NSW 50 Queensland 6
When new Queensland coach Paul Green said "they're a better team than us", who knew how right he would be?
With Queensland getting a bonus home game with the MCG match moved to Townsville, it was always supposed to be close.
No one expected one of the biggest Origin drubbings in history.
In front of the biggest crowd at Townsville's new Queensland Country Bank Stadium that was largely Maroons dominated, NSW has turned in its biggest ever victory in Origin history.
The Blues were one try away from the biggest tally in State of Origin history — NSW 56-16 in game 3 2000 — and two points short of the biggest ever win — Queensland 52-6 in game 3 2015.
In front of a sell-out crowd bringing the noise at the brand spanking new stadium, Queensland were humiliated as Tom Trbojevic claimed a hat-trick, and Latrell Mitchell and Brian To'o scored doubles.
While the Blues claimed their biggest ever win, the most important number is 1-0, with NSW ahead but still a win away from winning back the Origin shield.
After 13 series defeats in 15 season, the Blues will know all about it, while Queensland will no doubt use the sting of the trashing to come back stronger — they always do.
"That hurts a fair bit, mate," Queensland coach Daly Cherry-Evans said. "Just missed it, missed the jump. Had a good chat at halftime 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.
"Two games left, mate. We've got to shrug it off. We've got to."
Blues skipper James Tedesco said the crushing win was "pretty crazy".
"We knew we had a great side we've got the best players in the game," he added. "We knew if we worked together as to team we'd put in a good performance but 50 points is really pleasing."
Post-match, Fox League's Michael Ennis said that Queensland weren't playing the same game as the Blues.
"I thought Queensland played a club-style of footy rather than an Origin style of footy tonight," Michael Ennis said. "I felt like NSW really adjusted their aggression into an Origin style of performance but I also felt that they got the important stuff right tonight. That's running hard, winning that battle through the middle, kicking long. They were patient but they didn't have to be patient for long because Queensland fell apart."
The Blues won two series in a row in 2018 and 2019 before master coach Wayne Bennett helped the Maroons cause a boilover last year, winning the series 2-1.
Here's how the action unfolded:
'Our heart goes out to Kath’s husband, their children, friends and whānau.'