When high-stakes matches are on the line, there’s nothing quite like the composure of a football coach’s son. The Blues had two such individuals to help them turn a 20-point deficit in the opening State of Origin match at Accor Stadium into a thrilling 22-20 win for New South Wales.
Nathan Cleary, the halfback and son of four-time premiership-winning Penrith coach Ivan, was instrumental in the victory. His 40/20 kick set up field position for a try he scored to narrow Queensland’s lead to 20-16 with less than 10 minutes left. He then launched a towering bomb that allowed fullback James Tedesco to level the scores with 90 seconds remaining. Cleary’s conversion secured the win. As Blues captain and Cleary’s Penrith co-skipper, Isaah Yeo said after the game, “That 40/20 won us the game.” Cleary was voted man of the match, silencing critics who claimed he hadn’t made Origin his own.
Ethan Strange, the five-eighth and son of NSW’s victorious women’s Origin coach John, also played a crucial role. Drafted into the team on Tuesday following a training injury to Mitchell Moses, Strange displayed a calmness and confidence that belied his 21 years. Before the match, he requested coach Laurie Daley to devise a play where he could run at Queensland captain Cameron Munster. The plan involved Strange briefly switching to the Blues’ right side to face Munster on the Maroons’ left. In the end, it wasn’t necessary as it was Munster who switched sides, seeking dominance over a player destined to wear his Australian jumper.
Strange delivered a lethal low body tackle on Munster, dislodging the ball. NSW scored their first try shortly after when Cleary put a short kick through for Strange’s Raiders teammate, Hudson Young. Munster’s mistake was Queensland’s first error after establishing their 20-0 lead. For most of the first half, the Maroons played like the Maroons—ruthless and relentless in defense, and daring and decisive with the ball when needed.
Coach Billy Slater’s men capitalized on ruck errors made by Mitchell Barnett, Stephen Crichton, and Brain To’o to gain territory and score three tries. Only Barnett’s early error was questionable, but Yeo didn’t challenge it, primarily because coach Daley had instructed him to “keep your powder dry,” calculating that the bunker would rule lost ball from a bad carry in wet conditions rather than a strip. Crichton and To’o each lost the ball on further occasions and are expected to be dropped for Origin II.
Despite the NRL’s protestations that the match would be refereed like an NRL game, the first half produced only three penalties and three set restarts.
Sure, the code’s best players would make fewer errors, but as usual, there were breaches ignored. The second half did resemble an NRL match, particularly when referee Ashley Klein was committed to sending off Queensland fullback Kalyn Ponga for a shoulder charge that made contact with the head of debutant winger Tolu Koula. The 79,186 crowd roared like Romans at the Colosseum, demanding his removal. It was an unnecessary, bone-headed decision from the fullback, and as close as any player can come to losing a game for his side. Ponga is culpable.
The parallels with an NRL game continued in the second stanza with a six-again and a try to Strange that was taken off him by the bunker ruling an obstruction. But Strange didn’t wait long to score his debut Origin try following a long scything run to narrow the scores to 20-10. Another ruck infringement call against Queensland preceded Cleary’s try for a 20-16 scoreline, setting up the grandstand finish.
At half-time, with the Blues down 20-6, Daley told his team that a victory would be “one of the greatest achievements in NSW history.” After the match, he repeated the line, adding, “But f—, it took you a while.” His future looked dim at half-time, but now it will be the turn of the Queensland media to unsheathe their daggers, although they will predictably be aimed at Klein.
In the jubilant Blues dressing room, Cleary and Strange were deep in conversation. Strange only made one error when he passed the ball off the ground. “I won’t do that again,” he told this masthead. Daley has a big decision to make whether to return Moses to the starting team for the second Origin at the MCG or retain Strange at five-eighth. Some call him a throwback because he is a pure footballer, but he is better than that. He is the future of NSW and Australia.
Daley’s generous and passionate post-game talk was interrupted by a loud cry from Victor Radley’s infant child seeking to nuzzle his baby teeth into the lip of the cool beer can in his father’s hand. Or perhaps, like the rest of us, he was seeking a sip to celebrate a cleverly orchestrated comeback and expunge the foul taste of last year’s loss at the same arena.
