Another wild weekend of NRL action is in the books and, perhaps unsurprisingly, New South Wales have made five changes to their Origin squad.
The was also an incredible pair of tries, we witnessed the demise of the home ground fortress, and the spear tackle even made a rare appearance.
Read on as ESPN takes a look back over the weekend at some of the biggest hits and misses.
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It smells like panic stations at Blues HQ once again
Nothing separates New South Wales from the way Queensland "get Origin" than the annual fire sale selection meeting which inevitably follows a loss. When Sunday's announcement of the Blues squad for Game II was made, you could likely hear the Queenslanders chuckling away from north of the Tweed.
The Blues have long held a reputation for panicking when a series is on the line. After spending a week and a half pumping these guys up to go to sporting war for the love of their jersey, to give their all for the players next to them, the selectors throw any concept of a united front out the window by making bulk changes. The Maroons realise that the power of team mentality is diminished when players are continuously meeting new teammates and wondering whether they'll be the next to lose their jersey.
Let's run a logical eye over the changes Michael Maguire has made to his squad, starting at fullback. Dylan Edwards was chosen for Game I and only missed out through injury, so there was every expectation that he would come back into the team. A replacement had to be found at centre for the suspended Joseph Suaali'i and Latrell Mitchell has had a couple of really good games lately, so no real shock there.
In a team that played one short and struggled to dominate in the forwards, Nicho Hynes failed to stand out, so Mitchell Moses comes in to replace him. This move surely sends a message that Hyne's selection was only ever a stop-gap measure and no matter how good he plays for the Sharks, he'll only ever pull on another Blues jersey when the selectors are desperate.
The balance of the forward pack seemed to be a bit off for Game I, so Maguire has brought in another lock, pushing Isaah Yeo to a bench role that is completely foreign to him. Connor Watson comes onto the bench in the No.14 and can play hooker or in the halves but has never really stood out as being an "Origin player." He'll have his chance to prove that assessment wrong, in what capacity we'll have to wait and see.
Cameron McInnes has been scrapped from the playing group, Mitchell Barnett is promoted to No.18 and Luke Keary has been mysteriously added to the extended squad. This is the same Keary who has been pushed to an early retirement by concussion issues. Matt Burton meanwhile has been completely dropped from the squad, making everyone, particularly Bulldogs supporters, wonder why he was ever in it.
The next week and a half will be spent feverishly building cohesion and team morale with a new bunch of players. Meanwhile the Maroons will snigger and shake their heads as they once again proclaim that New South Wales just don't get Origin.
HIT
Back-to-back brilliance at Shark Park
After being down 22-0, it was an incredible fightback from the Sharks to take the lead 13 minutes into the second half thanks to an incredible long range try. Sharks centre Jesse Ramien skipped to his right well inside his own half before sending Briton Nikora on his way down the right sideline. The pacey back rower ran 20 metres before drawing Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and finding Will Kennedy on the inside. With 40 metres still to cover, Tabuai-Fidow was able to turn and run down Kennedy, but the Sharks fullback was able to shrug off the Queensland Origin star to dive over and level the scores at 22. Hynes converted to take the lead.
Just six minutes later, Tabuai-Fidow had his revenge, running 95 metres, beating several Sharks defenders with a blistering, twisting run. Kennedy came across to run him down, he slowed and then accelerated again to leave Kennedy empty handed. It will go down as one of the best individual tries of the season and it allowed the Dolphins to regain the lead, which they were able to hang onto thanks to a missed Sharks sideline conversion after fulltime.
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What ever happened to Fortress ACT?
Does anyone remember the days when visiting teams feared a night game in the near Antarctic conditions of Canberra? You would particularly never expect a Queensland team to perform in the frosty conditions. Canberra Stadium, under all its various sponsored names, was seen as a true home ground, with palpable advantages through the conditions, crowd support and the painful journey there.
On Friday night, which was short of any ice-laced wind and admittedly almost balmy at 8 degrees, the sixth place Raiders hosted the Cowboys who sat just four points behind, but outside the Top 8. The Cowboys gave them an absolute rugby league lesson, running out to a 28-0 lead before eventually winning 34-16. The fear of playing in Canberra seems to have diminished, maybe it's a further symptom of global warming?
HIT
Cooky shows he is far from done
There has been talk of star hooker Damien Cook leaving the Bunnies to join the Dragons, as his form came under scrutiny following an ordinary start to the season for himself and the club.
Cook showed on Friday night that when his forwards are winning the battle up the middle, he can be as lethal as ever. In the 12th minute of the Rabbitohs upset victory over the Broncos, he followed a rampaging run from Jack Wighton up the middle. From five metres out he was able to take advantage of the quick play-the-ball, catching the Broncos defence in complete disarray to dive over for the first try of the match.
Hookers, like halves, are the first to look ordinary behind a beaten pack of forwards.
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Spear tackle ugliness returns
It has been a while since the long shadow of a spear tackle has darkened the NRL, but when Eels forward Kelma Tuilagi lifted Roosters prop Lindsay Collins and dumped him on is head, the fans, commentators and fellow players held their breath fearing the worst.
Collins was fine, his instinct to tuck his head made the tackle both look worse and be decidedly more survivable. Tuilagi lifted and flipped, bit mostly released rather than driving him into the ground. It meant that it was mostly Collins own weight being put through his awkward landing -- still enough to produce serious results.
The tackle looked so ugly, that it would have surprised no one had Tuilagi been sent off. Because it wasn't as bad as it could have been, his four-week ban seems about right.
HIT
Panthers try much more luck than design
Sometime tries involved a bit more luck than player brilliance. We saw a perfect example for Penrith's first try against the Knights. Panthers half Brad Schneider put up a bomb inside the Knights' 30 metres. Panthers forward Scott Sorensen chased through and leapt into the air twisting to face his own players as he attempted to bat the ball back. Despite using both hands he missed the ball completely, but it bounced up off his tucked up legs and into his own arms.
He landed on his feet, turned and found the try line waiting for him to fall over. He'll be telling his mates that it was the plan all along, but replays gave away the surprised look on his face as the play unfolded.
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Skylarking the way to injury
Melbourne Storm fullback Sualauvi Faalogo scored two tries against the Warriors and proved elusive whenever he had the ball in his hands. But, he nearly regretted his first effort in the 54th minute of the game.
Breaking free on the end of a Storm passing movement, he had less than 10 metres to go untouched to score. He chose to launch himself into the air, landing awkwardly and rolling over the ball, knocking the wind out of his lungs. It looked like he could have done more serious damage and coach Craig Bellamy may have had a whisper in his ear after the game.