Game 1, 1982 State of Origin
June 1, 1982 · Lang Park, Brisbane
Game 1, 1982 State of Origin: New South Wales 20–16 Queensland, at Lang Park, Brisbane on June 1, 1982.
Attendance: 27,326
Tries were worth 3 points in 1982 (raised to 4 points from 1983 onward) -- this game's reconciliation uses that rate: New South Wales 4 tries x3=12 + Cronin 4/5 goals x2=8 = 20; Queensland 2 tries x3=6 + Meninga 5/6 goals x2=10 = 16. Ziggy Niszczot's double (rather than a single try) was confirmed via a dedicated follow-up research pass after an initial pass under-credited New South Wales' tries, corroborated by two independent NRL.com retrospectives. Only 2 of each team's interchange players could be confirmed for this game.
Scorers
| New South Wales | Tries: Niszczot (2); Izzard; Mortimer Goals: Cronin (4/5) |
| Queensland | Tries: Brennan; Ribot Goals: Meninga (5/6) |
Teams
| New South Wales | Queensland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Brentnall | Fullback | Colin Scott | 1 |
| 2 | Chris Anderson | Wing | John Ribot | 2 |
| 3 | Ziggy Niszczot | Centre | Mitch Brennan | 3 |
| 4 | Michael Cronin | Centre | Mal Meninga | 4 |
| 5 | Steve Rogers | Wing | Kerry Boustead | 5 |
| 6 | Alan Thompson | Five-eighth | Wally Lewis | 6 |
| 7 | Steve Mortimer | Halfback | Mark Murray | 7 |
| 8 | Ray Price | Prop | Paul Vautin | 8 |
| 9 | John Muggleton | Hooker | Paul McCabe | 9 |
| 10 | Tony Rampling | Prop | Bruce Walker | 10 |
| 11 | Craig Young | Second Row | Paul Khan | 11 |
| 12 | Max Krilich | Second Row | John Dowling | 12 |
| 13 | John Coveney | Lock | Rohan Hancock | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Royce Ayliffe | Bob Kellaway | 14 | |
| 15 | Brad Izzard | |||
| Frank Stanton | Coach | Arthur Beetson | ||
Player of the Match
Mal Meninga (Queensland)
Match officials
| Referee | Kevin Roberts |
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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