Moses delivers Immortal performance as Blues massacre Maroons at MCG in record-breaking Origin rout

Mitchell Moses evoked memories of Andrew Johns at his finest as NSW blew Queensland to smithereens in one of the most spectacularly State of Origin turnarounds of all time to square the series with a 38-18 triumph at the MCG.

The Blues have done the improbable, now comes the almost impossible mission – stealing the shield back from the Maroons in front of a sell-out crowd at Suncorp Stadium in the series finale on July 17.

Everything the Blues touched turned to gold in game two as they surged to a barely believable 34-0 half-time lead, more than erasing the deficit from their 38-10 first-up defeat.

Michael Maguire’s selection shake-ups from the game-one defeat had their desired effect with Mitchell Moses starring as the chief playmaker, Latrell Mitchell carving the Maroons up down the left edge, Cameron Murray getting through a mountain of work in the middle and Dylan Edwards showing why he was the Blues’ first-choice fullback all along.

The Queenslanders were shell-shocked after the opening 40 minutes when the Blues controlled possession early and were equal parts unrelentless and sublime as they raced in six tries in a near-perfect performance.

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Maguire said “what you saw in the first half is what I believe this group is very capable of”.

“We’ve just got to replicate that now,” he added. “The way the group has come together from when I first started talking to the players, they’ve shown me what they’re hungry for.”

Moses leaves Immortal in awe

Maguire took a gamble by punting Nicho Hynes to install Moses as his halfback but the Parramatta star put in one of the finest individual performances in Origin history to leave an Immortal playmaker gushing like an awe-struck fan.

Andrew Johns couldn’t contain his admiration on Nine commentary, saying Moses has had “a game and a half” while marvelling at his ability to kick the Maroons off the park and set up his support players with a peerless passing game.

“This is the best game I’ve ever seen Mitchell Moses play,” Johns claimed. “His kicking game, his running game, and defensively, which has always been a bit of a knock on Mitchell.”

Moses’ display, not surprisingly leading to player of the match honours, was reminiscent of Johns in his Origin II masterclass in 2005, producing four try assists as he bamboozled the defensive line at regular intervals, particularly during the first-half demolition.

With Nathan Cleary’s comeback from a hamstring injury until after Origin III, Moses now has the chance to etch his name into Blues folklore if he can conjure up a series win from a 1-0 deficit.

Only two NSW teams have won a series decider in Brisbane – in 1994 and 2005 – but on the back of this display, Maguire’s squad has momentum on their side and won’t be overawed by the situation, particularly with their No.7 playing like his predecessor from the last time they achieved the feat.

Mitchell Moses. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

“I thought we started the way we wanted to, we wanted to kick to the corners and really pride ourselves in our defence and I thought we earned the right to play footy,” Moses said.

“We defended well first and then we had some brilliance in our team that could finish off tries.

“It’s a good feeling but I thought it was a team performance, I’m not going to be able to do the things that I did on the field without the forwards who laid an outstanding platform, our back five were unbelievable.”

Maguire was impressed by his halfback but not surprised.

“Mitch has come in and did what I believe he was capable of doing,” he said. “He kicked well. He jumped into the campaign straight up when he first walked in. He was strong with the way he wanted to play the game and everyone jumped on board and did their jobs.”

Records tumble as Blues rack up cricket score

In front of 90,084 fans, the second-biggest Origin crowd ever, both teams started with their usual gusto and the momentum swung to the Blues in the seventh minute when Lindsay Collins was penalised for a high shot on Angus Crichton.

A couple of six-agains and a line drop-out later and NSW forward Liam Martin cut through the defence on angled runafter a precision pass from Moses.

Queensland copped a dual blow in the 17th minute when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow injured his right shoulder after being dragged in-goal by Stephen Crichton and his former Panthers teammate Brian To’o crossed out wide on the following set.

Mitchell was given a glimmer of space by opposing fullback Valentine Holmes and his flick for To’o made it 12-0 as the Blues soaked up 64% of possession in the opening quarter of the match.

Queensland’s discipline was again costly when Collins gave away a holding down penalty and Moses hoisted the Steeden high to the forward corner pocket for Zac Lomax to claim the kind of spectacular mark that is usually seen in another league at this venue.

