{"id":432578,"date":"2026-05-17T23:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432578\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T23:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T23:25:08","slug":"nsw-blues-confirm-team-for-state-of-origin-game-1-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/432578\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW Blues confirm team for State of Origin Game 1, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

New South Wales head coach Laurie Daley<\/a> has confirmed his side for the 2026 State of Origin<\/a> opener, with a number of big selection calls made.<\/p>\n

Maybe the biggest call for Daley is to axe Dylan Edwards<\/a> from his side for the series opener, with James Tedesco<\/a> returning to the fullback jersey on the back of an excellent start to 2026 for the Roosters.<\/p>\n

Brian To’o<\/a> retains his wing position, while the other vacant wing role is taken by Tolutau Koula<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the centres, Stephen Crichton<\/a> hangs onto his place despite mixed form, and is joined by Kotoni Staggs<\/a>, who takes over from Latrell Mitchell<\/a> after he ruled himself out through injury.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Moses<\/a> joins Nathan Cleary<\/a> in the halves, with Jarome Luai<\/a> missing out, while there is little surprise that Addin Fonua-Blake<\/a> will debut in the front row, although Mitch Barnett<\/a> being picked to start despite playing just a handful of games this year comes as a surprise.<\/p>\n

Reece Robson<\/a> clings onto the number nine jumper, although Blayke Brailey<\/a> is in the side, named on the bench.<\/p>\n

In the second-row, Hudson Young<\/a> is joined by Haumole Olakau’atu<\/a>, with Angus Crichton<\/a> overlooked, while lock forward Isaah Yeo<\/a> will start ahead of Cameron Murray<\/a> who is on the bench.<\/p>\n

In another big surprise, both Victor Radley<\/a> and Jacob Saifiti<\/a> will feature on the bench, with Ethan Strange<\/a> and Casey McLean<\/a> rounding out the bench.<\/p>\n

Newcastle Knights<\/a> second-rower Dylan Lucas<\/a> has been included in the side as 20th man.<\/p>\n

Game 1 will be played next Wednesday evening, May 27, at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, with kick-off set for 8:10pm (AEST).<\/p>\n

Blues team for Game 1<\/p>\n

1. James Tedesco<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
2. Brian To’o<\/a> (Penrith Panthers<\/a>)
3. Stephen Crichton<\/a> (Canterbury Bulldogs<\/a>)
4. Kotoni Staggs<\/a> (Brisbane Broncos<\/a>)
5. Tolutau Koula<\/a> (Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>)
6. Mitchell Moses<\/a> (Parramatta Eels<\/a>)
7. Nathan Cleary<\/a> (Penrith Panthers<\/a>)
8. Addin Fonua-Blake<\/a> (Cronulla Sharks<\/a>)
9. Reece Robson<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
10. Mitch Barnett<\/a> (New Zealand Warriors<\/a>)
11. Hudson Young<\/a> (Canberra Raiders<\/a>)
12. Haumole Olakau’atu<\/a> (Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>)
13. Isaah Yeo<\/a> (c) (Penrith Panthers<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Interchange
14. Cameron Murray<\/a> (South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a>)
15. Victor Radley<\/a> (Sydney Roosters<\/a>)
16. Jacob Saifiti<\/a> (Newcastle Knights<\/a>)
17. Blayke Brailey<\/a> (Cronulla Sharks<\/a>)
18. Ethan Strange<\/a> (Canberra Raiders<\/a>)
19. Casey McLean<\/a> (Penrith Panthers<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Reserve
20. Dylan Lucas<\/a> (Newcastle Knights<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New South Wales head coach Laurie Daley has confirmed his side for the 2026 State of Origin opener,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-432578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}