New South Wales's new era got off to a shocking start, losing 38-10 to Queensland in State of Origin Game I after playing more than 70 minutes down to 12 men.
Joseph Sua'a'li'i was sent off by referee Ashley Klein following a horror high, late hit on Queensland fullback Reece Walsh after just eight minutes.
Despite playing a man down, the Blues gave a brave account of themselves, playing for long periods deep inside the Maroons half, scoring two tries through James Tedesco and Zac Lomax.
However, the Maroons struck often and brutally to seal victory thanks to a hat-trick from Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, a Ben Hunt brace and a try to Xavier Coates.
All the post-match discussion will centre on the send off of Sua'ali'i, with Blues skipper Jake Trbojevic saying he "didn't expect him to get sent off; just because of the enormity of the game," and coach Michael Maguire describing it as a "big call" in the post-match press conference.
But despite the protestations of the Blues, there could be no argument on the justification for the sixth send off in Origin history.
Part of the Blues's game plan clearly centred around targeting the Broncos fullback — Walsh was first hit late after making his very first kick of the game.
But Sua'ali'i took matters too far with a shocking charge that left the 21-year-old Queenslander stricken on the Olympic stadium turf and Billy Slater seething in the coaches box, telling Channel 9 that they would not want to know his immediate thoughts on the tackle.
One-time rugby union target Sua'ali'i flew out of the line and, leaving the ground as he did so, made high contact with the point of his shoulder to the head of Walsh, leaving referee Klein few options.
"Very dangerous action, direct contact to the head with the shoulder. You're off," said Klein in front of stunned Blues skipper Jake Trbojevic and a shocked 80,000-strong crowd.
The NRL later hit Sua'a'li'i with a four-game ban for a reckless high tackle with an early plea, which will raise up to five should he fight the charge and lose.
The Maroons had already taken the lead in the contest, using a seven-tackle set to charge upfield off the back of a powerful Jeremiah Nanai charge.
Player of the match Daly Cherry-Evans picked and went off the fifth-tackle play from dummy half, surprising the Blues left-edge defence, before passing inside to Hunt who crashed over for the opening score.
The 12-man Blues recovered well from the initial shock of Sua'ali'i's send off, Jarome Luai cutting back against the grain on the last tackle before poking a kick through for last-minute recalled Tedesco to score under the posts.
However, the Maroons ran rampant with two near-identical tries, targeting the undermanned right edge defence.
Offloads from Jayden Su'A and Selwyn Cobbo saw Murray Taulagi gather one-handed down the undermanned right side of the Blues defence, before Tabuai-Fidow received the final pass to continue his exceptional Origin scoring record.
Soon after, the Maroons again moved the ball to that weak right side, Cobbo again playing a massive role in setting up the try.
Running to the left touchline, Cobbo bumped off Zac Lomax and then drove through the ineffectual Hynes to offload to Taulagi, who once again found Tabuai-Fidow to score.
Having fielded questions about the merits of Cobbo's selection on the bench, Billy Slater will have felt vindicated immediately, his side leading 20-6 after just 25 minutes.
The Blues though, did not give up — at half-time they had made 24 play-the-balls inside the Maroons 20. The Maroons, just one.
A big part of that dominance was Spencer Leniu's introduction, who ran hard from the moment he entered the field and could have scored but for some more Tabuai-Fidow brilliance, getting himself under the Roosters forward before wrestling the ball out of his hands.
After the half-time break the Blues again started brightly and added another short-handed score, Lomax leaping high to gather a pin-point Hynes kick over the head of Cobbo to galvanise the crowd and have the Blues players dreaming of a miracle comeback so common of those orchestrated by Queensland down the years.
However, the Maroons broke the tiring Blues' hearts, first with the tightest of 40:20 kicks from Cherry-Evans, then by scoring two length-of-the-field scores to win the game.
The first was finished by Hunt, ending a move that saw Cobbo and Valentine Holmes to break the line up to half way, with Hunt finishing things off from 40 metres.
Then, moments later, Hunt saved a try with a tackle of Crichton, before Isaah Yeo threw an intercept to Cherry-Evans, who was chased down 30 metres from the line, his perfect kick sitting up nicely for Xavier Coates to dot down.
Tabuai-Fidow finished things off for the Maroons, completing his hat-trick with his eighth Origin try in just his fifth appearance.
