But the second half was a totally different story, with Queensland dominating the visitors to walk out of Lang Park four-point victors.
How did they turn it around?
We got Roar NRL expert AJ Mithen on the Game of Codes podcast to explore just what turned things around for the Maroons last night.
Listen to the discussion:
The Blues entered Game 1 – and this whole series – as warm favourites, but will now have to do it the hard way if they want to win consecutive series for the first time since 2005.
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Game 2 takes place on Sunday, June 23 at Perth’s Optus Stadium, while Game 3 will be on Wednesday, July 10 at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.