Game 3, 2002 State of Origin
June 26, 2002 · Stadium Australia, Sydney
Game 3, 2002 State of Origin: Queensland 18–18 New South Wales, at Stadium Australia, Sydney on June 26, 2002.
Attendance: 74,842
Series decider, ended in a draw -- with Game I to New South Wales and Game II to Queensland, this 18-18 result meant the series itself finished drawn 1-1 (games), the only drawn State of Origin series to date; there was no golden-point extra time in Origin at this point (introduced from 2003). One secondary source rendered this score as 14-14, but this is contradicted by rugbyleagueproject.org, Wikipedia, and the tries/goals reconciliation below, so 18-18 is used. Exact try-scoring minutes not confirmed for this game; Dane Carlaw's series-levelling try is described in some sources as coming in the final moments of the match. Queensland's own player-of-the-series award for this year (the era-name 'Wally Lewis Medal,' now retrospectively called the Ron McAuliffe Medal after its 2004 rename) went to Shane Webcke -- there was no shared whole-series MVP award before 2004.
Scorers
| New South Wales | Tries: Moodie (2); Menzies Goals: Johns (3/3) |
| Queensland | Tries: Berrigan; Carlaw; Tuqiri; Webcke Goals: Tuqiri (1/4) |
Teams
| New South Wales | Queensland | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Hodgson | Fullback | Darren Lockyer | 1 |
| 2 | Timana Tahu | Wing | Lote Tuqiri | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Chris Walker | 3 |
| 4 | Shaun Timmins | Centre | Chris McKenna | 4 |
| 5 | Jason Moodie | Wing | Robbie O'Davis | 5 |
| 6 | Trent Barrett | Five-eighth | Shaun Berrigan | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns | Halfback | Allan Langer | 7 |
| 8 | Luke Bailey | Prop | Shane Webcke | 8 |
| 9 | Danny Buderus | Hooker | P.J. Marsh | 9 |
| 10 | Jason Ryles | Prop | Petero Civoniceva | 10 |
| 11 | Steve Simpson | Second Row | Gorden Tallis | 11 |
| 12 | Steve Menzies | Second Row | Dane Carlaw | 12 |
| 13 | Luke Ricketson | Lock | Darren Smith | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Jason Hill | Travis Norton | 14 | |
| 15 | Bryan Fletcher | Steve Price | 15 | |
| 16 | Nathan Hindmarsh | Andrew Gee | 16 | |
| 17 | Michael Vella | Brent Tate | 17 | |
| Phil Gould | Coach | Wayne Bennett | ||
Player of the Match
Allan Langer (Queensland)
Match officials
| Referee | Bill Harrigan |
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
← Game 2 · All games, 2002 State of Origin
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