80 minutes after kickoff and we now know who belongs and who might be looking at a short career at this level.
Obviously with a win, New South Wales are harder to criticise than their opponents but there was barely a poor performance among those with a zero next to their name before the game began.
There were those who were quiet, looking at you Tyrone Peachy, but few had a genuinely bad game and that is promising for both coaches leading into Game 2.
Trbojevic, times two, had strong outings as did Damien Cook who set up the first try of the game with some very smart running from the ruck.
The Blues electric backline took a little time to fully charge but they have a mountain of skill to work with and showed signs of bigger things in the future as they began to open up the Maroons late in the game.
McCullough was less impactful as his opposite number in the hooker ranks but again, not a bad outing in what was generally a strong showing from all who wore the jersey for the first time.
Kaufusi didn’t make the impact out wide against the smaller defenders that was anticipated and Jai Arrow will need to show a lot more if he is to keep his spot after a non-descript performance.
Queenslands defence was… well, bad
Missed tackles. 53 of them.
Two words, one coach killer.
The men from north of the border had a near-laughable amount of missed tackles for one game of footy. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a testament to their scramble defence, or the Blues’ inability to make the most of those chances that kept the scoreline from ballooning away from them.
That’s an insane amount of tackles to miss if you’re expecting to win a game, highlighting the cracks many were pin-pointing in the leadup to the game as Queenslands defence were predicted to struggle against the more fancied New South Wales backline.
Hang on, the refs weren’t the biggest talking point?
An added talking point. The refs weren’t a talking point!
Some suspect forward pass calls early in the second half, leading to Queensland scoring just two and a half minutes after the break aside, the referee debacle leading into the game was left relatively untouched.
While Matt Cecchin should have most definitely been given the reigns on this one, there were no huge controversies or terrible decisions that were louder than the game itself.
Any game not overshadowed by officiating is a good one in my books.
RM
Guest
Great game SOO game1, the blues were great and QLD also, only 2 contentious decisions that I saw and overall the referring was good, the strip against QLD giving the blues possession on their 25 and next play scoring was 50/50 and in a club game would be a penalty but I could live with that, but the forward pass was so obvious that the 85,000 at the MCG and the 10 million TV viewers saw the pass was 3 meters forward, So on a serious note I would like to start a gofundme page for the ref and touchie (Who was within 1 meter of the ball) to get a seeing eye dog for those blind bastards.
Footy Fan
Guest
Maloney starts out two metres ahead of Addo Carr and ends up one metre ahead when AC recieves the ball and has constant forward speed the whole time. Not a forward pass. You do know that it's not measured relative to the ground / line marking but relative to the man? I hope so - it's one of the most basic rules in the game.
pot stirrer
Guest
U boys need to learn footy. The ball was backwards out of Maloneys hands, End of Story. Gagai should show more respect to holding the Ball.
PNG Broncos fan88
Roar Guru
Some questionable calls that handed momentum back to NSW. They were making less metres out of their own territory but Tedesco and Cook compensated with their scything runs. QLD attack in the Blues red zone was poor, Hunt turned into (bomb-and-hope) Pearce and the attack frizzled. NSW weren't the better side, but they outscored the Maroons and that's all that matters for the win. Time for the New South Welshmen to crow all they like, they deserve to.
Emcie
Roar Guru
He's just bitter that one of the greatest ever origin players would rather lose with QLD then win with his "home" state
Emcie
Roar Guru
I'd say Hunt made all the kicks because that was his job. You can say Munster was predictable if you want, but by the same token Hunt only ran the ball three times in 80 minutes despite recieving the ball on 70 occasions and the only try he created was off a close range grubber
ja ja klazo
Guest
In hindsight I may have got a little carried away in my criticism of Kaufusi. I don't think he played well though, he may have got through a fair bit of work but he's got a quite a few missed tackles next to his name, and I don't think his carries were all that tough or threatening.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Yes, but then NSW have had Queenslanders captain them before - Artie Beetson was NSW captain during the 70's. Did Sterling from Toowoomba ever captain NSW? Why is there a decade's worth of grief over this? I don;t remember QLD whinging this much when NSW bribed James Tamau to play for them?
Matt H
Roar Guru
Basically what you are saying is we have been spoiled rotten this past decade or so, so our current performance looks really disorganised and unsure by comparison.
Matt H
Roar Guru
He wasn't Robinson Crusoe in defence. He did virtually all the kicking, got very little help from McCullough or Munster. Munster was very predictable this game and didn't seem to threaten much. Morgan was making poor decisions in attack.
