Rising Dolphins second-rower Oryn Keeley has delivered Queensland its first rugby league State Championship win in nine years as Norths Devils ambushed Newtown for a 20-18 win.
Keeley scored two second-half tries, including the match-winner, to open NRL grand final day in style before the 12,358 fans that arrived early to Accor Stadium.
Newly-minted Queensland Cup champions Norths had trailed their NSW counterparts by eight points just after half-time before Keeley spun away from Jayden Berrell en route to the tryline.
The 21-year-old scythed over for the decisive four-pointer with six minutes to play to break the Jets' hearts.
It marked the first time since Ipswich beat Newcastle in 2015 that the visiting Queensland team had claimed victory in the fixture. The hosts won in the subsequent six straight editions, with two years lost to Covid.
"We (Queensland) might have had a rocky couple of years not winning but it doesn't really matter now. We've won," Keeley said.
It capped a strong season for the Newcastle junior, who made six first-grade appearances for the Dolphins in the first season of his three-year deal.
Keeley's performance would not have gone unnoticed by new Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf, with the second-rower hopeful of a breakout NRL season in 2025.
"I wanted to leave Newcastle to get out of my comfort zone and learn and grow. I feel like I've done that. I'm just going to hopefully keep putting my head down and working hard," Keeley said.
Norths coach Dave Elliott predicted Keeley would go on to bigger and better things next season.
"Oryn is one of those guys who we think is too good for our level. He's going to do some great things in the game at NRL level, but it's about finding that consistency as an NRL player," he said.
"Hopefully we've helped him do that and he kicks on to great things next year."
With each side scoring four tries, Jets playmaker Niwhai Puru would have rued windy conditions that consigned him to only one goal from four conversion attempts.
"It's not the best way to end this season but we are the best team in NSW and hopefully we can come back next year and take it out," said Jets prop Braden Hamlin-Uele.
