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State of Origin 2017: NSW players ill, in silence after crazy first half

Adam Pengilly
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Exhausted NSW players were on the verge of being physically ill and sat in almost silence in the sheds at half-time after one of the most frenetic openings to a State of Origin match in recent memory.

Several of the Blues stars buckled over when they returned to their rooms underneath Suncorp Stadium shortly after Mitchell Pearce's try on the stroke of half-time broke Queensland hearts – and broke the series wide open – following a brutal 40 minutes.

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The Blues recorded their biggest ever victory on enemy soil, defeating Queensland 28-4.

The Maroons completed every set they had, while the Blues made only one mistake in a near faultless beginning – which was devoid of any meaningful stoppages given Matt Cecchin put the whistle away to let the game flow.

And it was only when they were out of the public eye that the true toll of the first half was revealed after both teams' exploits in the first half earned rave reviews.

"I tried my hardest to spew at half-time and couldn't get anything up," Blues winger Brett Morris said. "A couple of blokes walked in at half-time and were pretty close to spewing, just out on their feet.

"Everyone was struggling. We had to sit down and have quiet time just to get our breath back. Origin's one of those things. You take your body to places it doesn't usually go to and don't reach in club football. A few guys at half-time were worse for wear.

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"Actually I think both sides at that stage were pretty well out on their feet and to get that try was huge. It's been a while since I've played [Origin] and the lungs were definitely burning."

Morris soldiered on with a knee problem after falling awkwardly in a first-half tackle as debutant Nathan Peats scrambled to play a full 80 minutes with a badly corked thigh.

Having been recalled to the NSW set-up after Blues shoo-in Tom Trbojevic went down with injury on the cusp of earning his first Origin jersey, Morris finally has a chance to play a role in a series-clinching win in his seventh year of trying.

But for a moment he thought that might not have been possible.

"I think the initial shock of it [was the worst]," he said. "I've had a couple of knee injuries and you always think the worse when something like that happens. It was caught in a funny position, but once I figured out it wasn't too bad I was all right. If it's a little niggle you can get through it."

Morris and Jarryd Hayne reunited on NSW's dangerous left flank having played together in Australia's victorious World Cup campaign, but they could face a different combination in Origin II given Billy Slater's credentials for a recall.

Justin O'Neill looms as the fall guy should the Queensland selectors try to squeeze Slater or Valentine Holmes into the squad.

And Morris knows Slater is likely to be at ANZ Stadium as Queensland's Origin dynasty is under threat of crumbling spectacularly.

"We've won game one up here, but we haven't won anything yet," Morris said. "We've still got a big job and looking at their side they've got a couple of guys they can maybe call into their squad and [Johnathan] Thurston coming back from injury as well.

"I don't think Darius Boyd had a bad game, but we've all seen what Billy Slater has done in this arena and he's playing good football for his club. I wouldn't be surprised if they did [pick Slater]."

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