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.

9. 2006 - "Brett Finch, the hero!"

If there is one game that gets close to the Shaun Timmins match in the eyes of Blues fans, it's this one. Not so much for the game or the moment itself, but the narrative behind it.

Brett Finch wasn't the first-choice halfback. He wasn't the second-choice halfback. He wasn't even the second-choice replacement for when the second-choice halfback got injured. Luckily for Finch, a late SOS to the retired Andrew Johns went unanswered. Finch was the last option.

Still hungover from the night before as he trained with the team on the day of the game, it's likely everyone was nervous about how he'd go. Everyone but himself.

"For situations like that, I was sort of your man for that because I'd take it on. Those sorts of situations didn't faze me.

"With someone else, they might need the full week in camp, where I sort of didn't," Finch toldย Wide World of Sports.

A rough-and-tumble affair, it was a very forward-heavy match, like most State of Origin games.

It was Mark Gasnier with a beautiful pickup, tackle break and offload to Matt King that saw the first try, with Matt King passing it into Brett Finch, who went over in the corner.

Matt King went over himself off the back of a great pass from Gasnier and the Blues were out to an eight-point lead. Not too long later and Willie Mason pulverised the Queensland defence, pin-balling defenders as he made his way to the try-line.

Leading 14-0, it was a Brett Hodges one-on-one strip on Eric Grothe Jr., leading to an exchange of blows that flipped the momentum. Less than a minute later, a young Greg Inglis scored on the wing.

As they are known to do, the QueenslandMaroons made their way back into the game, capping it off with a try to Ian Bell in the right corner, tying the game in the 75th minute.

Luckily, the man wearing 20 who, 24hrs earlier was drinking beers at the pub, was cool as a cucumber.

"I was pretty confident when the ball was coming to me and when I hit it, I knew I'd struck it well. It's like when you hear a six at the cricket, just that middle of the bat."