State of Origin Tackle: TV ratings, Billy Slater’s puzzling call over Kalyn Ponga, good sin bin decisions
Interest of State of Origin has exploded again, returning to the record figures NSW and Queensland matches generated a decade ago.
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State of Origin is celebrating a return to the broadcasting glory days with Wednesday night’s epic decider delivering the showpiece event’s best ratings figures in more than a decade.
The high-octane decider was the most-watched match of the 2024 series, with a whopping 3.65 million fans tuning in to NSW’s pulsating 14-4 defeat of the Maroons to snatch the Origin shield.
It was Origin’s best TV ratings success in 12 years.
Across the three-game games, a total of 10.351 million fans watched the Blues and Maroons – an extra one million viewers compared to last year’s 2023 series figure of 9.2 million.
It is evidence the interest of State of Origin has exploded, returning to the record figures NSW and Queensland matches generated a decade ago.
The 2012 decider is understood to be the most-watched Origin game in history, with 4.041 million tuning in to see Cooper Cronk land the monster field goal which sealed a famous 21-20 win for Queensland.
That eclipsed the previous record of 3.9 million set in Game One of that year’s series.
But Origin is nudging the 4 million viewership mark again in the wake of Wednesday night’s Suncorp slugfest, with a series-high 864,000 fans watching Game Three via digital streaming.
This year’s series opener attracted 3.436 million, easily surpassing the 2.6 million that watched the Blues avoid a 3-0 sweep in the 2023 dead rubber at Homebush.
Origin II at the MCG was slightly down with 3.263m as the Blues squared the series with a 38-18 romp in Melbourne to set up a Suncorp decider.
That was the platform for a TV ratings bonanza for the NRL, with almost half-a-million extra viewers switching on to watch a Mitchell Moses-inspired NSW break Queensland’s hearts to deny the Maroons a hat-trick of Origin titles.
It is understood the 2012 series remains the most watched interstate campaign in history with 11.87 million viewers, but the 2024 numbers are evidence State of Origin is back as a TV ratings juggernaut.
THE TACKLE
After the Blues secured victory over the Maroons on enemy territory to claim the Origin shield, FATIMA KDOUH reveals her likes and dislikes from the Origin decider.
DISLIKES
SLATER’S CALL
The sight of superstars Queensland fullbacks Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga having a pre-game powwow in the dressing room would have struck fear through Blues fans sitting at home watching.
The thought of the damage the x-factor duo could unleash on the Blues, even had Michael Maguire seriously worried during the week.
Except, Maroons coach Billy Slater kept Ponga warming the bench for almost 52 minutes and Walsh really struggled to have an impact on the game, in the same way he struggled in Origin II at the MCG.
The opening exchanges were so brutal, so taxing you could sense when the sting left the game and players had hands on hips. It felt like the perfect time for Ponga to come on and hurt the Blues. It never happened.
Slater also started Kaufusi but then wasn’t seen after the 15th minute mark. Moe Fotuaika tackled with venom in the early minutes but not having Lindsay Collins to start, the man who is supposed to be the Maroons’ new pack leader, was also a strange call. Collins needed to be out there in the heat and the brutality of the game.
CRITTA DUMPED
When is a dumping tackle not a dumping tackle? In a State of Origin decider.
Queensland’s Kurt Capewell and Reuben Cotter picked up and up-ended NSW centre Stephen Crichton in what was an ugly looking spear tackle in the first half.
At the very least, Capewell should have been sent to the bin. That tackle would have been a sin bin every day of the week at NRL level. Sparing Capewell from the sin bin simply because it happened in an Origin decider is not a good enough excuse.
Not only was Crichton above the horizontal, he was dumped head first into the ground. He’s lucky to have landed on his shoulder and not his head.
It wasn’t the only time referee Ashley Klein and Bunker official Grant Atkins failed to intervene last night.
Reece Walsh clearly put his foot into touch in the first half while trying to get out of his own in-goal. Replays showed the touch judge was close enough to have picked it but didn’t, but the Bunker did not intervene either.
CLOCK CURSE?
It’s the record that could mean the end of NSW skipper Jake Trbojevic at Origin level.
Trbojevic has finished the 2024 Origin series with the fewest minutes of any player to captain all three games.
After playing 61 minutes in the first two games, Trbojevic only played 22 minutes in the decider, where he had three runs for just 17 metres.
It takes his total to just 83 minutes.
Before Trbojevic, former Blues skipper Paul Gallen had played the fewest minutes (149 minutes) as a captain ever back in 2016.
It was the last State of Origin series the NSW hardman ever played.
Trbojevic is now only the third player to start in all three games and finish the series with less than 100 minutes.
Canberra’s Josh Papalii played 80 minutes in 2022 and Queensland’s Gavin Allen played 91 minutes in 1995.
Neither Papalii or Allen played another Origin game.
LIKES
GOOD SIN BIN CALL
Good on referee Ashley Klein for having the gumption for laying down the law, sin binning both Jeremiah Nanai and Cameron Murray.
Running in as a third man has always been punishable by a sin bin, and it should be no different in the State of Origin arena.
It’s hardly a surprise commentators were quick to complain, accusing the referee of interfering or ruining the contest simply for adjudicating to the rules.
“Don’t spoil it by sending anyone to the bin,” Andrew Johns said on Channel 9.
“Just got to let them play. Let them play.”
It’s not Klein breaking the rules, it’s the players.
Yes both Nanai and Murray were defending their teammates when a first half melee threatened to get ugly, after Daly Cherry Evans tackled Jarome Luai without the ball.
But a decider doesn’t make the escalation any less illegal.
Klein and the Bunker got the Stephen Crichton dumping tackle wrong but credit where, where credit is due.
BRADMAN IS BEST
NSW winger Zac Lomax had warned the Maroons that his teammates and Blues centre Bradman Best was to be as feared as injured Latrell Mitchell.
That the Blues had not lost the intimidation factor in the backline without Mitchell.
Best showed Queensland last night that the left edge can be as lethal without Mitchell.
He also showed that he deserved the call-up, and now should be right at the top of the pecking order when Blues coach Michael Maguire picks his side for game one in 2025, if his form warrants it.
Even if Mitchell and Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic are fit.
Best has been called in twice now as a stop gap, and each time he has shown he can be more than a band-aid solution for the Blues.
Best made his intentions clear with a barnstorming run down the left side in the opening minutes and proved he can handle the occasion.
Best said he wasn’t worried about taking on his Newcastle teammate Dane Gagai, and was true to his word, swatting away Gagai as he sprinted over for the first try for the Blues.
He finished with 153 metres, six tackle busts, two line breaks and of course the second half try.
EDWARDS IS NO.1
To think there was any conjecture over the selection of Dylan Edwards as NSW fullback.
Sydney Roosters fullback James Tedesco was an admirable custodian of the Blues no.1 jumper but it was time to hand the baton over to Edwards.
The Penrith fullback worked harder than any player on the field for the entire 80-minutes and never looked like relenting or taking a step back.
All the attention during the week had been how Queensland fullback Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga would be used on the field to help destroy the Blues.
Yet neither really had an impact and were both outplayed by Edwards.
Edwards was monumental in the decider, finishing 238 metres and nine tackle busts and was all over the park.
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