In the cold light of day, the Blues will be able to take plenty from the match despite the defeat as they look ahead of the series' second match at the MCG on June 26.
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
The Maroons are 1-0 up in the series after a confusing and dramatic opening match.
We'll have plenty more in the wash-up in the coming days, but for now we'll leave you with the highlights from the series opener.
Have a good night and we'll see you back here for Women's Origin II tomorrow night.
Queensland coach Billy Slater isn't going to be drawn on whether the Blues were targeting Reece Walsh illegally or if Joseph Sua'ali'i should have been sent off.
"I've no idea, but I'll keep my feelings on that to myself," he says in his post-match press conference.
Captain Daly Cherry-Evans is a little more forthcoming
"Yeah, pretty standard," he says.
"Probably not too much to argue about. Refs are under pressure out there and they made the right decision."
And in the aftermath, Slater says he was immensely proud of the way his team adjusted after losing their fullback in the eighth minute.
"I'm always proud of this footy team; the way they prepare, the way they carry themselves," he says.
"I thought the team's adapted to adversity the last three years. Last year at Adelaide we had both our wingers go off the field, we had centres playing on the wing, we had Dave Fifita playing in the centres, Ben Hunt was playing in the centres.
"The team's been accustomed to adapt to adversity and that's no different to tonight.
"I thought hammer was great slipping back to that fullback position.
"Hindsight's a great thing. [Having Selwyn Cobbo on the bench] worked out in our favour."
NSW coach Michael Maguire and captain Jake Trbojevic have both questioned if Joseph Sua'ali'i should have been sent off for his high shot on Reece Walsh.
Sua'ali'i has been hit with a grade two reckless high tackle. He'll be banned for four weeks with an early guilty plea or five weeks if he fights it and loses.
"It was a tough one," Trbojevic says in his post-match press conference.
"I didn't expect him to get sent off; just because of the enormity of the game."
Maguire drew a comparison to Taylan May's head clash with Walsh, which broke the Broncos fullback's eye socket earlier in the year.
"Earlier on in the year he ended up with a broken [eye socket] and there was no send-off, so it's a big call at this level.
"I think it's a massive call for a game like this. … This one was line ball because he was actually falling. Big call in a big game like this."
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As we keep saying, the Blues showed remarkable grit in this game, which is what we'd expect from this time beat as it was built. But they looked shoddy in attack, which was the concern going in as well.
Nicho Hynes was the fourth best half out there tonight and will face a real challenge from Mitchell Moses, who was the incumbent coming into the series and was immense in his return from injury last week as his Eels put the Sharks to the sword.
"The kicking game was inconsistent," legendary NSW halfback Andrew Johns says on Channel Nine.
"It's so hard on the halves because they haven't played together at all, [but] what we saw of Moses last week, his kicking game is probably up there with the best in the competition."
The other big move from Michael Maguire was the inclusion of Jake Trbojevic as captain, but Penrith skipper Isaah Yeo spent most of the night with the armband after he subbed on for Jurbo after 25 minutes.
The ultimate worker in defence and king of the grind in the middle, Trbojevic wasn't the sort of player NSW needed after going behind 20-6; impact prop Spencer Leniu was.
So Trbojevic stayed on the bench until the game was well and truly gone and only got back on in the 76th minute.
Maguire made him captain because he embodied the spirit with which he wanted NSW to play, but it's a problem if he can only play in one specific type of game.
The captaincy won't change, but I think Dylan Edwards will come back in at fullback if he proves his fitness, and Maguire will have a good long look at Moses for Game II.
Plenty to unpack from that game for both coaches.
Michael Maguire will be disappointed by the loss but no doubt impressed by the fight the Blues showed when down to 12 men for 90 per cent of the match.
There will be some concerns for Billy Slater, albeit soothed by the 28-point win, after his team basically went to sleep for a long stretch after hitting the front 20-6 after 20 minutes.
Remember there was a time when we wondered if Harry Grant was going to bump Ben Hunt off the team? Can't believe how much the old fellas Hunt and DCE keep getting better.
- J...
I, like most people, think Harry Grant is the best hooker in the NRL and he's had some masterful State of Origin performances, but tonight Ben Hunt was the better player.
Grant did make some good metres through the middle, but Hunt's control, nous and extra kicking option was invaluable and more impactful.
Plus he made two enormous plays with that late try and a try-saver on Stephen Crichton just before DCE's intercept.
