New South Wales has scored their biggest State of Origin victory, demolishing the Maroons 50-6 in the series opener in Townsville.
The win, sparked by a hat-trick from returning centre Tom Trbojevic, eclipsed the 56-16 result from Game III in 2000.
Trbojevic missed last year's series loss through injury but made an immediate impact with three tries in his return to representative football, although finding poor performances in the Blues side would be difficult.
Debuting winger Brian To'o scored twice, as did Latrell Mitchell, while the Penrith halves pairing of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai were as exceptional as their club form suggested they would be.
Queensland, meanwhile, has a lot of soul searching to do after a demoralising loss in the series opener.
The night started badly for the Maroons when prop Christian Welch went off in the 12th minute and did not return for the remainder of the match after failing a HIA.
Within the next 10 minutes, the Blues claimed the first points of the night when Cleary kicked a penalty goal, after Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was ruled to have taken out Trbojevic a metre away from Queensland's tryline as he tried to catch a Cleary kick.
Five minutes later the Cleary-Trbojevic combination paid off when a deep pass from Cleary exploited a Queensland defence that had eyes for a sweeping James Tedesco, instead finding Trbojevic, who skipped past makeshift centre Kurt Capewell to score.
With momentum well and truly behind them NSW kept the points coming with winger Brian To'o scoring on debut in the 21st minute.
To'o's try came off the back of a Damien Cook break through the middle, which gave NSW an opportunity to simply pass through the hands from Luai to Mitchell onto To'o in the left corner.
One try wasn't enough for the Blues debutante who went back-to-back in the 26th minute when back rower Tariq Sims launched an offload 10 metres across the face of Mitchell to To'o, to take the score to 20-0.
The Maroons' time finally arrived in the 34th minute when Cameron Munster sent an early ball to Capewell who got revenge on Trbojevic with a tricky show and go for the Maroons to head into half-time trailing 20-6.
The break did little to halt the rampant NSW side.
Mitchell opened the scoring in the second half after Luai fired a long ball to Trbojevic, who put in a short grubber for Mitchell to scoop up and place down without any pressure from Queensland.
A beautiful Blues team try shortly followed in the 58th minute when Luai again created something out of nothing as he ran across the field to find space in between Cherry-Evans and Felise Kaufusi.
Mitchell was in support on the inside before he passed it to Trbojevic, who would dive in under the sticks.
Two minutes later, Mitchell scored his second of the night to take the Blues to a 38-6 lead.
The try was sent to The Bunker and NSW forward Payne Haas was offside but ruled to be passive in the play, therefore not impacting it when Queensland winger Xavier Coates dropped the bomb, allowing Mitchell's second.
Blues prop Daniel Saifiti crashed over in 63rd minute before Trbojevic finished with a hat-trick to cap off a remarkable return to rep footy and help the Blues write another chapter in Origin history.
Key events
- FULL TIME: Queensland 6-50 New South Wales
- Trbojevic hattrick!
- Daniel Saifiti barges over!
- Latrell Mitchell scores!
- Trobjevic scores a beautiful team try!
- Latrell Mitchell scores!
- HALF-TIME: Blues lead the Maroons 20-6
- In goes Kurt Capewell!
- To'o goes in again!
- BRIAN TO'O SCORES ON DEBUT!
- Tom Trbojevic is back in the Origin points!!
Live updates
By Simon Smale
That's it, folks
Ok, we'll bring this live part of the coverage to a close.
New South Wales were brilliant tonight, their back five playing a stunning brand of rugby league that punished every Queensland error and denied them even a sniff of an opportunity in the historic Origin match in Townsville.
Tom Trbojevic was outstanding, so too were the Panthers pairing of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai in the halves, although in truth there was not a poor player in Blue anywhere across the park tonight.
Queensland just weren't up to it tonight, which was a shame for the raucous crowd at Townsville stadium.
