New South Wales may be celebrating a huge victory in the opening match of the first-ever three-game series in Brisbane, but one crucial moment could have made it a very different result.
Footy fans were left baffled after Blues five-eighth Corban Baxter seemed to avoid a penalty for colliding with the kicker's leg in the opening exchanges of the first match of Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium.
The incident came just days after Melbourne Storm and Queensland Maroons hooker Harry Grant faced penalties for a similar, milder offense.
Early in the game, Baxter collided with Maroons' Zahara Temara after she kicked the ball, but no immediate action was taken by referee Kasey Badger or the Bunker.
Later, Baxter was reported for the collision, causing further confusion among fans.
This incident followed Grant's recent sin-binning for minimal contact with a kicker, sparking debates on rule enforcement. The NRL judiciary found Grant's contact posed an injury risk but wasn't careless.
The issue of illegal pressure on kickers has been prominent this season, with several players being charged. Despite injuries from such incidents, the league's football boss denied any directive to crack down on the move.
'Harry Grant got sin-binned for less than what Corban Baxter did. Just saying,' one posted.
'Refereeing is completely different from the men's game. You're binned for attacking a kicking player's leg and a crusher. You only get put on report in this game,' said another.
'Terrible look for the game given the 'player safety' being thrown at us all week by the NRL,' pointed out another.
Blues coach Kylie Hilder played down the contact after the match.
'I don't think she was deliberately attacking the legs. It was just an unfortunate situation,' Hilder said.
It proved a masterstroke for NSW to replace teen sensation Jesse Southwell with veteran halfback Rachael Pearson.
The 30-year-old drilled a dropout to the sideline that signaled the beginning of NSW's first-half dominance before 25,492 fans - the most that have ever attended a women's Origin game.
Pearson continued to kick deftly, showing little sign of the calf injury that had hampered her this month, and made a try-saving one-on-one tackle on Tarryn Aiken in the second half as Queensland stormed back into the game.
'I thought Rachael was outstanding,' NSW coach Kylie Hilder said.
Outstanding with 108 meters and two line breaks, Sky Blues prop Caitlan Johnston grabbed a short ball from Olivia Higgins and crashed over to put paid to Queensland's comeback with six minutes remaining.
The experienced Maroons were clumsy early on and had no answers when the visitors shifted the ball at break-neck speed.
'We knew we made some crucial errors in that first half and it did us in,' Maroons coach Tahnee Norris said.
'If we can fix those crucial errors, I think it changes the game.'
