Hancock was one of five Maroons making their Origin debut in Game 1, the others being his Broncos team mate and hooker Kerrod Walters, Cronulla-Sutherland forward Dan Stains in the front row ahead of Brisbane's Sam Backo who had been struggling for form, reserve forward Gary Coyne from the Canberra Raiders, and in-form Newcastle Knights half Michael Hagan was selected for his debut off the bench after finding that three reserve grade games for Brisbane Wests in 1982 qualified him to play for Queensland.

Then with Qld leading 6–0, a penalty right in front and just 14 metres saw NSW with a chance to put points on the board, but Laurie Daley badly hooked his kick wide of the posts.

However, on the night there was none better than Martin Bella whose powerhouse performance in the front row gave the likes of Wally Lewis and Allan Langer the room they needed and earned him the Man of the Match award.

Only a late try to reserve back Andrew Ettingshausen who grounded a kick from his Cronulla club mate Gavin Miller, prevented NSW from losing the game 36–0.

In the second half, Michael Hancock came off with a bruised shoulder while Bob Lindner played on with a fracture in his ankle which he carried for much of the match before retiring five minutes from the end, leaving the Maroons down to 12 men.

[3] Lindner, who stayed on the field despite his injury as there were no reserves left,[4] claimed it was the toughest match in which he had played and Wally Lewis, who scored a memorable 40-metre try,[5] rated it as Queensland's greatest performance.

Maroon's coach Arthur Beetson was irate at the Blues' intimidating tactics, claiming New South Wales hard man Peter Kelly was allowed to get away with illegal tackling by Queensland referee David Manson.

The day before the game, some NSW players entered Jack Gibson's hotel room to talk to him and were reportedly shocked to find their coach entertaining the enemy.

Australian test winger Dale Shearer, who had moved from the bench to starting in the centres replacing the injured Mal Meninga and also took over the goal kicking duties despite the 1988 NSWRL season's top point scorer Gary Belcher playing at fullback, missed the sideline conversion attempt so the score remained 4 nil in favour of the Maroons.

After collecting the ball from a scrum win within ten metres of Queensland's line, Blues halfback Greg Alexander dashed forth before passing it to his halves partner Des Hasler who dived over next to the uprights to equalize.

The Maroons hit back when they got the ball after a Blues mistake and from over forty metres out, Michael Hagan kicked downfield for Shearer to beat the defence to and score in the left corner.

New South Wales responded with another try after lock forward Brad Mackay made a break about twenty metres out from Queensland's line before offloading in a tackle to Eastern Suburbs hooker David Trewhella coming through in support to score behind the posts.