State of Origin 1, 2016: The fans

QUEENSLAND edged out NSW in a thriller at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night, defeating the Blues 6-4 in a close, brutal and controversial clash.

A Jonathan Thurston goal off the back of a shady penalty is all that separated the two sides at full-time.

Both coaches expressed their dismay at the officialdom at the end of the match. NSW coach Laurie Daley has demanded the referees that adjudicated game one be dropped for game two.

"I'll be asking for those referees not to be officiating in game two. There's your story," he said. "Based on history and based on that game."

Queensland coach Kevin Walters, who was in charge of Queensland for the first time, made many tongue-in-cheek comments in the press conference alluding to his side’s favouritism at the hands of the officials.

“"A couple of good calls went our way. I'm not sure we deserved to win but we did," he said.

"All those 50/50 calls certainly went Queensland's way. Being honest, we did get some nice calls, some favourable calls. And you need that to win at this level.”

Aside from the controversy, the spectacle on the field certainly had its moments in a tight tussle that went down to the wire.

NSW were confident with their selections, choosing raw fullback Matt Moylan and an in-form halves pairing of James Maloney and Adam Reynolds, to name a few.

It didn’t take long for the whistle to be blown with the referees slowing up the game much to the dismay of the fans and the players of both sides.

Some of the penalties can only be described as bizarre, including a huge shot by Blues skipper Paul Gallen.

A milked penalty by Matt Gillett handed Thurston a penalty goal. NSW began to mount an attack there after, building pressure with repeat sets.

It paid off with a beautiful short ball from James Maloney sending Boyd Cordner over for the first time of the match. Reynolds missed the conversion to take a 4-2 lead.

As NSW looked likely for the next few sets, some magic from Queensland sent Dane Gagai over in the corner.

Simple hands ended with a glorious pass from O’Neil to his winger, who touched down out wide. Thurston missed the conversion but thanks to his penalty goal they held a two-point lead.

The referees ditched their whistles in the second half, with the likes of David Klemmer and Andrew Fifita dominating off the bench.

Josh Morris was denied a try by the bunker, held up at the last second by desperate Queensland defence.

Try as they may, NSW simply could not crack Queensland’s defence as the full-time whistle sounded after a scoreless second half.

Putting aside the controversy, NSW were simply not good enough in attack. Despite their mountain of field position, the halves were not able to muster up the attack to stifle their opposition.

The Maroons proved, as they do time and time again, that they are the masters of Origin football.