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[QUOTE="Broncoman, post: 2735338, member: 7803"] [B]State of Origin Game 1 1985 [/B]Inspired by the inspirational Steve Mortimer and the sensational debut of Michael O'Connor NSW stun the Lang Park crowd beating the Maroons 18-2 to go 1 up in the 1985 series [B]Teams [/B]Gene Miles and Kerry Boustead were absent for the entire series so teenager Dale Shearer was called up to debut. The Maroons had a new coach with Des Morris replacing Arthur Beetson who stood down to focus on club coaching. NSW retained 8 players from the team who won Game 3 of 1984 22-12 and recalled Eric Grothe, Wayne Pearce and Steve Ella. Ex QLD union international Michael O'Connor debuted alongside John Ferguson and Benny Elias. The Blues also had a new coach in Terry Fearnley who was determined to break QLD's stranglehold on Origin after stints at club, state and international level. [B]Queensland 1:[/B] Colin Scott [B]2: [/B]John Ribot 3: Mal Meninga 4: Chris Close 5: Dale Shearer 6: Wally Lewis (Captain) 7: Mark Murray 8: Bob Linder' 9: Paul McCabe 10: Paul Vautin 11: Dave Brown 12: Greg Conescu 13: Greg Dowling 14: Brett French 15: Ian French Coach: Des Morris [B]New South Wales [/B]1: Garry Jack 2: Eric Grothe 3: Michel O'Connor 4: Chris Mortimer 5: John Ferguson 6: Brett Kenny 7: Steve Mortimer (Captain) 8: Wayne Pearce 9: Peter Wynn 10: Noel Cleal 11: Steve Roach 12: Ben Elias 13: Pat Jarvis 14: Steve Ella 15: Peter Tunks Coach: Terry Fearnley [B]Game summary [/B]Rainy weather combined with a muddy slippery surface made for a tough forward battle and that's how the game panned out. QLD played for territory in the first half with kicking from Lewis prominent. It was effective to an extent as the Maroons created chances but the Blues defense held firm. The first half was a forward and half battle for territory but neither side could score a try but 2 goals by Michael O'Connor and a goal by Meninga meant the game wasn't scoreless and the Blues went to halftime ahead 4-2. 10 minutes after halftime NSW scored the first try after Pearce offloaded the ball to Kenny who found C.Mortimer on the right who handed the ball onto O'Connor who stepped left and took Lewis and Vautin over to score, he kicked the goal and the Blues were 10 ahead. The try opened the play and the Maroons used their backline of Close, Meninga and Ribot who made strong runs to get Queensland moving but they couldn't finish off any of their chances. QLD's mistakes backfired as a knock on by McCabe 20 out from his own line with 8 minutes to play gifted the ball to Kenny who broke away and found O'Connor who scored an easy try to seal the game. O'Connor missed the conversion but added another goal in the last minute as NSW played it safe and finished 18-2 winners. [B]Thoughts on the play [/B]Very hard physical contest. Play was very tight in the first half as the teams struggled to adapt to the conditions and hard defence combined with a slippery ball made mistakes plentiful. Play was opened up a bit after halftime as the Maroons made some breaks from inside their half and did create chances but were unable to capitalise on their chances whilst NSW did have the better of play and made the most out of what thy got. Not a classic game by any means but still a bit to talk about after. [B]Broncoman man of the match [/B]Michael O'Connor Official honours went to Peter Wynn but O'Connor gets the nod from me. For a NSW player on debut at Lang Park to score 18 points and land goals from over the park and score 2 tries is still unbelievable and would be the talk of the league world today. Didn't think there were to many standouts but the entire NSW forward pack put in a big effort defensively and Wayne Pearce was very massive on both sides of the ball but because of O'Connor's great performance for a first timer in the biggest Rugby League arena he is a worthy winner. [B]Notes [/B]- NSW might have won 18-2 but I don't think there was really that much in it. As I said above QLD created chances but failed to take them whilst the Blues made the most out of it. I imagine possession would've been close but I thought NSW had the better of territory for a good share of the game - Was interesting hearing the commentary team say Steve Mortimer was a controversial figure to QLD fans. If it was because of his captaincy that is hilarious. - Michael O'Connor had one of the most sensational Origin debuts of all time. Kicking 5/6 goals and scoring 2 tries giving him all of NSW's points. Some of his goals were very impressive as well when you think about the heavy ball and rainy conditions, - John Ferguson also had a very good debut looking dangerous every time he came into play. The QLD fans were even getting excited when he got the ball. - Was interesting seeing Wally Lewis kick so regularly, because QLD were beaten up front Wally didn't get much chance to really attack but he did the best he could to get the Maroons back in it. - Only 1 interchange was used the whole game, Peter Tunks from NSW. The other NSW bench player Steve Ella and the QLD bench players Brett and Ian French didn't see game time. [B]New South Wales 18: [/B]2 tries and 5 goals by Michael O'Connor [B]Queensland 2: [/B]Goal by Mal Meninga [B]Lang Park Brisbane, 28 May 1985 [/B][B]Referee: [/B]Kevin Roberts [B]Crowd: [/B]33,011 [/QUOTE]
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