Elbows fly as Maroons hold off NSW comeback

Brian To'o scored a hat-trick as NSW came from 26-6 down at half-time to almost snatch victory in Origin II. Queensland held on for the 26-24 win, with the series now locked up at 1-1 ahead of the decider in Sydney on July 9.
BIG MOMENTS FROM ORIGIN II:
*Early mistakes prove costly
A dropped high ball from Kalyn Ponga and a brain implosion penalty against Cameron Munster for a shove meant Queensland had to defend for an extended period near their try line in the early minutes of the match. The dam wall finally broke, with Jarome Luai's grubber opening the door for Brian To'o to score.
*Flying high magic earned after a piece of grunt work
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's second try was a piece of magic - with the Queensland winger jumping high to reel in a skied kick before maintaining his composure to touch down. But it was a play a minute earlier that paved the way for the moment - Maroons enforcer Valentine Holmes laying a huge hit on Liam Martin to force the turnover.
*Elbow your way in
With the rain tumbling down, NSW's Zac Lomax let his frustrations get the better of him when he elbowed Trent Loiero. Lomax had just been tackled to the ground when he threw his left elbow back to collect Loiero in the face. The subsequent penalty gave Queensland a 14-6 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
*Get out of my way
At 20-6 down NSW were in desperate need of a try, and star halfback Nathan Cleary delivered by twisting and turning his way through Queensland's defence. But the Blues' joy soon turned to despair when the try was ruled for an obstruction. Rubbing salt into the wound, Kurt Capewell touched down less than two minutes later to give Queensland a dominant 26-6 lead at half-time.
*When the bounce ain't right
With Queensland clinging on to a 26-14 lead with 18 minutes to go, Tabuai-Fidow tried to trap a tumbling kick with his foot. But he was left embarrassed when the ball bounced up, hit him on the arm and hip before deflecting in front of him. NSW made the most of the gift, with To'o scoring his third try two minutes later to reduce the margin to eight points.
*Dribble magic from Luai
With all the momentum going NSW's way, Jarome Luai ensured the try barrage continued with a beautiful dribble kick for Angus Crichton to run onto and touch down. The successful conversion made it a two-point game with just seven minutes to go, setting up a grandstand finish.
*Oh so close
With less than 90 seconds remaining and NSW pushing for the winning try, Blues prop Payne Haas lost the ball after being tackled by two Queensland players. It proved to be NSW's last chance, meaning they fell short of pulling off one of the great Origin comebacks.
Brian To'o scored a hat-trick as NSW came from 26-6 down at half-time to almost snatch victory in Origin II. Queensland held on for the 26-24 win, with the series now locked up at 1-1 ahead of the decider in Sydney on July 9.
BIG MOMENTS FROM ORIGIN II:
*Early mistakes prove costly
A dropped high ball from Kalyn Ponga and a brain implosion penalty against Cameron Munster for a shove meant Queensland had to defend for an extended period near their try line in the early minutes of the match. The dam wall finally broke, with Jarome Luai's grubber opening the door for Brian To'o to score.
*Flying high magic earned after a piece of grunt work
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's second try was a piece of magic - with the Queensland winger jumping high to reel in a skied kick before maintaining his composure to touch down. But it was a play a minute earlier that paved the way for the moment - Maroons enforcer Valentine Holmes laying a huge hit on Liam Martin to force the turnover.
*Elbow your way in
With the rain tumbling down, NSW's Zac Lomax let his frustrations get the better of him when he elbowed Trent Loiero. Lomax had just been tackled to the ground when he threw his left elbow back to collect Loiero in the face. The subsequent penalty gave Queensland a 14-6 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
*Get out of my way
At 20-6 down NSW were in desperate need of a try, and star halfback Nathan Cleary delivered by twisting and turning his way through Queensland's defence. But the Blues' joy soon turned to despair when the try was ruled for an obstruction. Rubbing salt into the wound, Kurt Capewell touched down less than two minutes later to give Queensland a dominant 26-6 lead at half-time.
*When the bounce ain't right
With Queensland clinging on to a 26-14 lead with 18 minutes to go, Tabuai-Fidow tried to trap a tumbling kick with his foot. But he was left embarrassed when the ball bounced up, hit him on the arm and hip before deflecting in front of him. NSW made the most of the gift, with To'o scoring his third try two minutes later to reduce the margin to eight points.
*Dribble magic from Luai
With all the momentum going NSW's way, Jarome Luai ensured the try barrage continued with a beautiful dribble kick for Angus Crichton to run onto and touch down. The successful conversion made it a two-point game with just seven minutes to go, setting up a grandstand finish.
*Oh so close
With less than 90 seconds remaining and NSW pushing for the winning try, Blues prop Payne Haas lost the ball after being tackled by two Queensland players. It proved to be NSW's last chance, meaning they fell short of pulling off one of the great Origin comebacks.
Brian To'o scored a hat-trick as NSW came from 26-6 down at half-time to almost snatch victory in Origin II. Queensland held on for the 26-24 win, with the series now locked up at 1-1 ahead of the decider in Sydney on July 9.
BIG MOMENTS FROM ORIGIN II:
*Early mistakes prove costly
A dropped high ball from Kalyn Ponga and a brain implosion penalty against Cameron Munster for a shove meant Queensland had to defend for an extended period near their try line in the early minutes of the match. The dam wall finally broke, with Jarome Luai's grubber opening the door for Brian To'o to score.
*Flying high magic earned after a piece of grunt work
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's second try was a piece of magic - with the Queensland winger jumping high to reel in a skied kick before maintaining his composure to touch down. But it was a play a minute earlier that paved the way for the moment - Maroons enforcer Valentine Holmes laying a huge hit on Liam Martin to force the turnover.
*Elbow your way in
With the rain tumbling down, NSW's Zac Lomax let his frustrations get the better of him when he elbowed Trent Loiero. Lomax had just been tackled to the ground when he threw his left elbow back to collect Loiero in the face. The subsequent penalty gave Queensland a 14-6 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
*Get out of my way
At 20-6 down NSW were in desperate need of a try, and star halfback Nathan Cleary delivered by twisting and turning his way through Queensland's defence. But the Blues' joy soon turned to despair when the try was ruled for an obstruction. Rubbing salt into the wound, Kurt Capewell touched down less than two minutes later to give Queensland a dominant 26-6 lead at half-time.
*When the bounce ain't right
With Queensland clinging on to a 26-14 lead with 18 minutes to go, Tabuai-Fidow tried to trap a tumbling kick with his foot. But he was left embarrassed when the ball bounced up, hit him on the arm and hip before deflecting in front of him. NSW made the most of the gift, with To'o scoring his third try two minutes later to reduce the margin to eight points.
*Dribble magic from Luai
With all the momentum going NSW's way, Jarome Luai ensured the try barrage continued with a beautiful dribble kick for Angus Crichton to run onto and touch down. The successful conversion made it a two-point game with just seven minutes to go, setting up a grandstand finish.
*Oh so close
With less than 90 seconds remaining and NSW pushing for the winning try, Blues prop Payne Haas lost the ball after being tackled by two Queensland players. It proved to be NSW's last chance, meaning they fell short of pulling off one of the great Origin comebacks.

