Matt Gillett was Man of the Match, Darius Boyd could have won it ... meet the new wave.

Recent State Of Origin game one's have followed a trend of being gritty or absorbing, perhaps not the most entertaining games of footy for the casual fan who wants to see tries, tries and more tries. This year's game one was no different in that it could definitely be described as 'absorbing' and the 6-4 scoreline suggests a stinker of a contest, however I found myself on the edge of my seat for every hit up, shivering in pain with every hit up and the general intensity was felt through the telly.

This is why I'm always puzzled by the discussion on this side of the ditch as to why so many kiwis actually care about State Of Origin. Many folk like to toe the 'there's no kiwis involved so why do you care?' line of thinking, it's an alternative few to make them feel different. I just love footy and State Of Origin puts Australia's best footy players against each other, you pick a side and watch a game of footy that provides unmatched physicality, hence so many people watch it.

Watching last night's game and thinking back to it this morning, the one aspect of this game that stood out to me was Queensland's ferocity in the tackle. Despite having a far bigger forward pack, New South Wales ran for 1,289m vs Queensland's 1,378m thanks to the Maroons' forwards offering plenty of whack, driving NSW's players back and generally looking like men on a mission.

This was led by Matt Gillett, who turned in an emphatic effort out on the right edge and it was the sort of performance that could see Gillett take his career to a new level. Gillett is light on his feet but what I noticed in the Origin cauldron was how freakin' big Gillett is and when you've got that size/mobility combination (Boyd Cordner has this as well), you can get up off your line quickly and put a solid shot on. Gillett only had 66m off 9 carries, but he had 32 tackles which was the most of any edge forward and he had the most offloads in the game with 2.

NSW had the bigger forward pack, as they have done in the past and we were once again shown the blueprint by Queensland on how to limit the effectiveness of NSW's big boppers. This is nothing new - why do you think Queensland are up to their necks in a dynasty? - but that Queensland's older forwards can still hit, drive and wrestle better than their opponents is impressive. You'd expect this aspect of the game to be in NSW's favour but it's never just the physicality of Queensland's forwards, as a staple of their defensive work has been piling numbers into the tackle and we once again saw three, sometimes four defenders wrap up the NSW runner and slow him down.

Interestingly, it wasn't the starting props that did the damage with the footy for Queensland and they were put in the shade there by NSW's starters...

Aaron Woods: 13 carries, 115m | Paul Gallen: 15 carries, 138m.

Matt Scott: 11 carries, 90m | Nate Myles: 8 carries, 82m.

Running hard and straight suited NSW's size advantage and when Andrew Fifita took that carry, returning a Queensland drop-out, he steamed forward and we all felt the energy. Fifita, along with David Klemmer and James Tamou are all difficult men to stop and bring down, especially when they are moving swiftly straight at you, that differs greatly to how Queensland's big boys went about their business; as seen in the lack of metres from their starting props.

Josh McGuire (13 carries, 121m) and Josh Papalii (10 carries, 109m) came off the bench and both ran for over 100m, while no NSW bench forward passed 100m. I was intrigued as to how Papalii would be used and he ended up rolling through the middle as he has done in the past, a wise move by Kevin Walters as Papalii has quick feet to go with his size and he was the only middle forward (big bopper) to have 2 tackle busts.

McGuire and Papalii ran tough angles around and behind the ruck, so did Queensland's outside backs who were perhaps the difference in this game. Darius Boyd stepped up big time at fullback with 16 carries, 146m, 5 tackle busts and a few silky touches while Corey Oates, Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai all ran for over 100m (only three NSW outside backs did so ... now NSW outside back ran over 110m). Gagai was also a standout with 158m off 19 carries and 4 tackle busts, this is where Queensland made up for the lack of punch offered by their starting middle forwards as their outside backs were heavily involved and used their speed/footwork to make easy metres through the middle.

NSW's outside backs combined for 61 carries while Queensland's outside backs combined for 71 carries. Gagai had 10 more carries than his centre Justin O'Neill but the Cowboys centre put together a strong defensive shift, pulling off some crucial one-on-one tackles in which he went high, wrapped up the ball and stopped his opponent in his tracks. O'Neill also played a crucial hand in Queensland's one and only try. This involved some great work from the Queensland halves that I'll take a look at tomorrow, but it was O'Neill who showed a nifty pair of hands with a quick catch and pass under pressure which put Gagai over in the corner.

This was a win built on the foundations of Queensland's experience in this arena. I wouldn't say that they were dominant, dominating NSW with their physicality and what not but Queensland's forwards did enough to limit NSW's go forward thanks to tactics that they have mastered over the past 10 years; whack, get numbers in and drive 'em back.

Queensland's experience leads that, but it was their younger, less experienced players who proved to be the difference. Papalii and McGuire gave them some oomph off the bench, Gagai was immense, O'Neill showed he can well and truly hang at his level and so did Corey Oates. Darius Boyd is experienced, but this was a game in which he stepped up to fill the boots of Billy Slater and Greg Inglis at fullback, he's played second fiddle to them for a few years now and it was a new face at fullback that reflected the impact of Queensland's next wave.

There'll be a part two tomorrow.