‘Excuse me’: Andrew Johns in awkward moment as NRL fans rage over commentary

An awkward moment between Andrew Johns and a Channel 9 colleague has summed up exactly why fans are furious about State of Origin Game 1.

A moment of dead air time has summed it up perfectly with NRL fans left unhappy with Channel 9’s coverage of the State of Origin series opener.

NSW blew Queensland off their own Suncorp Stadium turf on Wednesday night, but the one-sided contest failed to live up to the expectations of traditional Origin spectacles.

The Nine commentary team, led by Andrew Johns, has always been a lightning rod for criticism among rugby league fans — and the Blues’ dominant 18-6 win was no different.

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The team of experts were widely panned across social media on Wednesday night with one exchange between Johns and caller Mathew Thompson attracting plenty of attention.

Johns was left questioning his colleague’s description of a penalty awarded to Queensland in the dying stages of the game — and his blunt response resulted in 20 seconds of awkward silence.

You can watch the awkward moment in the video player above.

The conversation unfolded after NSW fullback Dylan Edwards spilled a bomb kicked by Daly Cherry-Evans in the 78th minute with Queensland’s Jeremiah Nanai chasing through to put pressure on Edwards.

A penalty was awarded to Queensland after Latrell Mitchell picked up the Steeden from an offside position after Edwards had knocked it forward.

The Blues then used a captain’s challenge to review the footage of Nanai making a play for the ball, believing the Cowboys forward may have knocked the ball forward before Edwards dropped it.

Thompson read the situation as the Blues deliberately burning their captain’s challenge in an act of gamesmanship to give them some time to catch their breath before defending on their own try line.

“This is a superfluous challenge to try and have a rest,” he said.

The ball comes forward off Dylan Edwards. Photo: Channel 9.

Johns responded by saying: “Err, excuse me? A what?”.

The surprisingly awkward moment led to a period of dead air time where the only audio came from the NRL Bunker official explaining his decision to award the penalty.

While Johns didn’t appear to comprehend Thompson’s use of the term “superfluous” — the two commentators were in agreement the Blues were right to challenge the call.

“It’s a smart challenge from NSW,” Johns said.

“So they get a minute break. They get their defence organised.”

The air was well and truly out of the contest by then and many fans had already given up on Queensland.

Johns provided quality insights for fans throughout the game, but his unique form of expert analysis appeared to fall flat with many.

He also asked for Brad Fittler to go check the Steedens during the match, believing them to be the reason for the Blues’ poor goalkicking, in another somwhat awkward exchange.

“Andrew johns needs to go,” one person posted on X.

Andrew Johns in the sheds with Angus Crichton. Photo: Channel 9.

“Amazing player! Immortal! But his commentating is shocking.”

One X user wrote: “Thank god that game is over. My ears are bleeding from Andrew Johns & his painful dribble”.

One NRL commentary account posted: “Someone give Andrew Johns his medication”.

There were plenty of other issues Nine faced throughout the broadcast — including the fact they could only do so much with a contest that failed to provide many fireworks.

The broadcaster appeared to irk plenty of fans when “spidercam” blocked other camera angles during the first half.

There appeared to be a malfunction with the technology at one point when the aerial camera was left immobilised.

NRL stats guru Aaron Wallace was among those to share frustration on X.

“Really enjoying the spidercam wire in the shot,” he posted.

One person posted: “The spidercam is so annoying. Trying to watch the game and just see this wire across the screen”.

The Channel 9 post-game panel of James Bracey (left), Darren Lockyer, Brad Fittler and Phil Gould. Photo: Facebook, NRL on Nine.

Another wrote: “Annual tweet reminder that spidercam is absolutely f***ing s***house for viewing live play.”

One person posted: “I need someone to snip the wires of that spidercam and throw it in the bin. It’s so distracting”.

Another commented: “We’ve seen more of the Spidercam wires than some of the players.”

There were plenty of comments on X about the coverage being overloaded with too many experts, insights and fancy angles that the game itself was overlooked.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

There was also an earlier on-camera incident when a rogue spectator appeared to imitate a lewd act when standing in the camera shot of Sam Thaiday’s pre-match interview.

The Maroons legend was doing a live cross from Brisbane’s famous Caxton Street when a crowd of fans walked past.

One man, wearing a Queensland jersey, stood next to Thaiday and simulated a lewd act, which went to air for around 10 seconds before Thaiday crossed back to the Nine panel at Suncorp Stadium.

Nine will get another go at it on June 18 when the Maroons attempt to level the series in Origin II in Perth.

The Blues’ win on Wednesday night was the first time NSW has won back-to-back games at Suncorp Stadium since 1998.

After coming back to win the 2024 series from 1-0 down, Wednesday night’s victory was also the first time NSW has won three-consecutive Origin matches since 2005-06.

Originally published as ‘Excuse me’: Andrew Johns in awkward moment as NRL fans rage over commentary