State of Origin 1 man of the match: Tom Trbojevic takes home best-on-ground honours

NSW Blues centre Tom Trbojevic has been awarded player of the match for Game 1 of the 2021 State of Origin series.

Trbojevic scored a hat-trick, the second of his Origin career, and played a starring role as the Blues dismantled the Maroons by an incredible 50-6 scoreline.

Named at right centre, Trbojevic played with far more freedom, popping up on either side of the field as he terrorised the Queensland defence.

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He helped NSW open the scoreline, winning a penalty next to the posts which Nathan Cleary popped over for an easy two points, before hitting the scoreboard himself with the first try of the game.

He followed that up with a second-half double. His first try after halftime saw him back up a break down the left-hand side, latching onto a superb offload from Latrell Mitchell after a Jarome Hughes line-break to cross untouched, while his final one of the match came after James Tedesco unleashed a beautiful flick pass as he danced down the right edge of the field.