State of Origin Game 3 LIVE updates: Blues series defence on the line as Queensland chase Sydney upset

4 hours ago 3

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Have your say: who wins tonight?

5.53pm

Pain in the Haas: The story behind the prop’s ‘back brace’

Payne Haas completed the Blues team walk this morning wearing a rather conspicuous back brace… except it’s not a back brace. It looks a lot like a heat pack - as pointed out by the NRL Physio. Haas has barely trained all week after getting a cortisone injection to ease a bulging disc he’s been putting up with all year.

And turns out that a cortisone injection takes roughly a week to take effect. If you overextend the muscles in that period after the injection, you can do real damage, apparently. So in summary, Payne Haas - fine, still looking good for man of the match and the Wally Lewis medal. Play on.

5.44pm

Are wingers to blame for wingers scoring tries?

Question: Why aren’t wingers, in defence, coached to stay on their opposite winger no matter what? Then the opposition won’t even pass to the winger and the cover has much more chance of getting the inside man than the winger with an overlap. If Queensland did that To’o wouldn’t have scored his tries. - Brian S

5.33pm

Who will kick the Blues conversions tonight?

5.26pm

Taylor family make the trek to Sydney for Origin decider

By Kayla Olaya

Zeke Taylor loves his footy. So much so, that his parents, Kim and Stephen Taylor, have come up from the South Coast to give him his first men’s origin game experience.

“[We] just want to give him the same quality of life,” said Stephen. “The same outlook and the experiences that everyone else, that we all experience, and that are lucky enough to attend games.”

Kim, Zeke and Stephen Taylor at the Origin decider in Sydney On July 9.

Zeke has cerebral palsy and is quadriplegic. After loving his experience at the women’s Origin last month, Kim and Stephen took four days off work to bring Zeke to the game.

“Zeke just loves being out in the crowds, and he loves life. We try and get him out to everything he can get to,” said Stephen.

5.16pm

What would a loss tonight mean for Daley?

Question: Don’t understand why NSW still uses a proven losing coach. The Queensland coaching team always know how to make use of every bit of x-factor. Although 2025 Blues are much better than the Maroons, taking into account Queensland’s superior coaching abilities, July 9 decider is still 50/50. - GB

5.07pm

Have your say: who wins tonight?

5.01pm

Welcome

Good evening sport fans.

Forget the Australian Election, toss aside the Papal conclave, and you can even keep your AFL grand final – Origin game III tonight will be the greatest day of the year.

Tonight, it’s the decider and it’s in Sydney. You don’t “get” Origin until you’ve experienced a decider in Sydney, and that’s what we’ve got tonight (think James Tedesco 2019 miracle try).

Billie Eder and Dan Walsh here to keep you up to date and wrangle some gold out of the reporters on the ground – Michael Chammas, Christian Nicolussi, Adrian Proszenko and Robert Dillon.

Kick-off is 8:05pm, we have team lists, breaking news, and your reader questions answered until then.