Because Queensland understand what wins in Origin. It's not necessarily the most talented players, it's the guys who will dig down and keep going. Also the spine of Q'land (hooker, half & fullback) are all great players who play together for Melbourne, with Smith and Slater being 2 all time greats.

Having picked Mitchell Pierce, again, to play for the team when he has never been up to the level of Origin is also ridiculous. He is simply not good enough. There is no way NSW should have lost last night with the amount of possession they had in Q'lands 30m. Simply poor execution by the halves. Hopefully next year NSW dumps Pierce for good and lets Adam Reynolds play (he is the next great halfback in Australian RL). I am a blues supporter btw

7:05pm: Good evening football fans and welcome to the night we've all been waiting for - Darius Boyd's birthday The Decider. I'm Adrian Crawford and I'll bring you every moment of the action from Sydney.

The stage is set and from all reports it's been a beautiful day in the New South Wales capital as Origin fever reaches...well, fever pitch.

Out of the interests of transparency I'm a Queenslander born and raised - not like old Karl Stefanovic whose allegiance and was called into question this morning.

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Was Karl Stefanovic messing about or did they actually hit a nerve? I can imagine he was clowning about.