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Do the people of Perth care about rugby league? Here's what we learnt in Origin week

Sydney Morning Herald

2 hours ago

Sydney Morning Herald

Do the people of Perth care about rugby league? Here's what we learnt in Origin week

At a guess, 75 per cent of people were in some sort of Origin merchandise. Surely, they were interstate travellers, right? But of the 57,000-strong crowd in attendance, only 13,000 travelled from other states to watch the game. On top of the 44,000 locals in the crowd, another 190,000 watched from their Perth lounge rooms – more than recent round's free-to-air audience for the Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles games. Of course, those figures don't include the number of people watching AFL matches on Kayo, but they do at least make you wonder if West Australian editor Chris Dore was right when he said 'if we had a league readership here, we would be covering it' when asked why his newspaper had buried its Origin coverage next to the escort-services page on the day of the game. This is the same newspaper that six years earlier, before the first Origin game was played in Perth, was championing the cause that the city should have its own NRL team. The Bears will have enough challenges without worrying about that. Rugby league by the numbers in Perth In 2018, the NRL kicked off the NRL season with a double header at Optus Stadium. The fixture attracted a crowd of 38,824 attendees, with 20 per cent out-of-state visitors In 2019 and 2022, the NRL's marquee State of Origin delivered more than $25m direct economic expenditure impact into WA, with over 116,000 visitor nights and nearly 20,000 out-of-state visitors. In 2023, the Dolphins first visit to Perth drew a crowd of over 45,000. In 2024, the Dolphins-Roosters NRL game at HBF Park sold out quickly with the match setting a new attendance record at the venue. In 2025 the recent Sharks-Manly and Rabbitohs-Cowboys double header attracted a crowd of 31,347. The 2025 Perth Origin sold out with more than 57,000 fans, of which 13,000 came from other states. Record ratings for Perth (190k) for game two of this year's Origin series, up from 169,000 in game one. It was the second-biggest consumption of food and beverage at Optus Stadium, surpassed only by the AFL grand final in 2021. Let's face it, the NRL has made things hard for them by insisting they operate from the start on a level playing field and not offering them any salary cap dispensation, as the AFL has done when setting up new franchises. Even in the NRL, expansion team Papua New Guinea will come into the competition in 2028 with the added bonus of being able to offer players a tax-free income. Not since the Melbourne Storm almost three decades ago has a team been asked to convince 30 players to move interstate, away from family and friends. The Dolphins had the luxury of having their own junior nursery and signing a bunch of players who already lived in south-east Queensland. The state of rugby league in Perth There are currently around 5000 registered participants in Western Australia. When the Western Reds were in the competition, participation numbers were in between 15,000-20,000. The NRL aims to double participation in WA in 5 years and reach 30,000 participants in 10 years. In 2025, registrations are currently trending for WA's best year since the days of the Western Reds. 240 schools are currently engaged in rugby league programs in WA with elite rugby league programs in six schools. With the Perth Bears and government support, it is hoped to drive this number to more than 500 schools and establish and elite schoolboy/girl competitions in WA. That means the Bears will have to pay overs for more players, creating an unbalanced roster in a town where they can't just go down to the local ground and find the next best kid. If you are player 19-30 on the roster, or one of the club's development players, you could be making a 10-hour return trip each week to represent the North Sydney Bears in NSW Cup, if the club decides to adopt that development-pathway model. As one rival NRL club representative said during the week: 'I'm glad our players have just done this trip, now they won't sign with the Bears.' Their coach Mal Meninga proved incredibly popular with the locals during his recent trip to the west for Origin II, which is a huge positive. But it must also be remembered that, despite an impeccable record of coaching at representative level for Queensland and Australia, he hasn't coached a club team since 2001. With that will come uncertainty. Loading Similarly, the Bears' chief executive Anthony de Ceglie is a well-connected figure in Perth, which again is a huge positive. But, by his own admission, he has very little rugby league IQ. None of that means the Bears won't – or can't – be a success, but the challenges are real. Time is of the essence and much of this team's success will hinge on its ability to arrive with a bang and not a succession of wooden spoons as it figures itself out.