Quaden Bayles has led the NRL's Indigenous side onto the field for the All Stars game on the Gold Coast, three days after the story of his bullying caught the world's attention.

Key points: A video of Quaden Bayles crying after a day of bullying at school went viral after his mother posted it to Facebook

A video of Quaden Bayles crying after a day of bullying at school went viral after his mother posted it to Facebook The Indigenous All Stars team reached out the next day to offer Bayles the chance to lead them onto the field on Saturday

The Indigenous All Stars team reached out the next day to offer Bayles the chance to lead them onto the field on Saturday The Maori side defeated the Indigenous squad, 30-16

The Indigenous All Stars were some of the first big names to reach out, offering him the chance to lead them out for the clash with the Maori All Stars at Robina Stadium on Saturday night.

Before leading out his uncles in the Indigenous team, every member of the Maori squad shook his hand as they walked onto the field.

He then took Indigenous captain Joel Thompson's hand and they led the team out together.

The Maori avenged last year's 34-14 loss, defeating their Indigenous rivals in a 30-16 runaway victory.

Quaden's dream come true

Superstar winger Josh Addo-Carr drew a smile from nine-year-old Quaden as they reached the middle of the field.

As Thompson and his Maori counterpart, Adam Blair, posed for a pre-game photo, referee Gerard Sutton called him over to stand in the middle of the photo with the game ball.

That came before a moment's silence to remember the stolen generations, a hongi between all members of the teams and then war dances by both teams, with Addo-Carr emulating the famous pose of AFL star Nicky Winmar, lifting his jersey to point to his skin.

After a turbulent off-season, Latrell Mitchell was visibly emotional while leading the war cry. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

Latrell Mitchell led the Indigenous dance, with the high-profile South Sydney recruit — who had a busy and turbulent off-season, including contract negotiations, fighting fires with family in central New South Wales, while enduring online abuse — brought to tears before approaching the Maoris for another hongi.

The national anthems were not sung, which came after a number of Indigenous stars last year made clear they did not feel the anthem represented them.

The NRL consulted with the ARL Indigenous Council and decided Advance Australia Fair did not need to be played, with the New Zealanders doing the same in a gesture of solidarity.

Quaden was hanging out with the team before play. ( AAP: Dave Hunt )

The game then got underway with some help from Bayles.

The youngster, sporting a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, giving the thumbs up for Sutton to blow the opening whistle.

At a press conference on Friday, Quaden's mother Yarraka, who posted the original video that sparked a global outpouring of support, said her son had always dreamt of being a rugby league star, but they knew this was probably as close as he was going to get.

Maori avenge loss with runaway victory

The match was billed as a battle of the fullbacks but hooker Brandon Smith stole the show to inspire the Maori's 30-16 win over their Indigenous rivals.

All eyes were on NSW centre Latrell Mitchell's first crack at the Indigenous No.1 jersey, lining up a showdown with Maori and Queensland fullback Kalyn Ponga.

While both showed flashes of brilliance, Melbourne rake Smith upstaged everyone with a stunning two-try display that brought the 23,599-strong crowd to their feet.

After the Maori led 12-10 at halftime, the game appeared to be broken open in the 57th minute when James Roberts turned around Ponga and scored off a David Fifita bust to give the Indigenous outfit a 16-12 lead.

Enter fan favourite Smith.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 2 minutes 12 seconds 2 m 12 s The Maori All Stars dominated the Indigenous All Stars with a 30-16 victory (Pic: AAP)

First he barged over in the 69th minute to snatch back the lead.

He was at it again four minutes later, only to be denied by the video referee for a double movement.

But there was no doubting his next effort when he went under the posts in the 75th, all but ensuring the Maori avenged their 34-14 loss last year.

Centre Dylan Walker iced the result with an 80th-minute try.

In the fullback duel, Mitchell came up trumps in his first big one-on-one test with Ponga after the Maori No.1 made a 35th minute bust, only for his Indigenous opposite number to cut him down.

In the end they shared honours before Mitchell played the majority of his second stint on the field in the centres with Alex Johnston at fullback.

The Maori had a dream start when winger and co-captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak evaded Mitchell to score in the fourth minute.

Scores were level in the 17th when Josh Curran ran off Josh Kerr to score and the Indigenous outfit got another break when Maori halfback Hughes was binned for a professional foul in the 23rd.

Yet the ball appeared to be bouncing the Maori's way after half Kodi Nikorima scored off a bizarre Indigenous ricochet to make it 12-6.

Their buffer was cut to just 12-10 in the 40th when Indigenous winger Blake Ferguson scored, celebrating with a backflip.

The video referee gave it the green light after studying a strip from Tyrone Roberts on Maori centre Esan Marsters that jolted the ball free for Ferguson to pounce.

A bit of history was made in the 65th minute when the first captain's call was used by Maori's Adam Blair when he queried a knock on against Kenny Bromwich but it was unsuccessful.

The captain's call is also being trialled in the Charity Shield clash before a decision will be made on whether to adopt it for the 2020 season.

Meanwhile, Indigenous interchange player Chris Smith suffered a suspected knee injury.

ABC/AAP

