State of Origin 2018: James Tedesco Leads Blues to Game 1 Win vs. Maroons

New South Wales Blues are halfway to just a second State of Origin series victory in 13 years after beating Queensland Maroons 22-12 in Game 1 of the 2018 edition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

Fullback James Tedesco starred for the Blues in a breathless end-to-end encounter, scoring the first try of the game before playing key roles in Latrell Mitchell, Tom Trbojevic and Josh Addo-Carr's second-half scores.

The Maroons dominated large swathes of the 80 minutes and overturned an 8-0 deficit through Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai to lead 12-8 just after half-time.

However, they were undone by some clinical Blues attacking play and could not take advantage of their possession when necessary.

The Maroons will now head to Sydney for Game 2 on June 24 needing a win to tie the series up.

Queensland dominated the opening exchanges, but when New South Wales finally put an attacking set together in the sixth minute, it was clear they would be dangerous.

James Maloney got the first points on the board with a 17th-minute penalty before then playing a key role in Tedesco's brilliant opening try four minutes later, per the NRL:

At 8-0 down, Maroons winger Holmes then dropped the ball in a promising position, but he more than made up for his mistake with an opportunistic intercept in the 28th minute that he ran with for 80 yards to score under the posts.

The try turned the momentum of the game and, after heading into the break in the ascendancy, Queensland went ahead through Gagai in the 43rd minute, finishing in the corner after an inch-perfect grubber kick from Ben Hunt.

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Five minutes later, Mitchell tied the game up at 12-12 after bursting through the Maroons defence following more fine work from Tedesco, who delayed his set-up pass to draw the defenders.

And in the 50th minute, after another Tedesco break, the impressive Maloney sent a high kick into the corner, where Trbojevic dispossessed Holmes in the jump and went over to put the Blues ahead.

At 18-12 Blues and with half an hour to go, there was another shift in the Maroons' favour. Their hits were harder, their kicking more accurate, and they started to pummel the New South Wales defensive line.

But it just would not break and, when finally given the opportunity to put the game to bed with 11 minutes to go, the Blues took it.

Tedesco broke through the middle, swung the ball left and Maloney set up Addo-Carr, who had impressed defensively all night, to finish in the corner.

The Blues will not get too carried away with their victory. They won Game 1 last year but lost the series.

However, they have landed the first blow and looked impressive doing so.