NRL 2022

In front of 80,512 fans at Sydney's Olympic Park, the Maroons, led by Munster, Daly Cherry-Evans and debutant Patrick Carrigan, dominated on their own terms with big moment plays helping Queensland to a special win. 

The Blues enjoyed the field possession early to take a 4-0 lead but the injection of Carrigan in the 15th minute swung momentum Queensland's way and from there the visitors came up with points and the defensive efforts late as NSW struggled to take any control in the match. 

Blues coach Brad Fittler has handed debuts to Kotoni Staggs, Ryan Matterson and Stephen Crichton while Jeremiah Nanai, Reuben Cotter, Selwyn Cobbo and Patrick Carrigan will all get their first taste of Origin footy for Queensland.

Having crossed paths as players in 2004 - Fittler's last Origin series and Slater's first - these two iconic figures now go head-to-head as mentors, looking to strike the first blow in front of 80,000 fans at Accor Stadium.

Maguire was contracted with Wests Tigers until the end of the 2023 season, but the club confirmed that he would depart as coach ahead of their Round 14 clash against the Sea Eagles on Sunday..

Brett Kimmorley will take over as interim for the rest of the year, having most recently featured as the club's Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership coach.

The club was due to meet on Tuesday morning after Brown informed them he was not willing to move to New Zealand permanently due to personal reasons.

The Daily Telegraph reports the Warriors then moved to sever ties ahead of a scheduled meeting with CEO Cameron George and owner Mark Robinson at 9am.

With Joseph Tapine and Ryan Sutton leading the way up front the Green Machine converted a six-point half-time advantage into their sixth win of the season despite a herculean performance by Roosters fullback Joey Manu (34 runs for 300 metres).

The Roosters got across the stripe in the fifth minute through Sitili Tupouniua but the try was denied due to obstruction by Nat Butcher in the lead-up.

Four minutes later the Raiders got the ball rolling when Adam Elliott powered over from close range off a short ball from dummy half Zac Woolford.

The Raiders have won three of five at home this season and will be smarting after pushing the Eels to the limit on Sunday but ultimately going down by eight points.

These two sides have engaged in some epic battles in recent years dating back to the 2019 grand final, when a fair dash of controversy surrounded the Roosters' victory and Raider Jack Wighton had the rare honour of collecting the Clive Churchill Medal in a beaten side. 

The Sea Eagles dominated every facet of the game virtually from the outset to storm to a 24-0 half-time lead and went on with the job in the second term to achieve their first win during the Origin period since 2015.

While captain Daly Cherry-Evans was the only Manly player on Origin duty, star fullback Tom Trbojevic is out for the season with a shoulder injury but their forwards, led by Haumole Olakau’atu, were too much to handle for the Warriors.

Sean O'Sullivan, Kurt Falls and Matt Eisenhuth took on the roles of halfback Nathan Cleary, five-eighth Jarome Luai and lock Isaah Yeo and played starring roles in the 30-18 win.

Strike forward Viliame Kikau, who will join the Bulldogs next season, fullback Dylan Edwards, prop James Fisher-Harris and hooker Api Koroisau led the way for the Panthers, whose left side attack was as potent as ever.

A number of Penrith players were rested from NSW Cup duties on Sunday so they'd be fresh for duty if called up to face the Bulldogs, including playmaker Sean O'Sullivan who performed admirably in the first three rounds of the season while Nathan Cleary recovered from shoulder surgery.

The Bulldogs showed plenty of good signs on an emotional day at their spiritual home Belmore but still came up short to remain at the bottom of the table.

Such is the Cowboys' composure in 2022 that the loss of Val Holmes, Reuben Cotter, Jeremiah Nanai and Tom Dearden was not enough to halt their momentum, racking up a ninth win of the season on the back of standout performances from Jason Taumalolo, Scott Drinkwater and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

The Cowboys didn't have it all their own way early, the home side forcing two line dropouts courtesy of astute kicks by Toby Sexton and Brian Kelly, but Todd Payten's men held firm.