Latrell Mitchell celebrates scoring. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The Maroons only had themselves to blame when they gave the Blues’ an unnecessary momentum boost by kicking out on the full from the restart.

After a painfully long play-the-ball when Jarome Luai lost his shoe and wandered off the mark, Moses made it 22-0 when he scooted left like an NFL quarterback at the line of scrimmage to put in a grubber for To’o to touch down again.

“That was too easy,” Immortal halfback Andrew Johns said on Nine commentary with ex-Maroons skipper Cameron Smith criticising fullback Reece Walsh for being “way out of position”.

Johns added: “The kicking game from Moses has been a masterclass.”

Even when the Blues seemingly made an error, they came up winners with an Edwards play-the-ball error becoming a penalty to them after a captain’s challenge uncovered Moeaki Fotuaika twisting him in the ruck.

Back in Blues colours for the first time since 2021, Mitchell was all smiles before he even slid over the line in the 33rd minute after a questionable Luai pass was followed by an Angus Crichton flick for Edwards to put the South Sydney star on his way to the stripe.

Martin was lucky to be spared the sin bin for a lifting tackle and with Queensland deep on the attack, they looked a chance to salvage pride by scoring just before half-time.

But the Blues returned to their red zone on the back of an athletic Stephen Crichton intercept and the Canterbury captain unfurled a superb one-handed pass for Lomax to cross in the corner before banging over the sideline conversion after the siren to make it 34-0 at the break.

“I’ve never seen anything like this at this level,” Johns said with a disbelieving tone.

Zac Lomax. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Tempers started to fray early in the second half and after referee Ashley Klein warned the skippers, a melee with no punches thrown resulted in Liam Martin and Patrick Carrigan getting binned for escalating the fracas.

Martin didn’t do much apart from rub the head of Jaydn Su’A after an error and Klein could have chosen several players from either side for rushing into the fray even though there was no actual fight.

The 12 on 12 set-up suited Queensland and after Jaydn Su’A crashed over to stem the bleeding, Taulagi chipped infield for Tabuai-Fidow to score the ninth try in his fifth Origin to reduce the gap to a less embarrassing 22 by the hour mark.

But the Blues took the wind out of the Maroons’ sails when Moses shot out a bullet pass to Edwards who evaded Walsh to bring up a 38-12 advantage.

A Murray Taulagi consolation try 12 minutes from full-time reduced the final margin to 20.

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Maroons duplicate Blues’ Origin I errors

NSW lost the series opener on the back of Joseph Suaalii being sent off early for foul play.

Queensland did not do anything of the sort but their discipline let them down big time early with a couple of penalties, six-agains and careless errors like kicking out on the full from a restart having a snowballing effect.

And when they went to the sheds at half-time, they had a snowball’s chance of victory as the Blues turned their momentum into an avalanche of points.

Billy Slater does not have a lot of options when it comes to team changes for Origin III in Brisbane.

Selwyn Cobbo could be brought back after he was rested from this match, particularly if Tabuai-Fidow’s shoulder injury does not pull up well in the days to come.

Cameron Munster is close to a comeback from a groin injury but won’t be returning in time so Slater will be forced to follow the Queensland loyalty policy and stick solid with the players who were mauled in Melbourne.

“They were really good with the ball tonight,” Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans lamented. “We made a lot of errors and they took great advantage of it. They were ready to play tonight and we got what we deserved. We didn’t play our footy. And the Blues made us pay.”

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Haas huge as forwards pack a punch

Payne Haas attracted some pre-game criticism about not dominating at Origin level but that accusation can no longer be levelled against the game’s best prop.

The Broncos behemoth registered 193 running metres, 80 post contact, from 16 hit-ups while also tallying 31 tackles without a miss.

His 54-minute display had the Maroons backpedalling and the likes of Spencer Leniu, Martin, Angus Crichton and Murray capitalised off the back of his dominance in the middle.

“It was men against boys,” said former Blues coach Phil Gould and that was no more evident than in the forward battle with Haas terrorising his Maroons counterparts.