Late Keeley double propels Devils to State Championship title

An Oryn Keeley try with five minutes to play lifted the Norths Devils to a 20-18 victory over the Newtown Jets to claim their first ever NRL State Championship title on Sunday, simultaneously putting an end to Queensland's seven-year drought in the annual Grand Final day fixture. 

Having raced out to an early lead thanks to a powerhouse effort from Papua New Guinea international Jeremiah Simbiken inside five minutes, the Devils trailed from minutes 23 to 75 before Keeley crossed for his second try of the day to give them victory at Accor Stadium. 

The fairytale moment arrived just moments after they were denied one on the other side of the field, after Jacob Gagan was held up over the line by an all-time try-saver from Niwhai Puru. 

But with the Jets shooting themselves in the foot with sloppy errors, and their own confidence seemingly growing by the minute, Norths fought back to deliver the killer blow and become the first Queensland side to win the State Championship since 2015. 

The triumph comes after the Devils were hammered in the 2022 decider by the Panthers and a fortnight on from them beating the Redcliffe Dolphins to claim the Queensland title. 

With the benefit of that added rest – compared to the seven-day turnaround their opponents faced – the Queenslanders shot out of the gates and after Cooper Jenkins was held up over the line in his bid to open the scoring, Simbiken went through on the very next play for a try which Jordan Lipp converted. 

The lead could easily have doubled minutes later when Lipp split the line and linked with Jack Wright metres out, but for the five-eighth fumbling as he tried to gather the ball in. 

While Simbiken denied Jackson Ferris a hit back on 16 minutes, it only delayed the inevitable as the Jets went 80 metres to score one of the tries of the season a minute later, with Liam Ison the orchestrator and Samuel Stonestreet the finisher in a movement which saw five passes produced between three players. 

After Ison came up just short of a double by another clutch tackle over the line, Braden Hamlin-Uele popped a neat offload as he was falling to the turf to put Puru over. 

A spectacular break from Lipp with 12 to go in the half looked set to put Norths back level, but a spirited chase from Jayden Berrell saw him bundle the fullback into touch and three minutes later it was instead the Jets who were celebrating as Stonestreet went over for his second. 

But in the shadows of the break Newtown cracked after a series of errors inside their own half, leaking a try to Lipp which reduced the Jets' lead to 14-10 at oranges. 

Another Stonestreet effort six minutes after play resumed marked Newtown's fourth try, but with Puru off target for the third time with his conversion attempt, it was back to a two-point ball game with 20 to play after Dolphins NRL talent Keeley embarked on a monster run for his fifth try of the year, in what turned out to be just the start of his starring role on the day. 

With the game in the balance and 15 to play, the Devils were lucky to survive back-to-back sets in which they surrendered possession inside their own half, before Puru's heroic goal-line effort appeared to have denied them a famous win.

Enter Keeley, who strolled through with five to go before his teammates rallied to defend their line and secure a 20-18 victory.