Hat-trick hero Gagai in Origin record books

A try for debutant Wales worldwide Tyson Frizell brought Laurie Daley’s men back into the game but Queensland finished strongly, to the delight of the majority of the 52,293 crowd as Kevin Walters tasted victory in his first series as head coach with a game to spare.

Another youngster, Corey Oates, got Queensland’s fourth try which eventually sealed victory, while touch-downs from Tyson Frizell and James Maloney were not enough for the Blues.

State Of Origin Game Two kicks off tonight and it’s bound to be a f***ing bloodbath.

New South Wales have nothing to lose in this one and that makes them a risky prospect.

Blues keeping the Maroons on their own line at 23 minutes, even stevens at the moment, hit for hit, point for point, NSW attack on the turnaround and the Blues get a drop out.

“He’s not going to stop until the final whistle no matter where the game is at”.

31 minutes, Dane Gagai’s try goes to the Video Ref, long distance run and 60 metres covered, tackled in the last metre but he makes it: JUST.

Thurston’s impressive conversion makes it 12-4.

The Maroons went in again in the 46th minute thanks to a brilliant offload from Darius Boyd.

Gallen, who is set to equal Danny Buderus as NSW’s most capped skipper when he leads the Blues for the 15th time on Wednesday night and surpass his record next month in Origin III, has rarely been on the right side of a penalty count in his 14 matches as captain.

Queensland 26 (D Gagai 3 C Oates tries J Thurston 5 goals) New South Wales 16 (T Frizell J Maloney tries A Reynolds 3 J Maloney goals) at Suncorp Stadium.

Coach Brad Fittler said of the youngster: “Ryan is one of the fastest players on a footy field that I have ever seen, and that is in any age group”.

An 80m intercept try by Gagai had ensured that Queensland led 10-4 at halftime.

But unlike the last time they met in Brisbane, NSW refused to say die.

James Maloney took an intercept and ran almost the length of the field to score.

The first tussle tends to be a tight one, but both teams cancelled each other out in a scoreless second period, one that included a Robbie Farah try controversially ruled out for New South Wales.

Before being injured earlier in the season, Tedesco was favourite for the No.1 jersey but after selecting Matt Moylan in his place for Origin I, Daley stuck with the Penrith fullback when many thought his Wests Tigers counterpart may have offered more punch in attack.

Queensland took that lead into half-time, with Corey Oates bundled into touch after a risky run.