Cleary needs to play five-eighth if Blues are to win decider. It worked in the 2023 grand final

July 7, 2026 — 5:00am

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“The toughest rugby league game I have ever seen,” is Paul Sironen’s verdict on the 2024 State of Origin decider in Brisbane. It’s rare praise from a man who played 14 Origin games for NSW, winning all four series in which he played every game.

Nine NSW players back up on Wednesday night from that furious 2024 contest, won 14-4 by the Blues.

Mitchell Moses is again in the halves, but splitting duties with Nathan Cleary, who replaces Jarome Luai.

If NSW are to win this year’s final game, again in Brisbane, it is crucial that Cleary moves to five-eighth at critical times and snaps his hoodoo of losing every Origin decider.

It is the key to the enigma of Cleary having only a 47 per cent success rate in Origin, yet winning four consecutive NRL premierships and two Clive Churchill Medals as man of the match in a grand final.

In this year’s first Origin match, Cleary played half and Ethan Strange five-eighth, and both orchestrated the Blues comeback after Queensland’s Kalyn Ponga was sent off.

In the second match, Moses replaced Strange and neither he nor Cleary played five-eighth.

They rarely combined, playing like two NRL halfbacks anchored on opposite sides of the field.

Cleary’s greatest performance was in the 2023 grand final against Brisbane when he engineered three tries in 14 minutes to turn a 24-8 deficit into an improbable 26-24 victory.

Cleary........

© Brisbane Times