State of Origin: Capturing a slice of NSW Blues history

Award-winning photographer Phil Hillyard was the man on the spot to take the picture of James Tedesco’s matchwinning Origin try and the celebrations that followed. Here’s how it unfolded.

As a photographer covering sport, my mantra is: “Be ready to expect the unexpected.”

That was true on Wednesday night with the game in the balance in the final minutes.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked myself. “Where’s the picture going to be?”

I’d taken some pretty good pictures already, but they would all be irrelevant if I didn’t capture that moment.

I thought the Blues had it at 20-8, but at 20-all I was again pacing the sidelines.

My colleague and great sports photographer Brett Costello was on the western side, I was on the east. We’d covered 10km each and a little bit more wouldn’t hurt ... much.

When I clear my head, everything goes quiet. I concentrate, double check my settings.

Mitchell Pearce gets the ball rolling for NSW. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Blake Ferguson finds James Tedesco with a pass. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The Maroons had possession on the 20m line. I looked for the Daly Cherry-Evans field goal that never came.

What now?

The Blues had the ball and there was not long to go.

Field goal? Surely, they would be too far out.

With 45 seconds remaining I saw a pass from Mitchell Pearce and shot it with my long lens. The play came wide and was almost on top of me.

Blake Ferguson received the ball and somehow stayed in the field of play. Brett Costello captured his every step from the other side of the field.

Fergo passed and I shot that with my wide-angle lens.

Then I thought: “It’s going to Teddy. Oh shit. Run, run, run.”

I raced to the corner and got there just before Tedesco.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

Photograph by Brett Costello showing Phil Hillyard shoot Tedesco and his match-winning try.

James Tedesco celebrates his matchwinning try. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The Blues had won. Wow.

From the moment Fergo got the ball until the end of the try celebration, I shot 400 frames. I then sprinted to the other end of the field to edit on my laptop and make deadline for page one.

Today, everything hurts, but it’s worth it. The still image. It’s there forever.

The front page of The Daily Telegraph.