One New Zealand Warriors co-captain Mitchell Barnett is now unbeaten in his first three State of Origin games for New South Wales.
The 32-year-old helped the Blues to their dramatic 22-20 win over Queensland in Wednesday night’s opening match of this year’s series.
His first victory came when he made his Origin debut in the Blues’ title-clinching 14-4 win in the final match of the 2024 series at Suncorp Stadium.
That night he played a total of 48 minutes off the bench making 73 tackles from 11 runs and 30 tackles without a miss.
Move forward to Origin 1 last year and Barnett was in the starting lineup on a night when New South Wales defied the Maroons at Suncorp again with an 18-6 win; he made 110 metres from 12 runs plus 26 tackles with only one miss.
It would be his last match of the year as he suffered a cruel ACL injury backing up for the One New Zealand Warriors against South Sydney.
Without him New South Wales lost the last two matches of the series.
On Wednesday night he was in the starting front row again along with former Warriors teammate Addin Fonua-Blake. On a night when New South Wales had little possession in the opening 25 minutes, Barnett played 40 minutes in all finishing with 82 metres from 10 runs and 25 tackles with just one miss.