Selwyn Cobbo's inclusion on the bench was questioned when it was announced, but my god did it pay off.
No doubt Billy Slater had a plan even if there wasn't an injury, but of course this was always a possibility and has happened repeatedly in Origin clashes.
When Reece Walsh went down, I'm sure there was a small part of Billy Slater that smiled, knowing that he had the perfect replacement.
"Billy's a smart coach like that. Anything can happen in the origin arena," Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow told ABC Sport.
I wondered if Cobbo would go to the back so as not to disrupt the backline, but sending Tabuai-Fidow to fullback proved to be the right call with three classic fullback's tries.
"We didn't train for someone to get injured but we did train for something to change," Daly Cherry-Evans said.
I would have been tempted to give it to Lindsay Collins, but I can't argue with the Queensland halfback and captain.
"I'm in a really good side at the moment. As you get older you get a lot of experience and you know what your strengths and weaknesses are. I'm just trying to play to that."
The game-sealing intercept and second try assist, the 40/20, a linebreak assist, and 442 kicking metres. I'm not going to say he doesn't 100 per cent deserve this, I just wish forwards got more awards.
No matter which way you slice it, 38-10 is a lopsided result, but Pat Carrigan tells us it was just as much of a fight as it appeared.
"They made us work for it. It's a credit to what they're doing in New South Wales," the Queensland lock tells ABC Sport.
"We got a bit antsy and were trying to score off too many plays and they just pinned us in the corners and teed off."
NSW fullback James Tedesco says the Blues held on as long as they could, but just couldn't hang in there while down a man for 70 minutes.
"We fought hard but when you have 12 men for 70 minutes it just wears you down," Tedesco says.
"I'm proud of the effort … but the fatigue kicked in."
Queensland wins the State of Origin opener 38-10 in emphatic fashion and that is a massive moment as the series moves away from NSW's home patch and won't be returning.
The Maroons were electrifying tonight and the highlights will make for entertaining viewing, but there were a couple of moments that were a bit more worrying for them than you'd expect considering the scoreline.
After debutant centre Joseph Sua'ali'i was sent off after just eight minutes, the Blues copped those two tries down the left, but then showed some remarkable fight and aimed up for the next 40 or so minutes.
They were on top for a good amount of this game, but eventually fatigue took its toll and the Maroons struck and struck and struck.
The Maroons get an intercept as NSW throws the ball every which way in desperation, and that's red rag to a bull.
The Maroons fling it left one last time, but this time Tom Dearden straightens, breaks through the line and pops the ball back inside to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to dive in for his third.
The NSW captain's spent most of this game on the sidelines.
He was subbed on 25 minutes and only returns now. Interesting for the skipper, although I can't really argue with the substitutions.
NSW needed strike through the middle, and that's not his go.
The Maroons go left and get dumped into touch, but Nicho Hynes has gone down clutching at a calf.
Hopefully just cramp, but I don't think he'll be there in Game II anyway.
The Maroons truck it up the field and end the set with ball in hand, taking a tackle on NSW's tryline.
The Blues will have to go 100 metres.
Ben Hunt comes up with a try-saver on Stephen Crichton and the Blues spin it left, but Isaah Yeo's pass second off the ruck is swooped on by Daly Cherry Evans, who hits it in stride and flies up the park.
The defence of Brian To'o closes and just before he gets there, DCE kicks off the outside of his right boot and it holds up just inside the in-goal for the flying Xavier Coates to touch down.
DCE writes himself into another chapter of State of Origin folklore.
The Maroons deny James Tedesco centimetres short of the tryline, but then a knock-on from Valentine Holmes hands it straight back to them in phenomenal field position.
This team has been inspirational tonight. They WILL NOT give in.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow cleans up on the tryline as the ball bounces off the post and offloads to Murray Taulagi on his tryline.
Selwyn Cobbo takes a hit-up crabs across field and breaks through the middle, unleashing Valentine Holmes, who's dragged down by a miraculous diving tackle from Brian To'o.
But Ben Hunt, who's only just come back on the field, swoops into dummy half and beats two defenders to score from 40 metres out.
Liam Martin comes up with a massive hit on J'maine Hopgood and he somehow holds onto the ball.
But Reuben Cotter doesn't! The next play is another knock-on from nowhere by a Maroons middle.
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