Game 1 of the 2022 State of Origin series kicks off on Wednesday night, and is set to be a cracker.
The battle between the NSW Blues and QLD Maroons never seems to disappoint... unless it's 2021 and you're a Queenslander. Nevertheless, there is a special kind of excitement that comes with the greatest rivalry in Australian sport.
We have Billy Slater up against Brad Fittler in the coaches box, Junior Paulo and Payne Haas facing off against Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and Josh Papalii and that isn't even the best of the match-ups.
While every game has its features whether it's a decider in Game 3 or a pivotal Game 2, there is a special electricity that comes with the unknown of the first game in a series.
There have been some fantastic games in the 42 years the series has been running. Most of the greats, like James Tedesco scoring in the final seconds of 2019's Game 3, come in series-winning games, but what about series openers?
Here are ten of the greatest Game 1s in State of Origin History.
7. 1998 - Walters leads Maroons to last-minute victory
This one is yet another last-minute victory by the QLD Maroons. They seem to be kind of good when the game is on the line.
Nothing marks the (frustrating) heart of the QLD Maroons more than Martin Lang chasing down Rod Wishardt along with Matt Singh. While Steve Menzies would go on to score that set, making it 23-18, it is efforts like that that would see the Maroons come out on top.
When Steve Renouf knocked the ball on with two-and-a-half minutes left, the game looked all but over. As usual with the Maroons, that wasn't the case.
On the first tackle of the set with 90 seconds left, Kevin Walters kicks downfield and, of course, it's Ben Ikin who beats three Blues players to the ball.
"Queensland -ย they will not lie down" - Ray Warren
It was Tony Carroll who scored after a great piece of play from Darren Smith and Walters.
The siren went before Darren Lockyer took the kick but only five metres to the right of the posts, the game was decided long before that.
