3 minute read

So dominant in last year's State of Origin series, centre Latrell Mitchell has had a night to forget for NSW who have slumped to an 18-14 defeat to Queensland.

From best in the world to a State of Origin walk of shame in front of 50,000 cheering Queenslanders - much has changed in a month for Latrell Mitchell.

At the start of May, Mitchell was earning plaudits of the highest order after almost single-handedly destroying the Wests Tigers in a 42-12 rout for the Sydney Roosters.

Fast forward four weeks and Mitchell, so dominant for NSW in 2018, had a Wednesday night to forget at Suncorp Stadium.

The 21-year-old barely fired a shot against his sparring partner from last year Will Chambers.

While the Maroons' centre finished the night with 118 running metres and 18 tackles, Mitchell could only post 10 tackles and 72 metres.

Chambers made sure he reminded Mitchell of his presence during one moment in the first half when he crash-tackled his rival and gave him a verbal spray as he lay on top of the prone NSW man.

The Maroons didn't score during the first half but did find success down NSW's left consistently, with only the cover defence of Josh Addo-Carr and James Tedesco denying Chambers and Dane Gagai four-pointers.

Mitchell's night was compounded in the 58th minute when he smashed into Queensland's Matt Gillett as the back-rower charged through to a Cameron Munster grubber, taking the Maroon out before he'd managed to get onto the ball with a try looming.

Sin-binned for his offence, Mitchell endured a jog off the pitch as jeers rained down from the stands.

While Mitchell sat out his 10 minutes, the Maroons made NSW pay with Gagai snaffling an intercept and sprinting away for a length-of-the-field try that put Queensland in front for the first time on the night.

Within minutes of returning to the field, Mitchell was again unable to stop another raid on NSW's left wing with Gagai diving over for his second of the night to put the home team firmly in command of the match.

Jake Trbojevic's late try gave NSW hope and reduced Queensland's lead to four points and, with two minutes to play, Mitchell had the moment to turn his forgettable night into a memorable one.

He looked destined to sprint clear and steal a win for the Blues but impressive Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga came across in cover to halt his charge and the moment was lost - as was the game.