Hodkinson's kick blunder punctuates Blues' miserable night

NSW had a night to forget in the Origin opener, but few of the Blues will be feeling the pain of the narrow loss more than Trent Hodkinson.

The halfback arguably endured one of the worst games of his career in NSW's 10-11 loss to Queensland that was punctuated by a horrendous failed attempt to find touch deep into the second half.Gifted the kick after a Maroons penalty, Hodkinson merely had to boot the ball forward and into the crowd.Instead, he produced what can only be described as a "shank", miscuing the kick back into the arms of Queensland's Darius Boyd.The blunder destroyed any chance of NSW wresting back momentum and was instantly compared to the howler that James O'Connor produced for Super Rugby outfit, the Queensland Reds, last week.O'Connor looked ready for the ground to swallow him up after his miscued 69th-minute kick from behind his own tryline travelled 10 metres to Sharks halfback Stefan Ungerer, handing him his second try on a silver platter.