New South Wales Blues head coach Michael Maguire has revealed Wednesday night's performance has always been in the pipeline dating back to when he first got the job and began contacting players.
The Blues put on a staggering 34 first half points during Game 2 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday evening to set up a series decider in three weeks time.
The 34-0 halftime scoreline was the biggest lead at the break in the history of State of Origin, and Maguire said the playing group have been 'hungry' for performances like it since he first got the job, and that things only continued to build during the camp for what turned into a disastrous Game 1, where the Blues came up short after being forced to play with 12 players for 72 minutes.
"It's a good start [having 13 players on the field]. I felt that it's definitely from the players. I go back to that first campaign, and I think the boys set up what we did tonight in that campaign. Both campaigns have been great, but we also know we have a job ahead of us," Maguire said during his post-game press conference.
"The way the players played in the first half is something that we had spoken about and it was nice to see that the leaders went out and controlled the game. What you saw in the first half is what I believe this group is very capable of so now we need to replicate that moving forward.
"I have to say the way the group have come together way back when I first started talking to the players, they have shown me what they are hungry for and I think that performance in the first half is definitely something that [I've seen in] every single conversation I've had with each individual to be able to create that."
The performance was spearheaded by Mitchell Moses, who replaced Nicho Hynes at halfback and took out man of the match honours.
Latrell Mitchell, playing his first Origin game since 2021, was also fantastic, as was Dylan Edwards on debut, while Cameron Murray continued to cement the number 13 position as his own.
"Making sure that I credit the guys who have been in the first campaign, you don't know what could have happened in that game [without the send off], but Mitch has come in and done what I believe he is capable of doing. He kicked well, jumped into the campaign straight up when he first walked in, was strong with the way he wanted to play the game, and everyone jumped on board and did their jobs," Maguire said.
"Not only Mitch, but Dylan Edwards out the back. He has shown he is an Origin player. I said that from Day 1 when I first picked him. Then you have got Latrell coming in and he played his part for the team.
"When you have the calibre of players around someone like Latrell, it allows him to go and do what he needs to do. Latrell is a great player, we all know that and where he is at and how he has been playing his footy at the moment is great, but when everyone else is playing their part then it allows someone like Latrell to shine and do the things we all admire in what he does, so it was nice to see."
Captain Jake Trbojevic, who was clearly proud of his teammates, said the result was 'deserved'.
"It was great. To get to play at the MCG is really special in itself. As Madge said, we had a great preparation, it was a really good, clear week. Everyone was at their best throughout the whole week and it led to a great performance, but I think we really did deserve it. We worked really hard for it and it was just nice," Trbojevic said.
The Blues will now head to Brisbane in three weeks for a chance at stopping the Maroons from winning a third straight series.
