Someone flipped the scripts, flicked the switch and a guy called Nathan Cleary turned everything on its head

July 8, 2026 — 10:55pm

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Who saw that, coming?

I, for one, did not. And with the exception of Tom Decent – the sole Herald pundit who predicted a Blues win – none of us did. A moment, please, while we scrape the scrambled eggs off our face and go on with it.

The first and most obvious thing to say is that in the first half NSW were simply stunning, while Queensland just did not look like themselves. All of us were expecting the Maroons Lions to simply tear the blinking Blues Christians apart in the Colosseum, only to find that someone flipped the scripts, flicked the switch and turned everything turvy-topsy.

Suddenly, before our very eyes, the Christians in the Colosseum started back-slamming the lions! Payne Haas and Stephen Crichton were running riot for the Blues while it was Harry Grant and Cameron Munster who were being cut in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald