Thread: State of Origin 2023

Surprised with all the Aussies on here that no one started this thread already. My American buddy currently lives in Queensland, so I am rooting for them. Game is live now...

Sportcast

And what a game!
QLD win
2 points behind, 1 man down (in sin bin) with 5 minutes to go.
score two tries in last 5 mins

final score 26-18

Originally Posted by DrWilly

And what a game!

It was a great one. QLD was on point.

Pffffft

Time and time again in State of Origin’s 43-year history, Queensland have found a way to win the unwinnable. On Wednesday night, in the series opener at Adelaide Oval, before a crowd of 48,613, the Maroons did it again, defending desperately and clawing back the lead three times in the second half to secure a 26-18 victory over New South Wales and put one hand firmly on the Origin shield – again.
The Blues had picked a strong side knowing full well that in Origin, over 70% of the time the team that wins Game One wins the series. Blues coach Brad Fittler knew victory in was more important for NSW than Queensland, who could go one-down and still run onto Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on 21 June as favourites.


State of Origin 2023 Game 1: Queensland beat NSW 26-18 – as it happened


Read more




Conversely, Queensland coach Billy Slater had surprised by dumping Kalyn Ponga and Dane Gagai and blooding youth in their place, most notably Reece Walsh, a fullback just out of his teens. All the lead-up talk had been that Walsh was a marked man. Instead, with courage under the high-ball and cool class in attack, the young No 1 inspired the Maroons to a famous victory.
Fittler’s last words to his team had been: “Make sure you’re physical.” Roughed up in their boilover defeat in 2022, he had chosen a trio of battering rams Tevita Pangai Junior, Payne Haas and Tyson Frizell to split the Maroons up the middle. But the tactic didn’t pay dividends early as surge after surge failed to break the blood red line. And when the big men tired, Queensland’s little masters struck.
Eight minutes in, last year’s Game Three hero Ben Hunt cut out two men from the ruck to find Cameron Munster. The Storm playmaker might have been carrying broken ribs but there’s nothing wrong with his nose. He smelt the opportunity, jinked a little left-foot kick behind the line and Dolphins debutant Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow cantered in to meet it on the up and crashed over for first points.
Two minutes later Queensland did it again, winger Selwyn Cobbo finishing off an attacking wave of rugged carries, jagged lines and double-pump passes. Each action prised open an ever-wider gap in the Blues defence while sowing panic, creating the smidge of space for Cobbo to dive into the corner.
Somehow, despite 57% of possession and most of the first half-hour camped in opposition territory, NSW were 10-0 behind. Queensland, despite being mostly pinned in their half, battered pillar-to-post by the Blues forwards and behind in every facet of the game, were bizarrely ahead on the scoreboard.



Selwyn Cobbo scores his second try of the night. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesDespite a stuttering attack, ill-discipline and fumbled opportunities, NSW never panicked. Several times they seemed certain to score only for the final pass to go awry. Twice, unfancied Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi held up Blues chargers over the line – first James Tedesco, then Tyson Frizell.
Inevitably, the levee broke. With Maroons enforcer Tom Gilbert gone for the night with a shoulder injury and Gold Coast enforcer David Fifita off the field with category two HIA symptoms, the Panthers combinations finally paid off as Liam Martin stabbed through the line off a Jarome Luai short ball.
Queensland had not lost a game after leading at half-time since 2014 but they lost it here in strange circumstances when Apisai Koroisau seized on a ball that had pinballed in and out of a tackle and spat free. He picked it up and crossed to get the Blues to 12-10 and put them ahead for the first time.
skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Guardian Australia Sport


Free newsletter


Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk






Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

after newsletter promotion

Walsh had come into the furnace of Origin with just 50 NRL games to his name. He had meant to debut as an 18-year-old in the 2021 series before he tweaked a hamstring two days out from the match. But the wait was worth it as, on the hour, he swished a pass over two bamboozled Blues to find Cobbo who skirted one and bumped a second to slide over inches inside the sideline.
NSW rallied, winning back ascendancy through the golden boot of Cleary, as Luai found Crichton who crossed again for 18-16. And when Tom Flegler was yellow carded for a high shot it seemed at last the Blue tide would swamp the Queensland barricades. With their tails up, their rivals down on their haunches exhausted and all the time in the world to wreak revenge, NSW closed in for the kill.
But that’s not how Origin goes, at least not north of the border.
Backs against the wall, behind on the scorecard and short a man, it’s the fuse that lights up Maroons. They won back the ball from a short kick-off leaving Munster to drift beguilingly across the line and find Tabuai-Fidow who isolated Josh Addo-Carr and crossed. Munster then iced it with one of his own to salt the Blues’ wounds and blow out the famous Adelaide scoreboard to 26-18.
With less possession, fewer players and more inexperience, Queensland had flipped the script again. Now they take their show to Suncorp and a home crowd. The Blues, broken, need a miracle.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/31/qld-maroons-win-state-of-origin-2023-game-1-one-nsw-blues-queensland-match-report

Was going to start a thread but I live in NSW.

Caught the first 20 minutes in a bar. Enjoyable watch for a neutral. ��
Very quick and very strong players on both sides. Apart from some rough house handbagging, it was a very good watch.

Originally Posted by Switch

Enjoyable watch for a neutral.

My buddy lives in Queensland, so I am adopting them as my team. He was all worked up. I only get jacked up for my home teams but watching the ruger was fun. The players are a lot smaller than American football, though.

Huge game tonight. A must win for the Blues to keep their series hopes alive in fortress QLD….


they have no hope!

Stranger things have happened before Willy.

I hope the Blues win and even up the series.

A Question for you..........Your from Victoria and why the allegiance for the Cane Toads?

I got into Rugby and League via my Uncle, who lived in Townsville and then Cooktown after he retired.

These days my folks spend summers in Melbourne and winters in Cooktown.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

Huge game tonight. A must win for the Blues to keep their series hopes alive in fortress QLD….


they have no hope!

You were right.

What a hiding.

Walsh's line of "what the f*** do you mean, c**?" was directed at the referee.

Walsh banned from third Origin clash after referee abuse
28 JUne 2023
Queensland and Brisbane Broncos star Reece Walsh has been handed a three-game suspension for his expletive-laden rant at referee Chris Butler last weekend, ruling him out of the third and final State of Origin match.
Walsh was penalised in the final stages of the Broncos' 18-12 loss to Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium for alleged abuse towards referee Butler - a foul-mouth rant picked up by onfield broadcast microphones.
The incident comes just a week after he was fined 23 percent of his match fee, when he was sent off for a headbutt on Blues half Jarome Luai late in Queensland's Origin series-clinching win at Brisbane.

Originally Posted by prawnograph

The incident comes just a week after he was fined 23 percent of his match fee,

Seems like he is a slow learner.

Final game. Maroons for the clean sweep!

Gotta love those Maroons!

Originally Posted by DrWilly

Final game. Maroons for the clean sweep!

New South Wales 16 - Queensland 6 after 26min

Yeah, that didn’t go to plan. But we won the series