Queensland got what they deserved from Laurie’s Losers

July 9, 2026 — 5:00am

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Laurie Daley is too nice to say he told you so. But he told you so.

Daley’s maligned Blues of 2026 have joined the rare vintages of 1994, 2005 and 2024, those fabled NSW heroes who have won Origin deciders in Brisbane. So dismissed were their chances in the lead-up to this match, a casual observer might have assumed they had already lost the series in Sydney and Melbourne. It was an optical illusion, just like the illusion that Daley had no idea how to select or coach a winning team.

On Wednesday night the Blues found the balance between control and brutality, played the match they drew up on their whiteboards, and achieved the improbable. Over 80 enchanted minutes at Lang Park, Laurie’s Losers cooked up a Daley Special.

Fittingly, the most contentious of Daley’s selections contributed most to the 18-point first half that set up the win.

Mitchell Moses’s long kicking game, a succession of raking 60-metre punts, put his teammates in position to force the errors that gave the Blues an irresistible........

© The Sydney Morning Herald