The minute of madness that sealed Blues’ fate in Origin hammering

Before the seventh minute of what may be the most dramatic seventh State of Origin minute to date, NSW’s series-opening implosion might have been traced back to the moment Nicho Hynes overdid a grubber to award Queensland a seven-tackle set.

That was the moment that opened the door of opportunity – all the Maroons ever really need.

Jeremiah Nanai was hauled down on the fifth, and then Daly Cherry-Evans, off a quick play-the-ball, darted from dummy half inside, lifted his eyes and offloaded to Ben Hunt for the opening try. That was the fifth minute, and already that optimistic feeling around the Blues that this year might just be different had started to evaporate. Who did NSW think they were, with their tough but defence-oriented team, trying to take on the speed and creativity of Queensland’s back line?

Then came the seventh minute, when all of that was rendered a bit redundant. Reece Walsh – Queensland’s king of speed and creativity – was knocked clean out by Joseph Suaalii’s shoulder. The fullback moulded into Billy Slater’s image and set to shape this series into his own, lay prone and still for more than two minutes. By the time his legs started moving under the gaze of medical staff, referee Ashley Klein had approached Suaalii and an indignant Jake Trbojevic and said: “Very dangerous action, direct contact to the head with the shoulder. That’s off.”

“It was a tough one,” said Trbojevic. “I didn’t expect him to get sent off, being honest, just probably because of the enormity of the game, but that’s the way it went.”

And just like that, the $5 million rugby-bound 20-year-old became the first Origin debutant to be sent off in the contest’s 42-year history. Overall, he is the sixth player, and the single biggest nightmare for the other notable debutant at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night: Michael Maguire.

Reece Walsh hits the deck after a hit from Joseph Suaalii.

The foundations of Madge’s first Origin squad were built for victory by stealth, not romance. By execution of a plan, not magic. The prototype, formulated in the absence of Api Koroisau and Latrell Mitchell, placed faith in Suaalii and Hynes – and, most unexpectedly, James Tedesco.

But sheer hard work does not precede success if you are down to 12 men in the opening exchanges.

“Earlier on in the year, I think he [Walsh] ended up with a broken jaw and there was no send-off, so it’s a big call at this level,” Maguire said. “I mean, [the] tackle - he was falling. But again, I’ll have to have another look at it. But I think it’s a massive call for a game like this.”

Slater would not be drawn on the incident: “I’ll keep my feelings about that to myself,” he said.

The merits of the send-off will be debated until kick-off in game two (as will appeals for a penalty following a potential hip drop on Spencer Leniu), but the effect on the texture of the game was immediate and irrevocable.

For a time, Tedesco and Zac Lomax were on separate planets. Hynes filled in at hooker and lost whatever confidence he had left. The Cronulla talisman, who has not had an enjoyable time on this stage so far, missed the conversion for the Blues’ second try and then cut a figure of lightly concealed terror under the pressure of the occasion. Mitchell Moses, who returned to the NRL field last week after 10 weeks on the sidelines, will be finger-steepling in front of a television somewhere in Sydney’s west.

Daly Cherry-Evans makes a break during game one.Credit: Getty

Maguire had faced some pre-game criticism for not selecting a utility on his bench. Stephen Crichton did eventually shift from the left to the right, but the game was already getting away from the hosts. The situation also meant Trbojevic was subbed off after the opening five minutes and only returned for five minutes at the end.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever planned for a send-off in an Origin game,” Maguire said. “So we had all our rotations, everything covered. Huddo [Hudson Young] went out there in the centres, and we had Angus [Crichton] out in the centres at some stage, and they actually covered that really well. But when you’re 12 men, your middle is just working that hard.”

Meanwhile, Slater looked as if he was literally making magic, walking out of his coaching box and down to the sideline to mutter incantations (directions) to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, before walking straight back up to his box. The stand-in fullback duly pulled on his invisibility cloak and went wandering – a supernatural ninja of deception who scored twice before the break.

NSW stayed in the fight as long as possible. Tedesco had got them on the board in the 13th minute. And Leniu, a Blues standout after coming off the bench, went over himself but could not for the life of him ground the ball with Tabuai-Fidow under him. It was that kind of night.

The players had not even made it back onto the field for the second half before Sportsbet had suspended betting on a Queensland win. As logic would dictate, that occurred before Lomax rediscovered his spark to link up with Liam Martin and cut the deficit to 20-10. There was still time. Martin said so with a tackle to rival them all. The whole team said so when they survived three set restarts on their goal-line.

There was still time – until there wasn’t. Until Hunt went over for his second and Xavier Coates blew out the scoreline to 32-10. Then Tabuai-Fidow, sensing a record, made it 38-10 with two minutes remaining for Queensland’s biggest win in Sydney.

“I’ve been in this circumstance before, so I know exactly what we’ll do,” said Maguire, who now has a mountain to climb. “Obviously talk to the players and you have 13 players out there, the whole game’s a different ball game. So I’m really confident in where the players are taking what we’re doing.”

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