The New South Wales Blues can put the 2025 State of Origin series to bed on Wednesday evening with a win at Optus Stadium, while the Queensland Maroons will be desperate to keep it alive.
Watch: State of Origin 2025 Game 2 Live
Watch: Qld Maroons v NSW Blues Online
Game 1 was a slow motion car crash for the Maroons, who have elected to axe captain Daly Cherry-Evans for the trip west.
It'll be over to Tom Dearden to pilot the Maroons ship, while the Blues have only made a forced change, with Mitch Barnett out out to injury and Melbourne Storm enforcer Stefano Utoikamanu into the side.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Maroons have been bold enough, especially with how the extended squad converts into the nominated XVII.
Put simply, if these two groups play out a typical match of NRL quality rugby league I don’t see how NSW don’t win every time. The Blues pack is a couple of weight divisions more powerful, Nathan Cleary is the halfback of his generation, Stephen Crichton is the premium defensive organiser in the game, Zac Lomax is an aerial weapon, Dylan Edwards is indefatigable, the interchange is deep, and if everything is too predictable they can always toss the ball to the sport’s greatest maverick, Latrell Mitchell.
For Queensland to win conventionally, they must perform at their very best, and NSW must slip off considerably in most areas. As a result, I would advocate the throwing of convention out of the window.
Maybe the Maroons could have turned tonight’s clash into a dogfight, especially taking into account the rain? Bring Corey Horsburgh into the starting pack, call up a scrapper like Jai Arrow, and add a chaos agent to the bench like Reed Mahoney or Felise Kaufusi to create a contest full of disruption and spot fires to deny the Blues flow. Are Kurt Capewell and Trent Loiero realistically likely to outperform Payne Haas, Liam Martin, Angus Crichton, and Isaah Yeo? It feels like Slater and his selection panel are pissing into the wind.
Behind the underpowered forwards Slater has gone all-in on Tom Dearden; an excellent footballer, but is he the kind to play lights-out footy and win a match off his own boot? I can’t see it. Queensland need to tear up the script, not try and rewrite it. They could take a punt on the instinctive qualities of Ezra Mam, Jye Gray or Jayden Campbell, or look at Jamal Fogarty or Braydon Trindall as kicking specialists to overcoming the likely territorial deficit. If that sounds like a lot of fullbacks and halves, then get creative with shirt numbers. Harry Grant was well below par in Brisbane, and Valentine Holmes increasingly seems like a legacy selection, not one based on impact, especially if he’s anything other than 100% off the tee.
Throw caution to the wind while the series remains alive rather than experiment in a dead rubber in July.
The State of Origin is back for Game 2 as the Queensland Maroons face off against the NSW Blues in the at Optus Stadium in Perth on Wednesday.
After their 2024 State of Origin championship, the Blues started this year's tournament as slight favourites. In Game 1, they showed off exactly why, as they took home a dominant 18-6 win at the Suncorp Stadium.