The first Origin match of 2026 was a paradoxical one – for the first three quarters it seemed to call all of Laurie Daley’s decisions into question, most notably his substitution of James Tedesco for Dylan Edwards as incumbent New South Wales fullback, while yet again raising the question and spectre of Nathan Cleary’s legacy in the Blues jersey. Yet by the final siren New South Wales had achieved the biggest comeback win in Origin history, and only the second by more than 12 points after Queensland recovered from an 0-15 deficit in 1981.

The tipping-point came in the 57^th minute, with a momentous Kalyn Ponga sendoff that was debated heavily in the days to come, due to a number of factors, including the fact that this was head-on-head collision with Tolu Koula, who also left the park to give Casey McLean a splendid stint in the final quarter, and Ashley Klein had overruled the Bunker’s initial call of sin bin. The lack of any effort from Ponga to wrap the arms was a clincher, but the vigour of the debate spoke to just what a remarkable transition this was in the shape of the game.

For Queensland, who led 20-0 after 21 minutes, would not score again this evening, as the Blues held them to nil in the second stanza for the sixth time since 2021, coming away with only their fourth win in an Origin match where they have conceded 20 points or more. Ponga had arguably been the best player of the night, so from the moment he left the park, and the Maroons were forced to defend with twelve men, the Blues had 74% of possession, made 4-0 linebreaks, and notched up a staggering 30-0 tackles in the opposition twenty.

Of the four Queensland players who’ve been sent off in Origin – Craig Greenhill in 1996, Gorden Tallis in 2000 and Reece Walsh in 2023 – Ponga’s absence therefore had the most immediate and catastrophic impact, providing Cleary with the canvas he needed for one of the key games in his representative career, and a genuine contender for his best forty minutes of Origin, organising a remarkable comeback at the same venue where he orchestrated the greatest Grand Final comeback in history against Brisbane back in 2023.

We’ve been talking for years about whether Cleary will ever have a Origin performance to rival Joey Johns in 2005 or Johnathan Thurston 2012 – or indeed whether the question is moot; whether Cleary has already achieved it, or whether these singular, monolithic games don’t speak to the way he manages to distribute his genius across match after match. Wednesday night’s game may be the closest he comes to that kind of iconic moment, if only due to the clinical simplicity of his final quarter, which already feels etched in footy history.

Tedesco was the other big headline from the New South Wales side, becoming the fourth oldest player to score in Origin history at 33 years and 139 days, and the second oldest New South Wales player behind John Ferguson in 1988. The Roosters custodian was vindicated in a different way from Cleary though, since his game was spotty in large stretches, including bombing a try in the first half, and his final quarter was less about consummate game management than one sublime moment of unbelievable inspiration, exertion and vision.

In other words, the match was a testament to Teddy’s capacity to encapsulate the heart and soul of Origin football, while Cleary found yet another way take his ice-cold game management up a notch. On the face of it, the victory also vindicates Laurie Daley’s decision to shake things up following the disappointment of the 2025 series with a more experimental New South Wales team, with Ethan Strange, Addin Fonua-Blake, Tolu Koula, Victor Radley, Blayke Brailey and Casey McLean donning the Blues jersey for the first time.

That selection wasn’t without its controversies, notably the question of Radley’s inclusion given his simultaneous allegiance to the England team, and the striking absence of Jackson Ford, who has had the very definition of a Origin-worthy year at club level. Nor did Daley’s selection go entirely to plan, as a late hamstring injury to Mitch Moses saw him take this experimental approach to the next level by sidelining Matt Burton in favour of Ethan Strange, who’d become the first Blues half to score on debut since Steve Mortimer in 1982.

Likewise, the success of this relatively inexperienced team isn’t entirely assured by the splendid result of Game 1, just because Ponga’s departure from the park was so anomalous, so it’s hard to say for certain that Daley’s selection has been categorically vindicated. Still, Strange was remarkable for an Origin debutant, putting on a heroic performance above and beyond his try, and while Moses must surely be a lock if he returns from injury, given his confidence in the Blues kit, Strange may well be a strong enough presence if called up again.

