Sāmoan star shines bright as Blues too strong for Maroons in State of Origin opener

NSW 1-0 QLD. New South Wales rugby league fans are celebrating their team's big victory over rivals, the Queensland Maroons, in the State of Origin series opener at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Wednesday night.

The match, attended by over 50,000 fans, ended with the Blues winning 18-6, marking their second straight win at the Maroons' fortress.

Blues' head coach Laurie Daley was thrilled, as this was his first State of Origin win since 2017. His team scored four tries, while the Maroons managed just one, although the visitors could have won by a bigger margin since they missed all four conversion attempts.

Blues prop Payne Haas, who has Sāmoan, Swiss, and Filipino heritage, was named the best player of the night. He praised his team's efforts at full-time.

“I’m just so proud to get the win, to be honest with you, especially at Suncorp, it’s so hard to win here, and we haven’t gone back-to-back at Suncorp for a while now. So, to do it with this group is so special and I just can’t wait for game two,” he told Channel Nine.

“We spoke about it [going back-to-back] at the start of the week, we knew we had a special group here and wanted to do it. I just love playing with this group and for our state and our people," Haas says.

He ran over 150 metres from 18 carries, had three offloads, and five-tackle busts, while making 30 tackles.

“Honestly, I’m so privileged and blessed to be a part of this group … it’s a whole team effort, and we all helped each other out," Haas tells ABC Sport. "We’re all alphas, to be honest!”

Nathan Cleary, another key player for the Blues, says his team aimed to start strong. "We wanted to come and start physical, and I thought we did that from the first set.

We have to take it to the rest of the series. We probably didn't handle that period [without To'o] very well. The seven-tackle set put us under the pump, but we showed resilience," he told a post-match interview.

How the game went

The match started with a tense atmosphere. The Blues took charge early but struggled to score. After a penalty goal by Cleary opened the scoring, the visitors scored three tries in the last 16 minutes of the first half.

The tries came on the back of the Blues' dominating possession and territory, with Cleary putting on a masterclass, and the forwards dominating upfront. First try was from Zac Lomax, followed by a try to Brian To'o, and then one from Cleary.

But a late incident allowed Queensland to score at halftime when To'o was sent to the sin bin for taking out Xavier Coates in the air. The Penrith winger missed the first 10 minutes of the second half. This allowed Valentine Holmes to open the Maroons' account and cut the deficit to 12.

While To'o was still off the field in the second half, Queensland scored their only try through Coates. But it was only a moment of joy for the Maroons and their fans, who were largely kept out of the game as the Blues maintained control and continued to dominate and score their fourth try to seal the win.

To'o says he was just glad he could return to the field after his sin binning. “I’m just happy I got back on the field and hopefully I got to repay the boys," he told the ABC. "Happy with the win…we just want to keep getting better.”

The Panthers' winger topped the game's metres with 228, while Coates finished third with 171m behind Lomax on 210m.

Brian To'o, left, and his Blues team-mates celebrate their 18-6 victory in Brisbane. To'o was sin-binned for a professional foul. Photo/NRL/Facebook

Billy Slater, the Maroons' head coach, was disappointed with his team's performance.

"They were much better than us," he told the post-match conference. "I feel pretty flat about our performance. The flatness comes from how we hurt ourselves.

"Very ill-disciplined in the first half. We didn't see the best of this Queensland team tonight." Slater was asked about the selection, but says, "It's definitely not a personnel thing."

He says the scoreboard might suggest a close game, but the reality was different, as the Blues were in much better form throughout the match. "In terms of how close we were to playing our best footy, we were nowhere near it."

The New South Wales Blues dominate against the Queensland Maroons at Suncorp Stadium. Photo/NRL/Facebook

Former NSW coach Phil Gould says, “The only thing that got Queensland back into it for a while was the sin bin. They got a try during that period, but I thought NSW … played very conservatively.

"They were just happy to come here and grind out the win and get the job done," he told Channel Nine. “Four tries to one, and Cleary couldn’t kick a conversion. It could have been very, very dominant, and I think NSW can only get better from it. So, where does that leave Queensland? They were off the pace tonight. They weren’t in the game.”

The series heads to Perth next month, with Game Two being played at Optus Stadium on 18 June. The third test will be held in Sydney in July, and the Blues only need to win one of these games to retain their title.