The Baby Blues - boasting 11 debutants - came of age against a Maroons side without retired greats, ex-skipper Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk, in front of 87,122 fans in Melbourne on Wednesday night leaving Queensland fans in a rage.
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The question is were the Queenslanders robbed of first glory by two game changing calls by Referee Gerard Sutton?
The large crowd at the Buffs Club thought so.
The game was televised live on two of the biggest screens in Mount Isa but ended in a ecstatic victory for the Blues with the final score 22-12.
Marketing Manager Brooke Donnelly said being Queensland Day, there was no better way to celebrate than coming together to watch the Game.
“The atmosphere was loud and exhilarating,” Ms Donnelly said.
“But the room full of Queensland supporters weren’t happy with the calls from the ref and plenty of booing could be heard.”
The Maroons were leading 12-8 in the 46th minute and looked to be the stronger team but when Dane Gagai was judged to have lost the ball in a tackle from Angus Crichton the Queensland fans were sent into a rage.
The incident has divided opinion as to whether the ball was stripped by Crichton or not, and if it should have resulted in a penalty for Queensland.
The Blues centre, Latrell Mitchell then went on to score his first Origin try to level the scores.
Queensland didn’t score again in the second half.
In another blow, Maroons centre Will Chambers faces a one game ban after being hit with a grade one dangerous contact charge for a first half incident involving NSW hooker Damien Cook.
The NRL referees crackdown did not spill over into game one with only five penalties blown with NSW up 4-1.
Queensland must regroup before game two on June 24 in Sydney.
The Buffs Club announced David Carroll as the lucky winner of a trip to Brisbane to watch Game 3 at Suncorp Stadium.
“We are looking forward to the second game and retribution for Queensland,” Ms Donnelly said.