The ill-discipline of Brian To’o left league icon Andrew Johns in disbelief in the early stages of Origin I, as the NSW star’s errors paved the way for a first half onslaught of tries from the Maroons.
To’o has been a staple of the Blues squad since making his debut in 2021, but in the State of Origin series opener at Accor Stadium he struggled to keep hold of the ball coming out of his own end.
After some shaky early play the Blues trailed by 12 and the Penrith superstar looked determined to get things back on track for his team. However, when he leapt for a high ball from Sam Walker, he dropped it cold.
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The loose ball fell back in the path of the chasing Queenslanders, who eventually set up their attack to find Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to score.
“I’ve hardly ever seen him make an error in a game,” Johns said of To’o on Nine.
Brian To’o reacts after dropping the ball cold against the Queensland Maroons. Nine
To’o’s slippery hands struck again minutes later when he attempted to power through the tackle of three Queensland defenders, only to drop the ball before hitting the ground.
To add salt to the wounds, the Blues also gave away a penalty for a player being offside. Walker, who was carving up on debut, slotted a penalty goal with ease.
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But the errors did not end there for To’o, who again lost the ball in a crucial moment. Johns then voiced his concern with the four-time premiership star’s performance.
“He hasn’t made three errors in his whole career,” he said.
“There has been three (for the team) at the play of the ball. It is just simple attention to detail.
“Leading into the game, there is always talk that it is going to be wet … you’ve got to be perfect in the ruck. The attention to the detail on the small things like playing the ball – it is once again giving Queensland cheap field position.”
To’o was among several underperforming Blues to exhale in relief when momentum did eventually fall back in favour of the Blues as Hudson Young darted over in the 26th minute to peg the score back to 20-6 following the conversion.
Cameron Murray came close to adding another four points for the Blues, but was denied due to a knock-on.
Queensland led the Blues 20-6 at half-time.
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