Well the predictions of doom and gloom over the crowd figure were off the mark but the predictions of a Queensland clean sweep were spot on.
While New South Wales seemed to put up more of a fight, the fact is Queensland were not at their rampaging best and STILL managed to come away with a win.
The series clean sweep is the first for Queensland since the famous 1995 State Of Origin series when Paul Vautin coached the side to a famous series win.
On The Bright Side
There were a few bright spots for New South Wales however.
Greg Bird was sensational in his State Of Origin comeback. I thought he would have been named Man Of The Match had New South Wales won. As it turned out Billy Slater was named man of the match, and series by the Australian selectors, who apparently missed the contributions of Darren Lockyer and Sam Thaiday who were both brilliant in this series.
Tom Learoyd-Lahrs was also brilliant, he offered New South Wales its best go forward all series and really proved to be a handful for the Queenslanders throughout the match.
Trent Barrett I think was the player of the series for New South Wales. He was forced to take over all the play making duties in game two and three and on every kick he was the first defender down the field.
Michael Jennings proved dangerous and his combination with Greg Bird reminded me a lot of his combination at club level with Frank Pritchard. He didn’t get much clean ball, but he still showed what he is capable of.
However Then You Had
Mitchell Pearce offered absolutely nothing for New South Wales. He has offered nothing in every Origin game he has played. Sure he is still young, but there are no signs of anything to look forward to, and when you consider he plays for a losing NRL club, I can’t understand why he is the supposed golden boy of the NSWRL and media types.
I’d suggest if his last name wasn’t Pearce, he would be nowhere near a Blue jersey.
In defense, New South Wales were a bit of a mess. Sure they held of Queensland at points in the game, but when the pressure was really applied, you could see three different defensive styles in play with some players sliding, some rushing up and some backpedaling.
When you consider these players have had a combined 30 days in camp together, and they are playing like that, you have to blame the coach.
As for Beau Scott, look, when a Queenslander in Wayne Bennett pleads with New South Wales to pick him, you know there is an issue.
Slow, terrible in attack and not much at all in defense. Scott is not an Origin player and should never have been selected. Lets face it, with Gasnier and Cooper available, he isn’t even a starting center for the Dragons!
Those Bloody Queenslanders
Queensland were not on their game in this one, and they still managed to win!
Thurston and Inglis were almost non existent in this one. The Queensland forwards didn’t seem to have the same venom as they did in the first two games and yet, they still won.
As I said earlier, Sam Thaiday was amazing throughout this series. He is having a season to be really proud. Darren Lockyer too had a great series. The media keeps trying to push him into retirement, he should tell every single reporter that asks about retirement to simply fuck off.
Queensland really just did what they had to in this game, and when it come time to win it, they turned it on.
To Sum It All Up
Queensland dominated every facet of the 2010 State Of Origin series. There is not a single area of the game, the series, the running of the series, there is nothing they didn’t dominate from start to finish.
New South Wales is a shambles. Its a mess and no one within the NSW team management or coaching staff should be back next year.
New South Wales needs to start next years Origin series this December. Have a new coaching staff in place, do some light training, get a platform set. If anyone wants to complain about being in an Origin mini camp in December, don’t pick them for the series.
New South Wales needs a complete overhaul in how they go about things. 2010 was basically a great example of what not to do.
Well done Queensland. You deserved the clean sweep.
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