The Queensland Rugby League team has completely dominated New South Wales in game two of the State Of Origin series, running away with a 34-6 victory.
The win gives Queensland a record five series wins in a row, and makes Mal Meninga the most successful coach in State Of Origin history.
To say this was a complete victory would undersell the Queensland performance. The Maroons dominated every facet of the game during the entire 80 minutes.
The scoreline reflected the absolute mortgage that Queensland has on the State Of Origin series. They have better management, better coaching, more fashion for the jersey….there is not one level they are not streets ahead of their New South Wales counterparts.
On the back of a controversial buildup in which some of their indigenous players were targeted by Andrew Johns in a racist rant, Queensland stood tall and played a game that was everything that is good about Australian Rugby League.
They were ruthless. They didn’t just want to win, they wanted to humiliate their opponent. They managed this with brute force, incredible skill, and a passion for the game that could not be matched.
Queensland
Its hard to pick out players in the Queensland side, they were all brilliant.
Darren Lockyer was superb and showed he can play at the games highest level for as long as he wants. Any time some snot nosed journo asks him about retirement, he should just laugh in their faces. He controlled this game completely, what a great leader and a great captain.
Sam Thaiday was simply unbelievable. I said going into the match that I believe he has been the most consistently brilliant player in the NRL this year and he took his game to another level in Origin too. His ball running was amazing and his defense was crushing. He set the tone for the Queensland side and was my man of the match.
Defensively Queensland strangled the New South Wales side out of the match. There was nothing the Blues threw at them that was a problem.
In attack they were simply brilliant. They made great meters up the middle, they completed their sets well, their kicking game was spot on, and when it come to spreading the ball through their back line, they were almost unstoppable.
Greg Inglis
When Inglis got the ball early in the game, he outran a shattered New South Wales back line and scored a memorable try. After finding out he bore the brunt of the racist remarks by Andrew Johns, you could see it was a sweet moment for him.
Beau Scott was selected to stop Inglis, and of course, it didn’t work. Inglis was fired up for this one.
It was no surprise when, later in the match Inglis played the ball and held on to Scotts jersey. When Scott tried to knock his hand away Inglis let fly with punches.
It was a great Origin moment.
Who Wasn’t There
Just think about this for a moment…
Queensland were without Justin Hodges, Petero Civoniceva and Steve Price through injury. They also chose not to select Scott Prince.
I’d suggest that Queenslands second best lineup would account for New South Wales right now.
The Best Of The Blues
Paul Gallen, left out of the first game and called up in the second, played his arse off. Nathan Hindmarsh, who wasn’t even selected in the NSW Country side earlier this year, also played himself into the ground.
I think Trent Barrett was New South Wales best player. He regularly was forced to take over the major play making roll for the team. His kicking game was by far the most dangerous of all players in the New South Wales side, and he chased every ball all night, right into the dying minutes of the match.
At fullback, Jarryd Hayne played well, putting his body on the line and really trying to create something in attack. He can hold his head high.
I also felt that Josh Morris, for the maybe two or three times he touched the ball, wasn’t too bad in attack, while Tom Leroyd-Lahrs gave good go forward in the second half.
Kurt Gidley
The embarrassing situation where the captain played off the bench once again resulted in a disastrous performance by the second most over rated player in the game today. Kurt Gidley was once again terrible.
Brought on the play hooker of all things, and relegating 80 minute player Michael Ennis to the bench, Gidley game poor service from dummy half, added no spark and was a liability in defense.
He is not a good enough player to play at this level. It is that simple. I have no idea why New South Wales management keep pushing him as the captain of the state.
Michael Weyman
Can somebody please tell me when Michael Weyman became a good prop? I must have missed that moment.
An erratic, injury prone, pain in the arse at the Raiders, Weymen went to the Dragons and over night supposedly became a top player!
He is over weight. He is poor in defense, and when running the ball, as soon as he is hit in one hard tackle, he disappears for the rest of the game. He was completely dominated by the Queensland pack, and has been in every Origin game he has played.
