New South Wales
ANTHONY MINICHIELLO - More than justified his return after a four-year absence. Solid in defence, always a threat in attack. Scored a try and will be hard to drop for the decider. 8
JARRYD HAYNE - Unable to produce any miracle plays, but always looking to get involved and was comfortable under the high ball. 6
MARK GASNIER - Not his best Origin display. Coughed the ball up twice but fortunate to get away with it. 6
WILL HOPOATE - Magnificent debut for the 19-year-old. Took one fantastic mark in the opening half to prevent a try and showed magnificent hands to score in the second half. 8
AKUILA UATE - Bulldozed his way through tackles with great abandon, defence suspect at times, but always a threat. 7
JAMIE SOWARD - Struggled badly in the first 30 minutes with his kicking, but recovered well, improved greatly as the game wore on. 7
MITCHELL PEARCE - Outstanding chip-kick for the Blues' opening try, produced two fantastic tackles on Sam Thaiday and defensively was magnificent. 7
TIM MANNAH - Did nothing wrong, broke the line well and showed he is more than comfortable at this level. 7
MICHAEL ENNIS - Caught Corey Parker with a terrible high tackle in the first half and conceded a poor penalty late in the second that almost cost his side a try. 6
PAUL GALLEN - Captain fantastic. Racked up more than 200 metres as he led from the front. Played the full 80 minutes as prop. One of the great Origin performances. 9
BEAU SCOTT - Enormous in defence, rocked the Queensland forwards with some huge tackles. So much more effective in the back row than at centre. 8
BEN CREAGH - A far more accomplished player than 12 months ago. Big performance. 7
GREG BIRD - Missed a tackle for Smith's try in the first half, but more than made up for it with a tireless display. 6
Interchange:
TRENT MERRIN - Badly missed tackle on Smith with Bird for Queensland's try. 6
KURT GIDLEY - Filled in at centre in the second half, gave the team spark when he came off the bench. 7
ANTHONY WATMOUGH - Usual fiery display from the Manly man, almost crossed for a try only to knock on. 6
LUKE LEWIS - Scored a try with his second touch and prevented a certain one from Cronk that would have given the Maroons the lead late in the second half. 8
Queensland
BILLY SLATER - Always a threat in attack, outstanding in defence and under the high ball. Showed why he's undoubtedly the best number one in the world. 8/10
DARIUS BOYD - Never able to impose himself on the game. 6
DANE NIELSEN - Pretty anonymous and never put enough pressure on debutant Hopoate. 5
GREG INGLIS - Played most the second half with an arm injury, never at his best and showed signs of rustiness. One fine run in the first half showed he's always a threat. 6
JHARAL YOW YEH - Saw little of the ball, badly caught out by Soward's kick for Hopoate's try. 5
DARREN LOCKYER - The great man was Queensland's best player, the spark for every one of his side's rare forays in attack. 8
JOHNATHAN THURSTON - Quietest Origin game for some time from the Test half-back. 6
MATT SCOTT - Struggled badly against the marauding New South Wales forwards early. Looked a shadow of the dominating prop in game one. 6
CAMERON SMITH - Showed all his class and cunning to catch the Blues out with a dart from dummy-half to score. 6
PETERO CIVONICEVA - Queensland struggled when he was off the field, still an enormous presence but not able to dominate like he has in past encounters. 7
NATE MYLES - Worked hard, but found himself swamped when he did get the chance to run the ball. 6
SAM THAIDAY - Struggled to impose himself on the swarming, more mobile New South Wales backrowers. Monstered twice by Mitchell Pearce. 6
ASHLEY HARRISON - Failed to make any real impact. 6
Interchange:
COOPER CRONK - Went close to scoring when his side trailed by four points, but forced to defend more than attack when he came off the bench. 6
COREY PARKER - Brisbane tackling machine did nothing wrong, but was always on the back foot. 6
DAVID TAYLOR - The giant South Sydney man made two great breaks when he came on, but was unable to do little else in attack. 6
BEN HANNANT - Overrun by the dominant Blues forwards, will need to rediscover his best form again in game three. 5
- AAP
Tags: sport, rugby-league, state-of-origin, australia, nsw, sydney-2000
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