Their attack was staid and predictable, New South Wales defence gave them nothing, and any of the prescribed moves they might have thought about putting together, just didn't come off.
There's a lot for Paul Green to sort out ahead of Game II in Brisbane.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.
By Simon Smale
'They're embarrassed': Green
Darren Lockyer has just spoken to a somber Paul Green.
"I think in Origin there's no easy way," Green said.
"At times we were looking for an easy way and weren't willing to roll our sleeves up."
Green said that might have been an issue with "attitude, preparation, being ready for it".
"They beat us to the punch at the ruck ... It was really hard to get that control," Green said.
He said the players were "embarrassed" in the dressing rooms.
By Simon Smale
'They are really struggling': Wally Lewis
Channel Nine have just spoken to Wally Lewis.
He said that Queensland "are really struggling" at the moment.
He added the communication in the team was poor all night, and Paul Green needed to work his magic to fix those problems in the side.
However, he added that performance was "as good a performance he's seen from New South Wales" since Origin started.
By Simon Smale
Tom Trbojevic named Channel Nine's man of the match
I mean, pretty hard to argue against that.
He told Paul Gallen, "I think we started the game really well".
"It's pretty special.
"It was a really quick game, I went a bit roaming, I was lucky enough to come up with a couple of those plays."
He did pop up all over the park, which he was able to do in such a dominant side, but he was very fluid in his positioning, total rugby league, if you like.
Turbo also said that he was looking forward to attempting to win the series in the cauldron, Lang Park.
"It's always great to play in an arena like that."
By Simon Smale
A Queensland inquest?
Coach Paul Green discussing the events with halves, Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans plus Valentine Holmes, along with Queensland legend Johnathan Thurston.
By Simon Smale
Attitude issue?
Gus Gould just described that as a very un-Queensland performance on Channel Nine.
He said there will likely be some personnel changes for Game II and that one of the problems with the performance from Queensland was "attitude".
By Simon Smale
Brad Fittler is understandably thrilled with his side's performance
"To watch any team play like they played like that tonight .. I think everyone can appreciate a team that play like that tonight," Fittler said, while acknowledging that might not be the case for many Queenslanders at the moment.
"To watch players play like that and watch them back each other like that, it brings me a lot of joy."
Fittler said the players have to enjoy what they've achieved, and that they have a good opportunity to win the series in Brisbane.
"I think they've got to enjoy what they've just done," Fittler said.
"We've got a great opportunity to go down to [Lang Park] and we're not won a game there in the last three years ... we know what the atmosphere will be like ... it's a big goal for us."
Fittler called the defensive effort at the end of the game to deny Queensland a try was "the play of the day" and the side would take that play to Brisbane.
By Simon Smale
'I’m very sorry to all the fans': Capewell on ABC Grandstand
A very emotional Kurt Capewell spoke to Zane Bojack on ABC Grandstand after the match.
By Simon Smale
'[Trbojevic] is a freak of the footy player': Luai
Nathan Cleary, who was superb in the middle with his Panthers teammate Jarome Luai, paid credit to the Origin debutants.
"Definitely feels good," he said.
"There's obviously two more games to go but enjoy the win tonight."
Cleary said the buildup during the week is what laid the foundation for the win.
"It was a really enjoyable week. I think we connected well this week and as I said we had a few guys coming back into the team, Turbo, Trel, Tariq Sims back in the team as well.
"They brought new energy to the team and I thought everyone was outstanding tonight."
Luai, meanwhile, paid credit to Tom Trbojevic as being the difference maker.
"He is a freak of the footy player. Has a really good feel for the game. Ended up left back a couple of times. Just knows where to go to get the ball. He is a freak," Luai said.
By Simon Smale
Damien Cook: 'We've got to do it again that's why it is a three-game series'
"There was lot of hard work put into the game at the start," Cook said.
"I thought our guys on debut tonight did a great job so we've got some stars in our outside backs and felt like we laid a good platform in the middle and [the backs] did the rest.