On the other side of the Steeden, Billy Slater’s team might have choked in what should have been one of the most winnable Origin games in recent memory, but his more experimental selections were also impressive, most notably his decision to replace Tom Dearden with Sam Walker on debut. One of the smallest Queensland halves in history, Walker’s short kicking game paid immediate dividends with the opening try for Robert Toia, his fellow Rooster, who continues to shine as one of the stars of the Maroons’ next generation.

Of course, the core of Slater’s strategy was picking Ponga over Walsh, and the conundrum of this game is that Billy wasn’t wrong – before the send-off, Kalyn was easily the best player on the park, and instrumental to Queensland’s decimating first quarter, which began with Walker putting it on the boot for Toia to cross over ten minutes in. Walker would also make 3/3 with the conversions this evening, while it only took another three minutes for Kalyn to make a mark, by setting the scene for Tom Flegler to celebrate his return to Origin in style.

In stark contrast to the Walker-Cobbo combo, this was a team try in spirit, initiated by Ponga using the kick return to send the Steeden out to Selwyn Cobbo, who popped it on to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow just before halfway. Teddy might have brought the Hammer down at the Blues’ thirty but Ponga was there again on the subsequent sweep infield, pulling out of the tackle and feeding it on for Walker, whose bouncer was saved by Cobbo bringing it back again to the thirty, where Cleary came in for his strongest defence during this sequence.

Cleary was less spectacular on the line, where he didn’t wrap Harry Grant enough to stop a flamboyant no-looker out the back. Walker read it beautifully though, collecting it with both boots off the ground and flicking it in for Flegler to dart beneath the crossbar in his first Origin try in his first appearance for the Maroons since Game 2023 – a rousing echo of his return to the footy field with the Dolphins at the start of the season following the gruelling shoulder injury that kept him sidelined 677 days, nearly two whole years of rugby league.

It was a core flashback to the folklore of that 2023 Origin season, when Billy Slater nabbed his first double and the Maroons decimated New South Wales to win the series with a 32-6 scoreline in Game 2. With Flegler back on the park, it was easy to believe that the Blues’ win in 2024 might just be a blip on the radar in a new dynasty, especially when, four minutes later, Queensland mirrored their opening half-centre combo on the other edge, where a Cam Munster kick put Hammer equal fourth for Maroons tries with Dale Shearer at 12.

Only Val Holmes (13), Darius Boyd (17) and Greg Inglis (18) were ahead of the Hammer, reiterating this sense of drawing deep on Queensland’s heritage – and with Brian To’o cementing an unusually messy first stanza with a cough-up at the twenty minute mark, and Walker then booting through a penalty shot for a Mitch Barnett offside, the nadir of New South Wales’ night had finally arrived. Incredibly, though, these would be the last points the Maroons scored, as a Blues outfit with nothing left to lose set out to reclaim their pride.

The first hint of the comeback came seven minutes later, when the Blues had their first sustained position on the Queensland line – and delivered. Cleary, who had stuck out a boot but failed to prevent the Munster kick, and had been unable to stop Grant’s stellar offload, now offered a stunning riposte to a Maroons side that might dare to underestimate his genius, compensating for the constant Queensland rush from the line with an ice-cold no-look kick past Reuben Cotter for Hudson Young to ground just before the dead ball mark.

The Blues wouldn’t get points on the board again until the final quarter but this was a critical moment of consolidation – in the dexterity with which Cleary thwarted Queensland’s main defensive strategy, in the way he showed Grant he could also deliver quality attack with his eyes off the ball, and the way he exuded steadfast and unwavering belief in the New South Wales jersey. Young’s run was just as good – from the moment Cleary got hands on the footy he had eyes on the play, surging up from behind to hit the Steeden at speed.

