GAME ONE of this year’s State of Origin was the most-watched TV programme of the year so far in Australia.
The match, which New South Wales won 18-6 on Queensland territory at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, was watched by 3.8 million people on Wednesday across Channel 9 and its streaming service, 9Now.
That was 38 percent more than the previous best – ABC’s coverage of the Australian federal election at the beginning of May.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said: “State of Origin was the number-one show of the year so far, winning in every demographic and dominating in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, as well as delivering a record streaming audience.”
Laurie Daley was delighted to return to the Origin arena with a victory as his Blues drew first blood.
For coach Daley it was a successful start to his second spell as coach, having previously led the state between 2013 and 2017.
He only won one of his five series in charge then, but New South Wales are firmly in the box seat this year ahead of further games at Perth’s Optus Stadium (June 18) and Sydney’s Accor Stadium (July 9).
Daley said: “It was a brave performance. Anytime you come to Queensland and win you have to be extremely happy.
“It was hard to get things on. Their (Maroons’) line speed was exceptional and they controlled the ruck really well, so we’ve got areas we can be better at.
“It was great (to be back), but the players do all the work.
“For me in particular it’s great to have great assistant coaches, great management, and players who buy into everything that we do.
“But it’s only camp one. We’ll see what they’re like when they bounce into camp two, because the one thing I know about Origin is there’s always a response. If you get hit in the face, you have a response next.”
Queensland coach Billy Slater admitted: “They were much better than us. I feel pretty flat about our performance.
“I’m not taking anything away from them, but we hurt ourselves. There were too many leg-ups, too many penalties.
“We didn’t see the best of this Queensland team and that’s what I’m most disappointed about.”
