State of Origin 2026: Queensland Maroons demolish NSW Blues in Game 2 at the MCG, score, reaction, Game 3 date

Well, they certainly didn’t start slow this time.

But a horror collapse from the Blues has seen Queensland demolish New South Wales 44-24 in Game 2 on Wednesday night to send the 2026 series to a decider.

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The Blues led 12-2 after 22 minutes but were outscored 36-12 in the second half as the Maroons targeted winger Brian To’o, who looked helpless in the face of an aerial onslaught.

It wasn’t all on To’o though, with the Blues struggling to contain a rampaging Maroons forward pack which came to life later in the game while Queensland’s dynamic outside backs were also causing all kinds of problems against a retreating NSW defence.

Queensland completely dominated on the stats sheet, with 58 percent possession (their most in a game since 2015), 37 tackles to 24 in the attacking 20, and 10 linebreaks to two (their most linebreaks in a game since 2001), while the Maroons ran for almost 300 metres more in total than NSW. 

All eyes were on when Reece Walsh and Ethan Strange would get on the field and in the end Billy Slater didn’t need to turn to the Broncos fullback as Queensland raced out to a big lead in the second half.

Laurie Daley, on the other hand, opted to leave Blues hooker Apisai Koroisau on the bench in a curious call.

While it was expected that either Addin Fonua-Blake or Ethan Strange would miss out, Daley brought Fonua-Blake on in a bid to halt Queensland’s momentum through the middle.

It left him in an awkward position and with the game quickly getting out of hand, he went to Strange in a desperate attempt to chase down points that fell short in the end.

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The Maroons were on the board first in Wednesday’s game through a Sam Walker penalty goal, but disaster struck off the ensuing kick-off as Tom Flegler coughed up possession on the opening hit-up.

The ball bounced up perfectly for Blues debutant Mark Nawaqanitawase, who offloaded to Kotoni Staggs as the Blues centre crossed over for a gift of a try to give NSW an early 6-2 lead.

The dream start for the Blues continued as Nawaqanitawase scored on debut, with Nathan Cleary firing a perfect cut-out pass to the winger after Cameron Munster failed to secure the last-tackle kick.

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Everything was trending towards a dominant NSW win at that point, with the Maroons’ woes compounded as they lost both Munster and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui briefly to head injury assessments.

But just as the Blues turned to a more mobile forward pack with Cameron Murray and Victor Radley injected into the game, Fa’asuamaleaui returned to the field and made an immediate impact.

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The Queensland front rower finished the first half with 65 metres, which ranked the most out of any Maroons forward, and helped Slater’s side get going after a slow start.

It was an electric run from Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, however, that turned the tide of the game as he slipped past both Staggs and Dylan Lucas to help set up Queensland’s first try as a string of passes ended with Trent Loiero going over next to the posts.

It left the halftime scoreline at 12-8 in NSW’s favour, but Queensland looked to be gaining ascendancy and that continued early in the second half as the Blues struggled to get easy metres through the middle.

The Maroons, on the other hand, were starting to poke holes through the middle of the Blues defence and hit the lead for the first time in the game as Selwyn Cobbo went over in the 46th minute.

That came after Robert Toia came down with the Walker bomb, with Max Plath brilliantly linking with Munster who summed up the situation perfectly and kicked to a wide-open Cobbo on the wing.

A few minutes later Cobbo had a double as Queensland exposed To’o’s height disadvantage, with the Panthers winger putting down the last-tackle bomb to gift the Maroons a full set on the Blues line.

They were quick to capitalise as quick hands from Walker helped set up an overlap for Cobbo to score and it was just the start of To’o’s nightmare, with the NSW winger targeted again a few sets later.

To’o had a night to forget in Game 1 with three errors in the first half, but this time he was looking lost trying to win aerial contests as he completely missed a Munster kick that was latched onto by Jojo Fifita.

The Blues looked to have been gifted a way back into the game after Lindsay Collins was controversially ruled to have knocked the ball on in the following set, with Nawaqanitawase scoring his second try to close the gap.

But it all went downhill from there as Staggs was binned for a high shot on Kalyn Ponga in backplay as the Maroons extended their lead once again through Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

Collins then scored as Harry Grant broke through the middle of the Blues defence before Cobbo stretched out to bring up a hat-trick.

The Blues scored a late consolation try through Mitch Barnett, but it meant little with the series now headed to a decider at Suncorp Stadium on July 8.

STAT ATTACK (via Fox Lab)

– Queensland’s second highest score in Origin history – behind only a 52-6 win in 2015. Only their second win of 20 points or more outside of Brisbane (38-10 at Accor in 2024).

– The biggest crowd (91,671 Crowd) in Origin history, eclipsing the previous biggest at the same venue in 2015

– 68 points is the second highest scoring Origin match in history. Behind only 72 points in game 3 2000 (NSW 56-16). The previous most points in a non game 3 game was 56 points at the MCG in 2024 (NSW 38-18).

– 36 second half points for Queensland, which was the equal most ever (Qld previous best was 30 in Game 3 2015).

– Queensland snap a four game losing streak at the MCG. Their previous highest score there was 20 points in 1995. The team winning at a neutral venue has won the series on 13 of the previous 15 occasions.

– NSW has now lost all five matches making at least 4 personnel changes after a win in game 1 or 2.

– Of the previous 14 deciders to be played in Brisbane, the Maroons have won 10 (1983, 1987, 1991, 2001, 2011-12, 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2022) and the Blues three (1994, 2005, and 2024); along with a draw in 1999 (QLD retained)

– Queensland completely dominated the stats for the match, with 58 percent possession (their most in a game since 2015), having 37 tackles to 24 in the attacking 20, making 10 linebreaks to 2 (their most linebreaks in a game since 2001) running for almost 300 metres more in total than NSW.

– Selwyn Cobbo grabbed his first Origin hattrick. His only other scoring game was a double at the Adelaide Oval in 2023.

– Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scored his 13th Origin try in his 12th game. He joins Valentine Holmes as the third highest scoring player in SOO history behind only Greg Inglis (18) and Darius Boyd (17).

– Sam Walker kicked 8 from 8 goals for 16 points – the equal third most points for a QLD player all time (Thurston and Tuquiri both scored 18 points in a match on one occasion).

– Lindsay Collins grabbed his first SOO try in his 17th appearance.

Fox Lab POTM – Cameron Munster was back to his best form, leading the Maroons to a dominant victory. He directly set up two tries and had a hand in two others, ran 11 times and made 17 tackles.

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