State of Origin tipping competition - Two Low for Zero

Greetings football fans.

A tipping comp for all our registered tipsters. This is only open to the registered tipsters on this site (that is, people participating in the NRL season tipping comp). The prize for the outright winner is $50 cash. In the event of a draw/draws the prizes will be split evenly among the winners. The Thinker (and Wally Lewis) cannot win, and The Thinker will determine the final winner/s. The Thinker will contact winners directly by email to organise prizes.

The competition is named in honour of what Ms Thinker regularly tells me is the most under-rated Elton John album of all time. I'm not so sure, but I don't like to get into arguments about such things with Ms Thinker, so here we are.

The idea is to score the lowest score possible. The perfect score is zero. The lower your score, the better you've done.

How to play

Tipsters will need to add their competition entries in the comments section on this page before the start of each Origin game. You will need to provide the following in your entry:

  • How many points you think NSW will score in game three
  • How many points you think QLD will score in game three
  • How many tries you think the back three from both teams will score in game three. That is, the fullbacks and wingers for both teams. In the event of injuries, sin bins, interchanges, HIAs etc, players slotted into those positions during the course of the game will be included in the tally. The Thinker will make the final judgement on the final tally for this element of the competition. I'll be fair and reasonable.

As an example, let's say I think the score will be NSW 20 - QLD 18, and I think the fullbacks and wingers will score 4 tries in the match. Let's say the actual result is NSW 24 - QLD 16, and the fullbacks and wingers scored 5 tries in the match. My score will be as follows: +4 (NSW score prediction) plus +2 (QLD score prediction) plus +1 (try tally prediction) equals 7 points. As you can see, the lower your total, the closer your prediction was to the final result. Hopefully I've made that complicated enough but not too complicated to be annoying. But if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

Entires must be submitted before each Origin game commences. I will provide a competition update after each game so you can see how you are travelling. Below are our results after the first two games of the 2026 series:

Too Low for Zero - final scores for the 2026 Origin Series

Tipster Game one tally Game two tally Game three tally Total points
Taka 14 34 6 54
Wild Oscar 6 20 29 55
BigPeteBx 5 29 21 55
Footy Chick 10 24 24 58
Doobynuts 16 31 12 59
Tigerholic 19 32 8 59
Gummy Sharks 8 40 14 62
Mad Max 14 26 26 66
Walby 11 39 17 67
No Woman No Try 6 32 31 69
Mary S 9 29 31 69
Rob181 9 27 34 70
The Don 11 31 28 70
Hardyards 19 20 33 72
Big Footy Fan 8 31 36 75
The Tide Head 14 25 36 75
The Thinker 9 31 35 75
Bradapple 16 40 19 75
JP92 10 30 36 76
Elizabeth 16 27 36 79
MalM61 6 40 36 82
JK Bubble 23 29 36 88
a 13 40 36 89
Bronco Legend 23 40 36 99
Ryzpaz 38 40 36 114
         

 

Elton John - I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues

Comments

TheDon's picture

Qld 28
NSW 20
Back 3 - 4 Tries

The Thinker's picture

Qld 30

NSW 16

Back three - 5 tries

big footy fan's picture

QLD 32
NSW 16
Back three - 4 Tries

tigerholic's picture

Afternoon All
My prediction for game 3 as follows:
First try scorer Bradman Best
NSW 32
QLD 16
4 tries for the back 3.

All the best

Tiger

David.C-Manly1st.'s picture

My State Of Origin Game:3
QLD 30 vs N.S.W 18
QLD 2 Back
N.S.W 1 Back
Man of the match
Sam Walker
Player of the series
Sam Walker or Selwyn Cobbo

Go Queensland
Hope Haumole Olaku’atu goes well being Sea Eagles Fan.
Cheers
David

Rob181's picture

Hi All
My State of Origin tips are
Qld 32
NSW 18
Tries by back three = 4
Walker to be targeted by NSW forwards
Enjoy the game
RobB

Footy chick's picture

QLD 28
NSW 24
Tries 4
Thank you Thinker xx

Mary S's picture

QLD 31
NSW 24
Tries 4

Cheers,
Mary

Mad Max's picture

Points for QLD - 34
Points for NSW - 30
Tries by back three - 6
Thanks The Thinker

bradapple's picture

NSW 24
QLD 22

Back 3 tries 5

No Woman No Try's picture

QLD - 26
NSW - 16
Back three - 5 tries

Cheers,
NWNT

Wild Oscar's picture

QLD 33
NSW 26
Tries 6
Thanks Thinker

Mary S's picture

So none are missed -

1) Submitted by Gummy Sharks on Mon 6/7/26 - 4:59pm AEST
NSW 30 QLD 22
TRIES by back 3 =6

2)Submitted by doobynuts on Mon 6/7/26 - 5:35pm AEST
NSW 25 QLD 18
Trie by back 3 = 3

3)Submitted by Taka on Tue 7/7/26 - 1:19pm AEST
NSW 28
QLD 14
BACK THREE - 4 tries.

4) Submitted by rickstar4life on Tue 7/7/26 - 4:30pm AEST
Qld - 34
NSW - 16
first try scorer - Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow
player of the match - Kalyn Ponga
Back 3 - 4 tries

5)Submitted by Walby on Wed 8/7/26 - 7:05am AEST
NSW 20 QLD 18
Tries from the back 3 x 3

Cheers
Mary

BigPeteBx's picture

Too Low for Zero - The Decider.
Been fresh down this way.

NSW - 34
QLD - 26
Back 3 Tries = 5

Good Luck everyone and thanks Thinker for running the Challenge Comp again - BigPeteBx

Hardyards's picture

Hey Thinker, my guess is
QLD - 32
NSW - 20
Back three - 5 tries
My thanks for running this mate.
Cheers

The Thinker's picture

Greetings Origin fans

After a quick (unofficial) count it looks like we have a tie for first place. I'll confirm officially soon.

Thanks to everyone who took part this Origin series.

All the best

The Thinker

The Thinker's picture

Oops...I clearly spoke too soon.

I think we have an outright winner...from the clouds

All the best

The Thinker

Fittler sucks's picture

That referring was pathetic, no sin bin for the head high shoulder charge on ponga , first try a double movement third try from an illegal strip then the knock on. I am nearly done with the NRL. Hollow victory for thr scuM COCKROACHES

The Thinker's picture

Greetings Origin fans

I have (finally) updated the table in our State of Origin competition. We had a couple of NSW fans come from the clouds to shake up the leaderboard, and our best game 3 performer did enough to win the whole thing by a solitary point.

Congrats to Taka for the win. I'll contact you directly by email to organise your $50 prize.

Thanks to everyone for taking part this year. Congrats to NSW and Laurie Daley on the series win. Sometimes, good guys don't finish last.

All the best

The Thinker

Mary S's picture

Congratulations Taka - well done!

@ The Thinker,
I have to agree with your comment "Sometimes, good guys don't finish last."
I personally feel, that with all the inconsistencies in refereeing & bunker stuff-ups over the series, that QLD came out on top in spirit and tenacity, even though numbers indicate otherwise.

Cheers,
Mary

Add new comment

The latest in NRL news