"What we saw at the end was probably the best part of the game," Cook said, "Freddy will be happy."
Cook added that he enjoyed playing with the Blues star-studded backline.
"They're impressive and playing good footy. I'm lucky enough to play alongside Latrell every weekend. He looked like he was having fun and we've got to do it again that's why it is a three-game series."
By Simon Smale
Cherry-Evans: 'We've got to shrug it off'
Daly Cherry-Evans told Darren Lockyer how much that hurt.
"That hurts a fair bit, mate. Yeah, [we] just missed it. Missed the jump, mate," Chery-Evans said.
"[We] had a good chat at half time then came back out and didn't learn from our mistakes so we've got lot of improvement left in us and the Blues were good tonight, mate.
"Felt like we just continually on the back foot, not sure what it looked like but we were just always trying to keep them down their end and they just continually got out of theirs.
Cherry-Evans said, despite the disappointing scoreline, that Queensland could bounce back in Brisbane in Game II.
"[We've] got lot of work to do. They're a good side but I think we can bounce back," Cherry-Evans said.
"We knew we were up against a good side tonight. Like I said, we got a lot of improvement left in us, mate. That was a really disappointing effort and we had the luxury of a game coming up here to Queensland and we didn't entertain that at all, didn't give them what we were hoping we were going to give them.
"Two games left, mate. We've got to shrug it off. We've got to."
By Simon Smale
'We've got the best players in the game': Tedesco
James Tedesco is speaking to Paul Gallen
"No, it's pretty crazy. We knew we had a great side we've got the best players in the game," Tedesco said.
"We knew if we worked together as a team we'd put in a good performance, but 50 points is really pleasing."
Tedesco says the Blues defence was particularly pleasing.
"[Defence] wins Origin games. We were up by 50 [at the end] and didn't need to scramble like we did.
"That's the heart it would needed to show. Didn't show it enough last year. To keep Queensland to 6 points is awesome."
By Simon Smale
FULL TIME: Queensland 6-50 New South Wales
Biggest winning margin for the Blues ever.
A hat-trick for Tom Trbojevic. Two for Latrell Mitchell, two for Brian To'o.
It was a perfect night for New South Wales.
By Simon Smale
80th minute: The Blues defence has been awesome tonight, scragging the Maroons early in every move.
The Maroons only made 30 metres in that play - sure, they're only fighting for pride, but they've been out classed in every aspect here.
By Simon Smale
78th minute: The Blues will work the ball out from their own 5 metres.
Nothing fancy from the Blues, just working the ball up the middle, but easy metres compared to when the Maroons attempt the same.
Feldt takes the high kick on his own 20 and the Maroons will have another attempt to reduce the deficit.
By Simon Smale
74th minute: Queensland gest the knock on decision, which NSW challenged just for the sake of challenging, I assume. A poor play of the ball and that's the game.
Latrell Mitchell tried to intercept, but knocks on in doing so. Queensland scrum 30m metres out, centre field. Can they make an attacking move work?
Holmes and Feldt trying to break down the right, there's no way through. It's too easy to read for the Blues.
Queensland gets a repeat set, Latrell Mitchell comes out the line and is beaten by Coates, but he wastes the chance.
Coates jumps up and finally claims a kick, gets an offload inside, but Gagai can't get over the line!
Great defence from the Blues.
By Simon Smale
73rd minute: Holmes has come close after Cherry-Evans had a look down the short side, but was stopped a couple of metres short of the line.
Then Queensland slam the ball into Luai on the last, but did he play at it? Apparently not, Capewell went for a run on the wrap-around but then boots the ball dead and another move ends in disappointment for Queensland.
By Simon Smale
71st minute: Queensland are traversing the field sideways quite effectively, but when they want to straighten, it goes all wrong for them.
Clearly now effects the one-on-one strip on Tino Fa'asuamaleaui. That's right. Half back on biggest prop you've ever seen. If that doesn't tell the story of the game I don't know what does.