Luke O’Donnell
This gutless waste of space should never have been selected. One of the worst players in the 15th placed team in the NRL.
O’Donnell is always a very tough player, as long as he is tackling one of the backs.
In this game he spear tackled Darius Boyd, driving him head first into the ground, and it resulted in a fantastic all in brawl.
Cut to a shot of this gutless thug trying to headbutt Dave Taylor, who of course had body of his arms held back by a New South Wales player. O’Donnell punched him in the face, not worrying Taylor, before Sam Thaiday came in as put one of the stupid waste of space’s chin.
Of course at that point O’Donnells tampon fell out and he wasn’t heard of again in the game.
He should have been sent off. He should have been sent for the spear tackle, which is one of the worst I have seen, and then for the headbutting.
Hopefully he doesn’t play again this year. A gutless moron the game would be better off without!
Beau Scott and Matthew Cooper
Origin players. You don’t pick the best players available, you pick Origin players apparently.
These two were selected for two reasons.
Firstly was Coopers combination at club level with team mate Brett Morris. The second was, both are supposedly defensive specialists.
What a farce that turned into.
Setting aside the fact that Cooper didn’t finish his second straight Origin game because of injury, both players were abused by their opposite numbers for the entire game.
Out wide, the New South Wales defense was a mess. Players were running out of the line and that is the last thing you do against the likes of Lockyer, Thurston, Inglis and co.
Both Scott and Cooper provided nothing at all in attack. In fact Cooper has managed to completely nullify Brett Morris in attack so far this series.
When you think that these two players have been selected ahead of Michael Jennings, Josh Morris and Jamal Idris….words can’t describe how utterly stupid this situation is.
Joel Monaghan
He had a poor game, and I can’t blame the poor bloke.
He has been injured for most of the NRL season, he hasn’t played much football this year. He was called into the New South Wales side and when he arrived at the team hotel, he had no idea why he was there, he had no idea what had happened, and as New South Wales management tried to sneak him through a side door, he had no idea what position he was going to be played.
It turned out he was on to the wing, good stuff for a guy that is normally a center.
He was caught short out wide a number of times, and clearly he had been told to rush up in defense to snuff out the attack, because that is just not how he plays.
It didn’t work. However, as I said, I can’t blame him. He was always in a no win situation.
Mitchell Pearce
The new Golden Boy of some very high profile people in the New South Wales Origin camp and many in the media.
If you read the headline, Pearce has been playing amazing football for the Roosters, in a side that has lost more games with him in the side than its lost.
Pearce was rubbish in this game. In attack he did nothing, to the point where Trent Barrett had to take over his duties.
His kicking game was abysmal. It was not any problem for Queensland at all. His best three kicks of the game were perfect, hitting Israel Folau right on the chest!
When did this kid become good? I haven’t seen it!
He came back from injury in a terrible Roosters side, played one game, and then this second Origin game.
To suggest that a halfback who has been playing on the NRL’s worst team over the last two years is good, well, you don’t have to be a Rugby League fan to know what a load of rubbish that is.
I have yet to see anything from Pearce that suggest he is anything more than an inconsistent player at a poor NRL club.
An Origin player? Not in a million fucking years!
Where Too Now For New South Wales?
You wish they could sack the coach, his staff, the selectors and the New South Wales Rugby League management who have presided over the worst period in the history of NSWRL.
They won’t.
Expect many of the same faces in game three to show up. They will stay loyal to the losers, make the same mistakes, and nothing will happen in regards with looking towards the future.
The people involved in the New South Wales State Of Origin program right now have made a complete mess of everything they have touched. They should all be sacked.
The Future
We need an Independent Commission to come into the game and the NSWRL to be removed. That is the only way Phil Gould has said he would be willing to coach New South Wales again, and we need him.
He simply refuses to deal with the idiots involved right now, and I can’t blame him.
