Queensland get it, right? The Maroons have gone 2-0 in the first week of State of Origin thanks to another boilover, downing NSW 18-10 in a stunning performance at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta.
Coming in as $3.25 outsiders, Queensland started horrendously and lost their Captain’s Challenge inside 60 seconds, but slowly took over and dominated the period either side of half time to rack up a lead that proved enough to defend.
NSW lost star centre Isabelle Kelly to a throat injury in the 32nd minute when they were 6-4 ahead following a collision with the elbow of Queensland winger Julia Robinson.
Referee Adam Gee, and the Bunker, decided that there had no case to answer for raising it while carrying the ball. Bumper bars or otherwise, it looked very nasty. Kelly was taken to hospital.
It was the defining moment in the game. As the Blues staar lay in clear discomfort, the game went on, Queensland went up the field and scored through Tazmin Gray. They would never relinquish the lead.
Shenae Ciesiolka was Queensland’s best, setting up two tries, but it was a collective effort that won the day.
They enjoyed the longest periods of hard, clean footy – at one point keeping the ball for ten minutes straight – that put enough fatigue into the Blues to keep them at bay.
“The girls were outstanding tonight,” said Maroons coach Tahnee Norris. “We saw the boys do it last night and the girls got a lift from that and put effort upon effort and held NSW out.”
Queensland now go into Game 2 in Townsville with an eight point lead that NSW will have to overturn to win the Shield back.
It might have been more, given the late onslaught, but it’ll take a lot more than what was offered from the Blues’ attack if the result is to be any different on June 22.
“We had some good moments, looked good in patches, but it was only in patches and we need to be more consistent,” said coach Kylie Hilder.
“I honestly don’t think we could play as bad as we did tonight. We’ve got the talent there, but in the execution there was too many dropped balls and penalties.”
Queensland’s policy across all forms of Origin tends to be fairly simple: complete high, tackle hard and let your superstars win you the game.
The first bit wasn’t always there, but the second and third were in spades.
While most expected the stellar NSW centre pairing of Sergis and Kelly to dominate, instead it was Shenae Ciesiolka who stole the show, with her halfback Zahara Temara not far behind her.
Ciesiolka had too much toe, and too much class. Julia Robinson was the beneficiary on the right edge with two tries, but Emily Bass on the left also benefitted from a 90m intercept that allowed the winger to score on the other side.
In that score, we saw the best of Temara, who showed all the composure in the world to simply play through hands with the Blues’ line shot.
In a game that sometimes lacked a cool head in attack, the Maroons 7 was the calmest person around and kicked the Blues to pieces.
One spiral bomb before half time caught the eye, but it was more the tactical kicking that found the floor and took away the set starts of Sergis and Jaime Chapman, as well as the threat of Emma Tonegato.
Blues half Jesse Southwell is the youngest Origin debutant ever – five days fewer than Brad Fittler – and has all the upside in the world, but this was a lesson in game management from one of the best around.
The prevailing wisdom would hold that, if the Blues were to triumph, it would be their backline that won it for them.
The centre pairing of Sergis and Kelly, in particular, have been among the best at this level and were the key to victory in Canberra last year, as well as dominating with the Jillaroos at the World Cup.
In the end, they never got the chance to shine. NSW’s continual errors were their undoing, with the Blues unable to seriously generate pressure, even when the territory was in their favour.
It wasn’t from lack of trying in the middle, too. Millie Boyle was her usual bustling self and Kezie Apps was dominant carrying the football.
But the ability to stretch the play was never there. The best of the Blues in attack was through set moves around Rachael Pearson, one of which got Sergis over.
In terms of conventional shifts, they struggled to get going until far too late. It didn’t help that Kelly left before half time, or that the injury to Penitani forced Sergis to the wing.
Sergis was exceptional, but far too infrequently found by her teammates. Beyond her try, there was another line break in the second half that could have led to more points.
When the late charge came, the Blues looked gunshy. As they had endured a huge period of goalline defence early on, NSW got to put the blowtorch on late. Their big idea was Boyle on a crash play.
As a spectacle, this was a level down on last year’s Women’s Origin, with 27 errors shared across both teams.
That it took a while to get going was understandable, given that the players have been in State Cup with the NRLW set to start next month, when last year, they had just concluded a full NRLW and were going into a second.
It raises questions around the timing of the game, and whether it mightn’t be placed the NRLW midseason, as the men’s is within the NRL, to maximise it as a standalone product.
“Last year’s Canberra game was a reflection of how good (the women’s game can be) because we came off the back of an NRLW,” said Hilder.
“Now, we’ve had girls who have played two games of footy since the World Cup.
“It’s been tough this week trying to make sure that we have the right balance of what we’re doing in training to get the balance in the legs to get them ready for fatigue. It’s definitely been an issue and I think that showed tonight.
“If we’re going to play Origin and we want the best product, we need to be making sure that these girls come out of a really quality competition.
“It’s been hard as the coach to prepare the girls for such a physical game. Even with Tiana (Penitani), she hadn’t played football for such a long time and it was a factor of why she hurt her hamstring.
“We really need to look at where Origin needs to be placed to make sure that we’re coming off the back of a good quality comp.”
Maroons captain Ali Brigginshaw agreed, adding: “We’re coming from a different level of footy. It’s hard to go from BHP Premiership or Harvey Norman Premiership to that.
“You could see that in the first half. It’s a big step up and everyone’s just finding their feet. Once we found the groove we started to throw it around.”
New coach Michael Maguire is considering as many as 50 players for the State of Origin series opener with not even captain James Tedesco…
Queensland often has the right mix of generational talent, playmaking brilliance and these nuts-and-bolts players that bind them together like glue.
Despite a poor season by his own high standards, Latrell Mitchell is still a chance to force his way into the NSW team for…
Michael Maguire is saying all the right things about how he wants to guide NSW back to State of Origin supremacy but the inescapable…
Wayde Egan's rise to star hooker status at the Warriors should earn him a place in conversation to play at No.9 for NSW in…
Hilton Cartwright and Joel Paris have powered Western Australia to a five-wicket win over NSW in the one-day cup final, securing a historic third…
