July 8, 2026 — 9:09pmWe rate the first-half performances of every player who took the field in Wednesday night’s State of Origin decider at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.New South Wales1. James TedescoLed the Blues’ go-forward with a combination of kick returns, dummy-half scoots and old-fashioned hit-ups. Busy as usual, before coming off second best in a head clash with Briton Nikora. 7/102. Jack BostockThe Origin debutant took a confidence-boosting bomb early, but later spilled the ball himself with the tryline wide open. Did very well to get out of his in-goal under plenty of pressure after a Harry Grant kick, then dropped a bomb in the final minute of the half. 53. Bradman BestWas beaten a couple of times defending Robert Toia early on, then created a half-chance with a line break and an offload to Hudson Young. 64. Stephen CrichtonDefended well on the right edge to help snuff out Queensland’s first attacking raid, and made the line break that led to Cleary’s second try. Couldn’t stop Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on the way to the tryline. 65. Mark NawaqanitawaseMissed a tricky try-scoring chance when he couldn’t grab a Nathan Cleary kick one-handed, then threw a lovely pass for Cleary’s second try. 6.56. Mitchell MosesBusy start, particularly his clearing kicks, which again showed why his long kicking is the best in the business, getting the Blues out of trouble when they were camped down their own end early. 6.57. Nathan ClearySilenced the packed crowd with the game’s first try, stepping past two defenders and getting between another two to score a strong solo effort. Then finished a sweeping team try to score his second. Made a one-on-one strip ahead of Cam Murray’s try. Also had a couple of dangerous bombs that forced Queensland errors. 98. Payne HaasMade some big carries through the middle to give NSW the momentum ahead of Cleary’s try, then started bouncing off defenders for fun. His offloads caused really problems for the Maroons defence. 8.59. Reece RobsonA brighter start than the opening two games of this series, with decent service and a couple of good dummy-half darts. 710. Mitchell BarnettTook the opening hit-up and was the Blues’ busiest forward in the early stages. 711. Hudson YoungGave away the game’s first two penalties, with a lifting tackle and a high shot, and got close to scoring after running off Best. 612. Liam MartinMade a strong carry then offloaded to Crichton to help set up Cleary’s second try, and flattened Toia with a crunching tackle. 7.513. Isaah YeoDid the little things right as always – ran hard, didn’t miss a tackle, and had the quickest play-the-balls of the Blues’ big men. 6.514. Cameron MurrayAgain provided spark off the bench, offloading after his first carry of the game, and showed great strength to score the Blues’ third try. 7.515. Addin Fonua-BlakeCame on after half an hour and made some strong carries, and set up a line break for Best. 6.516. Haumole Olakau’atuYet to take the field.17. Blayke BraileyYet to take the field.18. Ethan StrangeYet to take the field.19. Tolutau KoulaReplaced Tedesco at fullback in the final minute of the first half. N/AQueensland1. Kalyn PongaThe Maroons’ most dangerous player with the Steeden, despite being flattened in a heavy tackle by Young midway through the half. 7/102. Selwyn CobboCame back to earth after a dream start the series. Made some crucial errors, including having the ball stripped by Cleary before the Blues’ third try. 43. Robert ToiaGreat footwork early on opposite number left est clutching at air, but barely sighted afterwards. 54. Hamiso Tabuai-FidowCame to life just before half-time, scoring the Maroons’ lone try that cut the deficit to 18-4. 65. Jojo FifitaKnocked on a difficult Cleary bomb but otherwise solid. 56. Cameron MunsterGreat first long kick put his team on the front foot, but made an uncustomary miss on a hard-running Martin in the lead-up to Cleary’s second try. 67. Sam WalkerQuietest half of his first series. Would like to have a few of his kicks over again, including a poor clearing effort straight to Tedesco. 58. Thomas FleglerHelped keep Payne Haas quite early on before coming off for a rest after 17 minutes. 59. Harry GrantBranded a cheat by Phil Gould during the week, but the Maroons wouldn’t swap him for any other No.9. 710. Tino Fa’asuamaleauiCame off in the 23rd minute after being well contained by the Blues pack. 511. Briton NikoraPoleaxed Tedesco with head-on-head contact but otherwise inconspicuous. 512. Kurt CapewellMissed the tackle that led to Cleary’s opening try, but he’s not the first player the Blues No.7 has slipped past and he won’t be the last. 513. Reuben CotterTypically solid, despite a rare simple handing error inside his half after 11 minutes. 614. Max PlathCame on in the 23rd minute but didn’t make the same impact as he did in Origin II. 415. Patrick CarriganN/A16. Jeremiah NanaiN/A17. Trent LoieroEntered the fray in the 17th minute and didn’t put a foot wrong. 518. Reece WalshN/A19. Murray TaulagiN/ADefault avatarPhil Mitchell is a desk editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.From our partners