Queensland have taken the first step towards regaining the State of Origin shield, with a 18-14 victory over NSW in the series opener in Brisbane.
A try-scoring double by man of the match Dane Gagai helped the Maroons overcome an 8-0 halftime deficit and a string of missed chances to draw first blood in the Origin series in front of 52,191 fans.
NSW scored a try in either half, through Josh Morris and Jake Trbojevic, but were unable to prevent the Maroons claiming the win.
But Walters raised eyebrows when he adopted the philosophy of $5500-an-hour 'coach whisperer' Bradley Charles Stubbs' 'Expect to Win' sessions, ditching their traditional underdog tag and claiming they "will win" Origin I.
Walters was even accused of losing the plot by bemused Sydney critics, after keeping with Stubbs' teachings and refusing to say 'NSW', even threatening his players with fines, if they mentioned their rivals' name to media.
But in the end Walters had the last laugh - after some anxious moments.
Queensland looked like they needed all the help they could get from Stubbs' power of positive thinking, when they couldn't take a trick in the first half on Wednesday.
Overall, they had three tries disallowed by the video referee, with Will Chambers also botching a near certain four-pointer in the 31st minute.
But the game was turned on its head in the 58th minute, when Matt Gillett was denied a penalty try and NSW centre Latrell Mitchell was sin-binned.
Mitchell tackled Gillett without the ball off a Daly Cherry-Evans grubber, with most of the Maroons faithful screaming for a penalty try.
Instead, Mitchell was binned because of the presence of other NSW defenders and Queensland kicked the resulting penalty to level the scores at 8-8 in the 59th minute.
Enter Gagai. The winger first scored a 95m intercept try off an errant Jack Wighton pass in the 67th minute, with 60 seconds left on the sin-bin clock for Mitchell.
Then he ran off a Kalyn Ponga cut-out pass to score the matchwinner in the 71st.
Gagai ran a remarkable 256m, while taking his Origin try tally to 11 in as many games.
The winners of game one have gone on to win 27 of the past 37 series, including eight of the past 10.
Game two is in Perth on June 23.
AAP
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