So the official crowd was 81,665 or something last night, but I think that must have been a South Sydney count, where the staff working at the food outlets, coaches, security etc are all counted, there were more than a couple of hundred empty seats in the nosebleed section!
However it was the first Sydney Origin game I have been present at (of 4) where there was an atmosphere in the stadium, the organisers should be congratulated on getting NSW supporters to actually cheer and chant during the match.

As a Queensland supporter I must say that NSw were the far superior team last night (as much as a team can be superior in origin). They played mistake free football, and it was the few QLD errors that ended up costing them the game. Gallen may be a thug, but he counted as two players last night, easily the best player on the field.

The first half was tense, it was a real slogfest, and I think the halftime score was reflective of the match, QLD were easily the better team while Ennis was on and being a thug, but when he was replaced by Gidley, and lewis came off the bench NSW were a new team, and they just blew the QLDers away. You could actually see the players lift and charge forward when Gidley was playing at Dummy half, and it was Gallen and Lewis leading the charge. When Ennis came back on alte in the second half NSw lost alot of their mojo again, so it will be interesting to see if Ennis retains his spot (considering that high shot plus loading should rub him out for a few games- but likely won't, you get away with a lot in origin).

Should Jennings be fit for match 3, Hopoate should keep his wing spot, he was good in his first match (didnt get the ball much, Hayne kept running sideways infield with it) and Hayne should be dropped, he was ineffective and sloppy last night, Gasnier once agian faileld at the elite level, which is weird as he plays so well for the Dragons. Uate was a star, only behind Gallen and Lewis as NSW best player, and Mini was outstanding in his comeback match, even if he had a brain snap and thought he was playing soccer...

As for the QLDer's, they lacked the big tackle breaking busts they rely on for forward movement, and they did not utilise the high bomb effectively, they only had about 2 decent kicks at the tryline, Lockyer and Thurston did well with the passing game, Scott and Taylor were very good, but Slater again proved he is a speed machine, you dont get the feel of how quick he is on the tele, but he covers so much ground to make a decent kick look terrible by catching it on the full. and Cameron Smith was again the best player in a Maroon jumper.
Thiaday was the only big QLD disappointment, he was ineffective on the inside cutback runs he made every 4th tackle, NSW knew he was coming and just hammered him. He played the full 80 minutes and it showed, he was stuffed and sloppy after about 60 minutes, but was not subbed.

Overall a very good game, Qld could have still won in the final minute had Inglis held onto the ball (doubt it, he is not as fast as Uate), but NSw held on and well deserved their win, they were easily the better team.