State of Origin 2022 may only be 80 minutes old, but for New South Wales, the series is as good as lost.
Origin football goes in cycles – Queensland dominated for a decade when the likes of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis, Darius Boyd and co were at their peak.
Then it was the Blues’ turn in recent years, with the emergence of James Tedesco, Tom Trbojevic, Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray and the fearless young Penrith dynamos.
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But Wednesday night showed the wheel has turned again.
Few people could argue that Cam Munster is now the best player in the world while youngsters Selwyn Cobbo, Reuben Cotter, Harry Grant, Lindsay Collins and Patrick Carrigan have breathed new life into what was a struggling Queensland team.
Cotter and Carrigan produced remarkable work rates in attack and defence and the Blues simply couldn’t match their enthusiasm.
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Brad Fittler needs to make changes for game two as he attempts to save the series – but where he finds young forwards ready to step up to Origin to handle the aggressive, work-hungry Queensland pack, I just don’t know.
Teams that lose game one of the series tend to go on to lose the series around 70 per cent of the time in Origin history.
Throw in losing game one at home and that figure will be closer to 90 per cent.
Nathan Cleary had his worst game in a Blues jumper but wasn’t helped by a team that was on the back foot throughout.
Hopelessly out of form referee Ashley Klein didn’t aid the Blues by allowing Queensland to wrestle and slow down the play-the-ball but the Maroons were always the better team and the final score flattered the Blues.
It’s now up to Fittler to lift his troops off the canvas for Perth in three weeks – but to me it looms as a Mission Impossible in the wake of such a dominant Queensland win.
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