New South Wales needs to be willing to go through pain next year to gain in the long term.
Next years Origin campaign needs to start in January with the formation of an extended squad. Get them together, get the players familiar with each other, set them goals, even get them doing some light training. You want the squad that plays game one next year to have been building towards their performance for six months.
Robbie Farah needs to be given the hooking role. This is going to take work, as Farah dominates the way the side will play. This work needs to be done, that it has been over looked this long because it is supposedly too hard is a disgrace.
New South Wales need to select a captain that actually is good enough to play at this level. If he needs to be dropped, get rid of him, and pick a new one.
I would select players that would kill to play for New South Wales. Players with desire. This will come out in the Pre-Origin camps and during the NRL season.
We need to look at the long term future of New South Wales. Our backline right now could be Hayne at fullback, Josh and Brett Morris on the wings, and Michael Jennings and Jamal Idris in the centers. That is a red hot back line, that is the future. At the very least a few of those players form the base of the long term back line we will be running out. So play them!
In the halves. look, who knows what New South Wales should do.
I think I’d be willing to have Terry Campese struggle for a couple of years at five-eight. Barrett is going to retire at seasons end, and Campese surely is the next best option. No more picking a lock forward in the backs!
At halfback, I don’t rate Pearce. I’d still be happy enough with Kimmorley but I wouldn’t hate seeing young Trent Hodkinson, who is moving to the Bulldogs next year, being give a very limited job in the side. Give him a basic game plan, don’t overwhelm him and try and make him a superstar over night. We just need someone that is solid at halfback, the spectacular stuff will come with experience.
Up front we need a rethink.
I like the back row of Gallen, Lewis and Watmough. I think Trent Waterhouse gets the job done well off the bench, especially when used as something more than a battering ram as he has been in this series.
I’d like to see Tom Leroyd-Larhs moved into the starting side and we need to fish out some new front row talent. I’d suggest the likes of Cronullas Luke Douglas and Parramatta’s Tim Mannah should both get a run.
New South Wales will need some utility value off the bench, and Kurt Gidley is not up to the job. I wonder if that is the position you would see Jamie Soward come into the Origin scene. Use him in short bursts. His defense is an issue, but he would cause plenty more for Queensland with his attack.
Players like Nathan Merit, Blake Ferguson, Tim Grant, Josh Dugan and Trevor Thurling should be on the radar. Players who you know would come in and give their all. They are the future of New South Wales.
The Australian Team
If you picked the Australian side today, I don’t know that I could pick an single New South Wales player in the side.
You’d drop Folau, but with Justin Hodges coming back from injury soon, that would be a straigh swap with Tonga pushed to the wing.
You maybe want Hayne in the side, simply because its hard to leave out that sort of athletic ability, and I would suggest you would have Anthony Watmough in there with Luke Lewis on the bench for his utility value.
Having said that, if those three were left out, you could hardly complain.
That would mean bad news for England and New Zealand in the Four Nations at seasons end. This Queensland side is epic, and would be just as brutal in Green and Gold.
The Future Of State Of Origin
You will hear some people this week talk about the future of State Of Origin football. Let me tell you right now….its safe.
I dare say that game two will have been the most watched Origin game in history, once again being the most watched TV program in Australia this year. I would also suggest that game three will top it!
The crowds in New South Wales will be harder to get, but don’t put that down to the football.
The New South Wales Rugby League has done an abysmal job of promoting the games at ANZ Stadium. On top of that, with stadium upgrades in the pipeline, I think we’ll see Origin games played in Newcastle and possible Canberra in the future.
That is not to mention to thirst for State Of Origin football in other states, who are bidding to host games, and over the ditch in New Zealand.
It was less then a decade ago when people were wondering when New South Wales winning run would end. Oh how I wish for those days again!
Until things turn around, you just have to hope that Queensland’s dominance sets wheels of change in motion in New South Wales. Nothing less than a revolution is needed to turn things around for the Sky Blues.
