Origin greats have been left “in shock” by the decision to send Kalyn Ponga off in State of Origin I, opening the door for NSW’s miraculous comeback at Homebush.

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Former Maroons captain Darren Lockyer said it was undeniably “the turning point” in the match and a bitter pill to swallow, arguing on-field referee Ashley Klein overruled the bunker to dismiss Ponga for the rest of the game rather than sending him to the sin-bin or 10 minutes.

“I’m still in shock about the Kalyn Ponga decision,” the veteran of 36 Origin matches said on Channel Nine after the Blues’ 22-20 victory in Sydney.

“That’s the turning point; we lose the game off the back of that. There’ll be a lot of people north of the border that struggle to accept that decision.”

The Blues were surging but Queensland still led 20-6 when Tolu Koula broke down the left wing with 23 minutes left in the series opener.

Halfback Sam Walker came across the field to drag him down, with Koula angling his body to get to ground and away from the sideline as he came to the Queensland fullback.

Both players dropped low and Ponga tucked his left arm in a classic shoulder charge position, making dramatic contact with Koula, which replays showed was a brutal head clash.

As Koula lay sprawled on the turf with a cut on his eyebrow, players came together for some jersey grabbing, and pushing and shoving.

Ponga cut a miserable figure, knowing he was in serious trouble, while Blues lock Cameron Murray was heard telling Klein to remember NSW star Joseph Suaalii was sent off in the 2024 series opener for a completely different high shot on Reece Walsh.

Klein immediately was heard saying “I’m thinking that’s a send-off”, before an apparent disagreement with bunker official Chris Butler about the severity of the punishment.

“He’s hit him directly in the head,” Klein said before listening to a response from the video referee.

“I get that mate, but this is in the head, there’s no attempt to tackle,” he said into his earpiece.

Another pause before calling Ponga over …

“I know what you’re saying, but this is an illegal play,” he added before sending Ponga for an early shower as the Newcastle superstar pointed to blood on his ear as evidence of the head clash.

Origin greats Andrew Johns and Cameron Smith were outraged in the Channel Nine commentary box.

“It’s not a send-off,” ex-Queensland skipper Cameron Smith said.

“No way it’s a send-off,” Immortal Andrew Johns replied.

Lockyer was unimpressed by Klein apparently overruling Butler.

“I think Ashley Klein always had this [the send off] in his mind,” he said after the game.

“The bunker said it should be 10 minutes … but Ashley Klein didn’t have a bar of it.”

Maroons coach Billy Slater said after the game that he was OK with the decision.

“I haven’t got any problems with it,” he told reporters.

“I’m not gonna make any noise about it. They’re the breaks.”

NSW coach Laurie Daley initially said he would “rather not say” what he thought of the incident, before suggesting it was the sort of thing that had happened plenty of times in Origin before (i.e. one side benefiting massively from a tough call).

“If you look through Origin history there’s always been moments and there’s always been wins like that,” he said.

“You take ’em.”

The match review committee hit Ponga with a grade-two shoulder charge, which would be worth a two-match ban with an early guilty plea had it happened in an NRL game.

But, under rules introduced in 2022 to stop players missing club matches for offences committed while on representative duty, he will instead be fined 23 per cent of his match fee with an early plea.