Albo
Guest
Its funny what people see or don't see throughout a match ? Cordner did a lot of the dirty work with lots of tough runs off his line and solid defence all night. He has the (c) beside his name, but that is to be an example for others to follow, and we all know Maloney is the real leader out on the field, but with plenty of aspects for the troops not to follow !!!.
Albo
Guest
All the debutantes played well , and will only be much better for this run come Origin 2. I had my concerns pre match about the four outside backs both defensively and in hitting it up off their own line. I thought both wingers Turbo & JAC were outstanding across these aspects. Whilst Mitchell & Roberts were adequate only, but likely to improve now for game 2. Cleary took a back seat to Maloney in attack but was fantastic in defence ( containing lots of traffic aimed at him) and was good kick chasing. Cook was outstanding . RCG & Vaughn could have done more. De Belin was good. Crichton was OK. Peachey only got 5 minutes. Fitting into the interchange system as debut forwards should have allowances in performance analysis. But for me they were all great on the night, with promise of better to come.
Albo
Guest
"Kaufusi (missing in defence)caused a lot of problems for Munster." What is your beef with Kaufusi ? He had nothing to do with "causing problems" for Munster. They play on different sides of the field !! I think Kaufusi was QLD's best forward by a margin , but as a NSW supporter, I sure hope they listen to you and drop him ! And I hope they throw in your other suggestions of Ash Taylor & Ponga , two more who can't tackle. Should just about ensure the Blues the series.
Albo
Guest
I agree with you about Cordner as he did a lot of the tough carries and dirty work. But I can't believe the criticism of Kaufusi ? He was QLD's best for mine and by a long way. Played the 80 minutes with 45 tackles, 12 hit ups and had to cover for Hunt all night as Maloney picked him out constantly to attack.
Aem
Guest
Throw in Mitchell to the mix and you've got 40 tackle breaks between the three of them. Qld failed to punish NSW's left edge defence, instead continually moving the ball to Inglis' side... but the other edge was the dodgier defensive side for NSW, with Latrell there (plus Maloney, plus Cordner rather than Frizell, plus Addo-Carr rather than Turbo). In doing so, Qld failed to take advantage of their side of the double-edged sword that was the selection of Mitchell (not just him, but him in particular). NSW on the other hand took advantage of the attack the left edge guys brought in a major way. I can't think of which was uglier... watching Chambers trying to tackle Mitchell, or watching Munster trying to tackle Tedesco (again and again and again). Then you've got the Qld forwards... like game 1 last year, they just didn't hang. Hess, Napa, Cooper & Kaufusi - to start with - should all be on notice.
Bronwyn
Guest
Some dodgy calls against Queensland. A clear strip by NSW against Gagai and a turn over to NSW when it came off them. Two critical decisions when QueenslNd were getting the upper hand. We are not talking about the refs because 'we' are mainly NSW media and supporters. NSW finally dominated but it was a more even match than what has been suggested.I do think the refs' calls did affect the outcome. A pretty even match spioilt by bad calls. Queensland forwards need some work. Then we'll have them.
RoryStorm
Guest
For me the award for MOM should rightfully go to Turbo. I can't recall a better debut in Origin for either side. The fact he wasn't in the Intensive Care ward on life support after Inglis had done his best to turn him into a blubbering mess praying for his momma to come and take him home. They talk about having to play tough to win Origin and that's exactly how Turbo played and they needed him him to. Not once (by memory) did Turbo lay down for a rest so his Captain could take the Bullseye off his head. Then to put himself into position to score a great try on top of everything else has him down to be one of the 1st players picked for Origin and Test match football. As for Peachy I agree with the writer here. In the 10 minutes he was on he should have scored 3 tries and converted them all from the sideline. On top of that he should have been let loose on the Queensland pack to render them absolutely useless. I fear after that performance he has played his one and only Origin. Am looking forward to game 2 and hearing the ins and outs for Queensland. If Slater's hamstring is not ready, then I fear there's going to be a dead rubber at Suncorp in a few weeks time.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Ah, I see, thought It looked familiar
Ray Paks
Roar Rookie
yeah he got palmed but got to Inglis quite quickly shortly after and grabbed him around the thighs. Roberts contributed immensely to subdue that raid. he doesn't do that and inglis would have caused more problems for the other defenders. if that had been a 1 on 1 instance, Inglis was going nowhere and he probably needed to put Roberts on his backside to score a try. sometimes I wonder if people actually saw what happened before they say anything..
Ray Paks
Roar Rookie
Agreed! he learnt a lot from the best at his time at Melbourne. thuggery is their culture..