Young saviour and an answered prayer deliver Blues incredible Origin win

Source : ABC NEWS

When New South Wales found themselves in the depths of hell in State of Origin I, they looked to the heavens and asked for deliverance.

But they needn’t have. The means of their salvation was within them the whole time, even as the scoreboard mounted and another Queensland ambush seemed to turn Stadium Australia into a cold and bloodless citadel.

In Ethan Strange and James Tedesco, they were gifted a young saviour and an answered prayer, and their efforts in the Blues’ astounding 22-20 victory are the stuff of Origin legend.

They are two men at opposite ends of time. Strange is 21, and this was his New South Wales debut. It came on two days’ notice, but that didn’t matter. He plays like a hell-diver, fearless even at midnight in the belly of the beast, because he is too young ever to be afraid.

Tedesco is 33, the oldest player in the series, the Blues’ living legend of these times. He is back after some time away, and he will do anything to make these days last a little bit longer.

They were not alone in pulling off the greatest comeback in Origin history or in resurrecting a cause that looked hopeless until Kalyn Ponga’s send-off with 22 minutes remaining.

The Blues don’t win this game without Ponga’s dismissal, and the advantage shook New South Wales out of the lethargy that had engulfed them through the opening hour. 

Hudson Young, whose time in the Canberra chaos machine makes him no stranger to events that defy the laws of rugby league, had his best Origin match and was strong even before the flashpoint. 

But for others, having something to target in the depleted Queenslanders brought out the killer in them. 

Stephen Crichton, on a difficult night where errors plagued him, had his best Origin moment when he linked with Strange for the latter’s second-half try.

Kotoni Staggs proved he is built for this land of wolves, acting as a hunter in attack and a punisher in defence, while Victor Radley played with blatant disregard for what would happen to him next.

And, of course, Nathan Cleary went some way to silencing those final doubters of his greatness with a final ten minutes where he returned to whatever plane of existence he found in the final minutes of the 2023 grand final against Brisbane.

The order of events was different, but the result — a try, a try assist and a 40/20 inside the final 15 minutes to help tear his team out of the grave — was the same.

Cleary’s ultimate Origin legacy will remain an endless fuel for the take furnace until this series is decided, but he would not have been in the position to bring the Blues home were it not for Strange. Cleary took them home, but Strange lit the way.

As Queensland stormed to their 20-0 lead, Strange threatened to join the legions of Origin debutants who blink and miss their maiden voyage in interstate football.

But his first big moment was also his state’s — a hit on Cameron Munster forced Queensland’s first error of the night after a perfect Maroon opening. Young scored soon thereafter, and the Blues had a pulse.

After the second half, the good stuff kept coming. It was Strange’s pass that put Tolu Koula away down the sideline before Ponga’s shoulder charge.

He had a try disallowed for obstruction, then scored one on a brilliant interchange of passing with Young and Crichton.

Strange slammed the ball into his own forehead afterwards, like he does when he scores big tries for the Raiders. 

He himself isn’t sure why he does that — it’s just a little piece of madness that feels right.

As the half continued, Strange’s running game came to the fore, and, with a state on his shoulders, he could carry the weight. 

Strange wasn’t perfect — he was penalised for a pass off the ground as the Blues were on the attack and searching for the winner — but nobody ever entered folklore by painting all the way inside the lines.

Tedesco calls upon experience

Tedesco wasn’t perfect either. His bad pass forced an error from Haumole Olakau’atu when the tryline was begging in the second half, and had the Blues not won it, it would have been the edge of the knives being sharpened for him.

But Tedesco’s superpower, the hallmark of his magnificent Origin career, is that he never stops moving and never stops going.

Harness his energy, distil his desire into fuel for the rest of us, and you’ll solve the energy crisis. But it cannot belong to anyone else. It exists in him alone.

He was strong under the high ball all night, in attack and defence. Queensland went after him, but Tedesco kept finding the air up there, and even before his final try, his kick chase on Cleary’s bombs had drawn two penalties and forced several errors from the Maroons back three.

It took every bit of Tedesco’s desire and Strange’s hunger to bring the Blues home, and plenty of other things besides. This comeback is inextricably linked to Ponga’s send-off, and that is the hinge on which the game swung.

But it had to swing on something, and when they chalk it up in the history books, there are no asterisks or explainers, just the score, carved out of blood and bone.

There is still much to be done in this series and perhaps further legends to be made. 

The Blues will not get a second chance like this again if they don’t start stronger in Melbourne. 

Queensland are in the kind of hurt that you only hear about in sad country songs, but they are always at their most dangerous when badly wounded. 

They will rightly feel like, were it not for the Ponga send-off, they would have gotten home handily, and it creates a fascinating dynamic for the MCG in a few weeks. 

But that’s a problem for the future, and this was a classic, the kind the game was crying out for, and that’s worth breathing in. Tedesco has had so many great Origin moments and, judging from this game, Strange will have many more to come.

On this night, they collided in history, past and future incarnate, and brought their team back. But it wasn’t a resurrection because the Blues were buried alive until Strange and Tedesco dug them up.