It doesn’t matter how many times Queensland tell their classic State of Origin story, it never, ever gets old for the Maroons faithful.
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You could tick the hallmarks of another one of their classics as they appeared at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night en route to Billy Slater’s side securing their 26-18 victory.
A fast, confident start that left the Blues back on their heels? Check. A torrid defensive effort that bordered on inhuman in its resolve and remarkable in their ability to make the second effort? Check.
A couple of refereeing decisions, like the Api Koroisau try and the Tom Flegler sin-bin, which will be explained away by the brass but look just crook enough to angry up the blood? Check.
A few injuries, just to make it a bit harder in the dying stages? Check. A glorious, late try from the end of the world when all hope looks lost? Check.
Players searching deep within themselves and finding plays they never knew they could make – like Lindsay Collins flying over James Tedesco to take a bomb and set up Cameron Munster’s last-second try? Checkmate.
And as they have when Queensland pulled off similar efforts in the past, the Blues are left wondering where it all went wrong.
They dominated the first half in every single measure bar the scoreboard and the game looked in hand until Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow glided down the left side for his second try. Even as they struggled to get out of their own way, everything was under control until it wasn’t.
For nearly the entire match, Queensland could not advance the ball up the middle of the field unless New South Wales let them do it via penalties, which is exactly what happened for both their first-half tries.
From there, the points deficit was hanging over the Blues like the blade of a guillotine. It informed the pace of their play, which was either so quick and frantic that passes went to ground or so slow and ponderous it was easy for Queensland to swarm them.
Metres came easily and chances were created, but they could not be finished. For a team with so many club teammates, combinations were lacking.
This was not the play of Penrith, who the Blues surely look to emulate when they pick so many players with ties to the two-time defending premiers.
The Panthers combine cold precision with fiery bursts of finely tuned aggression. Their victories are a product of winning a thousand little battles along the way to winning the big one.
The Blues were looking for big plays without mastering the small plays that lead up to them. It was skipping to the last page of the book, fast-forwarding to the end of the movie.
And through it all, Queensland stayed in it as they always, always do. They were not perfect but they find what they need when they need it. There might be errors, there might be some struggles, but there is also great moments of courage and flashes of blinding skill and in those moments new heroes are born.
There is Murray Taulagi saving tries that looked beyond saving. There is Selwyn Cobbo defying the laws of physics to slide in for his second try. There is Collins flying higher than a front-rower has any right to.
There is Reuben Cotter playing 80 minutes at prop and second row and probably a few other positions as well and deservedly winning player-of-the-match to take his place alongside other Queensland working-class heroes of yesterday, like Jason Hetherington and Gary Larson.
When Cotter was told he’d won best on ground he didn’t believe them but as a hooker-turned-prop his mere existence as a top-level footballer is a testament to the power of belief.
He doesn’t win every fight but there’s never a fight he doesn’t think he can win. He is a Queenslander because he plays like that and he plays like that because he’s a Queenslander.
There are always more chapters to be written, always a modern slant to put on the old stories, a 2023 reboot on something that has been going since 1980. They might be down but they are never, ever out.
There is no flurry they cannot weather, no punch they will not wear. Chuck some gloves on them and they’d outlast Rocky Balboa – as long as the gloves are maroon.
And as Queensland settle back and add another masterpiece of effort and spirit and will to a pool room already stacked with similar examples, New South Wales will now deal with the ravages of defeat again.
Origin is not just about the glory of winning, it is also about who must bear the shame of losing and when the Blues wear it they are eaten alive by their own. New South Wales, as a state, has an abiding sense of misery, which sustains it through temporary periods of joy.
Nathan Cleary will once again cop some shots for his game management and last-tackle options. For the first time in his Origin career, serious questions will be asked of James Tedesco.
Brad Fittler’s decision to pick Tom Trbojevic was no disaster but the Manly fullback looked a little short of a run. Tevita Pangai Junior was strong on debut but one loose offload means the knives will be out.
The fallout will be vicious and loud. What about the bench, what about this change, what about this player who must be rushed in, what about this player who must be banished from the side forever?
The pressure will build and build and build over the next few weeks ahead of Game II at Lang Park. Taking on Queensland up there is tough enough at the best of times. Now, with the series on the line, calling it their Everest does not adequately describe the challenge ahead of them.
The Cauldron is the cathedral of Origin football, where the worshippers gather to celebrate themselves, their team, their state and this maddening, brilliant three-game series they are so sure they understand in a way New South Wales never can or will. The Queensland magic is strong everywhere but in Brisbane it is a true superpower.
The stories they tell each other about the jersey, the ones they pass down from generation to generation, they’re all true. They’re true because they believe in it.
That’s something that flows from every Queenslander through to the 17 men who take the field, a thing they find when it matters, a thing they have all carried in their hearts their entire lives.
All those Maroon times, all those improbable victories, they all end the same way – with Queensland lifting the shield in front of their adoring home crowd.
It’s a vision that is closer than ever before, a dream which is fast becoming solid. They find what they need when they need it. They have all the answers as the Blues keep asking questions.