Four minutes before the break Cam Murray almost grounded a Reece Robson ricochet off the right padding only to be pinged for an early tackle on main defender Kurt Capewell, and while Cleary attempted a two-point field goal right on the siren, the next shift – arguably the core shift – in momentum would come sixteen minutes into the second stanza, with two edge plays that laid the foundation for New South Wales to execute the greatest comeback in Origin, leaving us with a 22-20 scoreline that was inconceivable in the first quarter.

The first of these edge sweeps came from the Maroons, who glimpsed some space on the left only for Kotoni Staggs to make the pivotal tackle of the game on Selwyn Cobbo – a commitment play that saw him drive the Brisbane backliner over the sideline despite the fact that he was already a few feet ahead of him, accelerating so fast that to have merely halted him would have been impressive. On the very next set, Koula glimpsed space up the sideline, and planted a right fend on Walker, who slowed him down, but couldn’t stop him.

Cometh the hour cometh the man, as Ponga now channelled all his vision, aggression and passion of the game into an attempt to annul the Staggs shot with a spectacular tackle of his own, only to smash into Koula with absolutely no effort to wrap the arms, the contact coming all the harder because Walker had already slowed him down. In an image that was instantly etched in Origin mythology, Ponga pointed to his bloody ear, remonstrated in vain with Ashley Klein, and was sent from the park, his face set in grim fatalistic devastation.

Two minutes later the Blues got six again on the line and Strange started to enter his golden period, swinging around behind Cleary to pick up a pass and bumping off Munster to cross over with Teddy raising his fist to cheer in the background, a wonderful image of the veteran-young gun synergy that characterised this year’s New South Wales outfit. The try was called back due to an Olakau’atu-Grant obstruction but that just set the scene for an even more stunning final quarter for the Blues, with Strange nabbing his try after all.

The mythology started two minutes into the final quarter, with a superb catch from McLean, who reined it into the chest under pressure from Munster, and then managed to get through a Grant ankle tap. Stephen Crichton put in a skip and a jump to slide between two defenders, headed back infield as Walker gained on him, danced through Walker’s ankle tap, and in that same motion turned around to face his own goal, putting his torso on the line to fall into Hammer so that he could both shield and pass it on for Strange to score.

Even in slomo, Critta’s joy was palpable, a superb sequel to Teddy’s cheer for Strange, while his absolute certainty in the efficacy of his assist was written all over his face. New South Wales were glimpsing greatness, and they achieved it in the final ten minutes, with a pair of tries, and a pair of individual efforts, whose sublime simplicity instantly etched them in Origin legend. The first came from Cleary, who booted a stellar 40/20 and a minute later crossed off a Blayke Brailey short ball, rising to roar with the fans as the rain belted down.

Yet the Blues saved the best for last, as Tedesco came up with a winning try to rival his 79^th minute effort in the 2019 series, in a fairytale ending to his comeback game. Positioning himself beneath a Cleary kick, he delivered one of his most visionary moments ever under the high ball, which came off his hands, then off his head, and then ricocheted half a metre over his left shoulder, meaning he had to twist almost 180 degrees as he was falling to regather it, and even then only secured it against his chest at the very moment he landed.

It would have been an unbelievable enough try in normal conditions but in wet weather footy it was miraculous enough to cement this as one of Teddy’s greatest games in the Blues jersey too – not necessarily one of his most consistent, but suffused with the visionary ability to seize the moment that makes Origin football so special. With Cleary having missed the conversion for Strange, his two points now put New South Wales ahead for the first time this night, three seconds before the final siren, as the emotion and ecstasy spilled over.

And yet the remarkable legacy of this game is that Origin 2 remains genuinely up in the air. The Blues played some horrible football this evening but also had some of their greatest moments, culminating with Cleary and Teddy’s star turns. On the other side of the Steeden, Ponga was the clear frontrunner for Man of the Match before he was sent off, so there’s no telling what his return might do in Game 2. Adding injury recovery times into the mix, it’s going to be a volatile few weeks of speculation before the Origin saga continues at the MCG.