Wednesday’s night State Of Origin 2014 Game 1 match is between Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues. The opening kick is set to commence at 8:00pm local time with the game to be played at Suncorp Stadium. The home team the Queensland Maroons are the current favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues.

WHERE and WHEN: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Wednesday 8:00pm

Odds Comparison:

Queensland Maroons	1.45	1.45	1.43	1.45	1.45	1.42
New South Wales Blues	2.85	2.80	2.90	2.80	2.85	2.90

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Tips:

Preview:

The 2014 State of Origin series kicks off from Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night and right on time, Blues supporters have gone to a dark place. We are a broken, jaded, miserable pack of footy fans and have a finely tuned love/hate relationship with the greatest sporting event in Australia. There is nothing that can change that, no amount of social media fury, no argument about the team selected and no amount of alcohol. Only a miraculous series victory. Do we believe in miracles?Blues coach Laurie Daley has essentially said that he picks his New South Wales team based on NRL form. There seems to be an inherent mistake in this philosophy. No footballer performs well in first grade without their teammates, without training with them for an entire off-season. Queensland enters this series with a team selected on character, raw skill and history – not by how many tries they scored on the Friday night before the team was selected.

Maroons coach Mal Meninga says a lot of things and they are mostly boring, so we’ll ignore quoting him for the minute. Good news is that all the talking will stop at 8pm on Wednesday night for the 100th meeting between the most hated rivals in the land. What a magnificent history and a great celebration of the jewel in the crown of our code. Here’s to many, many more – or until I have a myocardial infarction.

New South Wales have it all to do and are $2.80 underdogs; but they will keep it close. The Blues’ best chance is their bench – Trent Merrin, Anthony Watmough and Luke Lewis will cause a stir when they finally get on the field, in the hope it brings composure back to the Blues’ more inexperienced starters. Ultimately, two very physical packs will sort out the pecking order for 65 minutes and then, Queensland nudge their way ahead. Jonathan Thurston the standout, just ahead of Robbie Farah.

Teams:

Queensland Maroons team for State of Origin 2014 Game 1:
1. Billy Slater, 2. Darius Boyd, 3. Greg Inglis, 4. Justin Hodges, 5. Brent Tate, 6. Johnathan Thurston, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Matt Scott, 9. Cameron Smith, 10. Nate Myles, 11. Chris McQueen, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Corey Parker, 14. Daly Cherry-Evans, 15. Ben Te’o 16. Josh Papalii, 17. Aidan Guerra 18. Will Chambers, 19. Jake Friend

New South Wales Blues team for State of Origin 2014 Game 1:
1. Jarryd Hayne, 2. Brett Morris, 3. Josh Morris, 4. Michael Jennings 5. Daniel Tupou, 6. Josh Reynolds, 7. Trent Hodkinson, 8. Aaron Woods, 9. Robbie Farah, 10. James Tamou, 11. Ryan Hoffman, 12. Beau Scott, 13. Paul Gallen, 14. Trent Merrin, 15. Anthony Watmough, 16. Luke Lewis, 17. Tony Williams

News:

There’s more riding on the State of Origin opener than just the result for the Melbourne Storm and North Queensland.

The Storm travel to Townsville to take on the Cowboys on Saturday night with a swag of stars from each team set to back up from Origin I on Wednesday night.

Thankfully for the Storm it doesn’t include their best prop, Kiwi Jesse Bromwich.

The Test forward said the always bruising encounter could have a major impact on their NRL clash.

The Storm have Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Will Chambers and Ryan Hoffman involved in Origin while the Cowboys have key men backing up in Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Brent Tate and James Tamou.

The loss of the Cowboys quarter was key to their 42-12 thumping on Sunday at the hands of the Raiders.

The Storm had the bye after turning in a rousing win over South Sydney.

“Before last week they were going really good but having four of your best players out is going to hurt any team,” Bromwich said.

“When they get them back they’re going to be really hard.”

He said that the veteran Storm representative players have been at it so long it doesn’t affect their game.

Bromwich is looking to challenge himself against Tamou and Scott, who he sees as two of the best front-rowers in the game.

“It’s going to be a good test,” he said.

“I look forward to those challenges and I’ve been watching them for the last few years and try to base my game on a couple of things that they do.

“They get really involved in the game and their stats are right up there.”

Bromwich said the 27-14 win over the Rabbitohs, which snapped a three-game losing streak, couldn’t have come at a better time.

“It was really good for the overall confidence of our team because it was our most complete performance we’ve had this year,” he said.

“It’s always a tough period for us with the Origin guys now but we’ve got young guys coming in some of the other senior boys need to stand up.”