There will be a nominal ‘decider’ in Brisbane. But the Origin series is already over

June 18, 2026 — 5:00am

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Something weird can happen to those north of the Tweed River when they head south of the Murray.

The Once-Mighty Queenslanders can just look like queenslanders. Of course, they dominate in Brisbane. And it is just about a matter of faith that even when playing in NSW, they grow an extra leg, put on 10kg of muscle and play with enough heart to make Phar Lap envious.

But at the MCG? Mehhhhh.

In attack, they can be flat-footed, in defence, round-heeled. And they have pretty much ever been thus. Going into Wednesday night’s match, they’d registered just one win at the MCG in three decades. One lousy victory in six times at bat!

And so it looked to be in the first half. Of the Maroons team that had completely terrorised NSW in Sydney three weeks ago – before Kalyn Ponga was sent off and the Blues had snuck an exceedingly lucky win – there was no sign. In that first 40 minutes, it was........

© The Sydney Morning Herald