Five quick hits: Tom Dearden's magic goes down in Maroons folklore after downing Blues in Origin decider

Australia Broadcast Center

09-07-2025

As Queensland shocked New South Wales 24-12 to claim the most unlikely of series victories, one man put in one of the most complete performances in Origin history.
Here are the five quick hits from a match that will go down in Maroons folklore.
Tom Dearden had been threatening to weave a little magic throughout the first 20 minutes, and he uttered his first quiet abracadabra under his breath 26 minutes in.
Just holding off on the pass ever so slightly, the Cowboys wunderkind found teammate Reuben Cotter bullocking through the Blues defence, and Cotter looked destined to go all the way as Queensland lungs hooted and hollered throughout the country.
But Cotter found himself caught in two minds, and eventually released the ball to nobody in a moment of panic.
In the ensuing play, as the Steeden bumbled around without any real direction, the Maroons received a penalty for a hold.
That was enough to set Queensland up for the first try, with the lion-hearted Cameron Munster finding the unlikely debutant Ghamat Shibasaki, who found Xavier Coates on the outside for the most Xavier Coates-like try you can imagine.
It was that early magic from Dearden though, that put the Maroons in motion and gave them the field position to strike early.
Having been the spark for Queensland's first try, Dearden became the smoke for their second thanks to the brilliance of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Robert Toia.
With Toia caught in a tackle that looked all but certain to see him rag-dolled to the sideline, the young Rooster managed to pull off a stunning sleight of hand by offloading the ball to Tabuai-Fidow without the Blues even noticing.
Tabuai-Fidow danced and weaved with his unexpected loot in hand as New South Wales defenders grasped at air, before the Hammer went inside to the fast-moving Dearden.
With a turn of pace usually reserved for his bigger and sleeker teammates, Dearden finished the job and the Maroons stunned the Blues again with a one-two punch to get the game moving well and truly in their direction.
On the edge of half-time and with the New South Wales defence looking more cooked than a Bunnings sausage at closing time, it was that man Dearden again involved in a try that was more guts and muscle than razzle and dazzle.
Stopped short of the line after some more fleet-footed work from Dearden, Harry Grant moved in to dummy half and went himself, powering into three New South Wales defenders.
Held up but unperturbed, Grant wrestled and spun his way out of the tackle, reaching out desperately to ground the ball as his Blues opponents dropped their heads and their shoulders.
It was a gut punch to the Sydney audience who had already gone silent, shocked at the onslaught from a Maroons team that looked like it had something to prove and something to play for from the first kick-off.
At the risk of turning this entire article into a "Dear Dearden" letter, it was the blond bombshell that did it again 14 minutes into the second half — but this time on defence.
With New South Wales having dominated the possession to start the second period, the Blues finally made a break via Latrell Mitchell, who offloaded a lovely little flick pass to the dynamic Brian To'o.
With what looked like nothing but clean air in front of him, To'o's little legs pumped towards an inevitable try, before a streak of Maroon barrelled across the field to wrap him up and nudge him into touch just enough to cause the turnover.
The streak was Dearden, and while the Blues would score eventually via Stephen Crichton the next time New South Wales had the ball, Dearden's desperation was something to behold.
Uh oh. Here's a peak behind the curtain of how this article is written.
Writer notes down magical moments as they happen.
The clear moments — usually tries, sometimes big tackles, often big referee decisions — go straight into the article as they happen, as the writer tries to keep things as balanced and diverse as possible.
The writer notices that Tom Dearden is mentioned a lot, but assumes someone else will do something super magical worth mentioning late in the game.
Tom Dearden does something super magical worth mentioning late in the game.
The article officially becomes a Dearden love letter.
With five minutes to go, it was Dearden again who found himself with the ball, and, let's be honest, not a heap of space.
But somehow he managed to split through the Blues defence — which had been miserable all game — and score the game-sealing try.
While all of Queensland willed Cameron Munster to score the try that ended the contest — and he did go close — it was fitting that the man who had dominated all game was the one who put the full stop on a series decider that will go down in Queensland folklore.
Dearden would be named both the man of the match and the man of the series, vindicating completely Billy Slater's huge call to bring him in at the expense of Daly Cherry-Evans.