State of Origin Game One: Queensland player ratings
Roar Guru Related coverage
Here are our Queensland player ratings from the first game of the 2012 State of Origin series against NSW at Etihad Stadium.
Queensland Player Ratings
Billy Slater
Not at his usual electric best. Dropped several bombs which lead to NSW tries but still was a threat as always.
Rating: 6
Darius Boyd
He may be out of touch in the NRL with the Knights but Boyd was good in this one, picking up two tries and dependable throughout.
Rating: 7
Greg Inglis
Largely contained well by NSW, the Souths fullback was still solid and scored the dodgiest try in Origin for years.
Rating: 7
Justin Hodges
Good in defence but hardly sighted in attack made for a quiet night for the Broncos centre.
Rating: 6
Brent Tate
Made a spectacular return to Origin after some injury-plagued seasons. Great under the high ball, ran hard with the ball and typically strong.
Rating: 8.5
Jonathan Thurston
Did not dictate the game as he has in the past but directed Queensland well and was largely mistake-free.
Rating: 7
Cooper Cronk
Kicked well and was strong throughout. Showed no troubles as a starting player.
Rating: 7
Matt Scott
Good but not great, Scott was lucky not to be penalized for throwing the ball at Greg Bird which started the brawl.
Rating: 6.5
Cameron Smith
Led Queensland well in his first game as captain and was a threat with his kicking and passing.
Rating: 7
Petero Civoniceva
The ageless prop did his job and remains tough to contain.
Rating: 6.5
Nate Myles
Won the man-of-the-match award after making 38 tackles and 10 hit-ups.
Rating: 8
Sam Thaiday
Like his Brisbane teammate Civoniceva, Thaiday did his job as he tackled himself to a standstill and made some surging runs.
Rating: 6.5
Ashley Harrison
Rolled the sleeves up and worked hard.
Rating: 7
Matt Gillett
Didn’t much get game time but is one for the future.
Rating: 4
Dave Taylor
No grubbers from the Coal Train in what was a fairly quiet performance off the bench.
Rating: 5
Ben Hannant
Typically Hannant was a hard worker who ran the ball well and gave his all.
Rating: 7
David Shillington
Like Gillett, Shillington didn’t see many minutes and didn’t get into the game too much.
Rating: 5
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May 24th 2012 @ 8:32am
Will Sinclair said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:32am | Report comment
Pretty fair I reckon.
Maybe you’re being a bit generous to Billy Slater – who made a couple of terrible mistakes that could easily have cost his team the game – and big Petero – who looked every bit of his 36 years, and should probably have retired before this series.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the Maroon’s selectors make the hard decision on Petero, or whether sentiment rules and they retain him.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:39am
Big I said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:39am | Report comment
Much to our (QLD’s) detriment, I think Petero will be retained, despite being outplayed each week at the Broncos by Josh McGuire. Providing no injuries, same 17 for the next game with the exception perhaps of Parker or Costigan for Harrison.
May 24th 2012 @ 11:02am
Gareth said | May 24th 2012 @ 11:02am | Report comment
QLD can afford the minor detriment to give the big fella the farewell he deserves, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to get McGuire into camp in preparation for next year.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:42am
MyGeneration said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Thurston was a bit better than “mistake-free”. Probably the most influential player in attack on the night.
May 24th 2012 @ 8:48am
The High Shot said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:48am | Report comment
Yeah Thurston was up there with Myles and Tate as my best Qlders on the night. Plus those first 2 conversions… beautiful!
May 24th 2012 @ 8:57am
Tristan Rayner said | May 24th 2012 @ 8:57am | Report comment
I’m bad at player ratings – I didn’t see Myles do a thing all night. Stats say otherwise, clearly!
Slater was probably my pick for worst on park. Petero did his job, no longer outstanding. McGuire could replace, but not sure Mal would change anything.
May 24th 2012 @ 9:04am
Will Sinclair said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Tristan – not sure Slater was worst on park (he still did beautifully in getting to the ball on the full and nullifying NSW’s kicking game), but he was absolutely terrible by his own high standards.
And yet all the reports I read seem to suggest he was very good. Just goes to show that reputation counts for more than performance with these things.
May 24th 2012 @ 11:48am
The High Shot said | May 24th 2012 @ 11:48am | Report comment
I noticed Nate antagonizing, bullying, niggling and hitting all night long. He just wanted to hunt the beasts in blue and I thought he was the sharp edge of the Qld pack.
May 24th 2012 @ 1:38pm
rl said | May 24th 2012 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
agreed, he was really having a go – plenty of aggression, and plenty of shoulder behind every tackle. That is the type of game from him that made his signature highly prized (despite some off-field issues at the time). Take him out of the equation and NSW would have had superiority in the forwards.
May 24th 2012 @ 2:39pm
Sarky said | May 24th 2012 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Yeah he had an uncharectristically bad night under the high ball, but what about the sublime catch and no-look pass for Qld’s first try, not to mention the textbook ball-and-all tackle when he was all that stood between a flying Jennings and the try line.
May 24th 2012 @ 9:43am
ElsomsEgo said | May 24th 2012 @ 9:43am | Report comment
I think these are a bit light on in some cases.. not Billy’s best game at all but still very dangerous in the middle of the park
Gilette 4? did nothing wrong and was threatening when given the ball.. Harrison made the most metres of any QLD forward and 40 tackles to go with hit.. think he is closer to an 8
Thurston was classy with limited chances … Petero very poor in the opening 20 and Scott not his usual self at all
May 24th 2012 @ 10:17am
Shungmao said | May 24th 2012 @ 10:17am | Report comment
Tate was the man of the match, Petro really struggled he was knackered after 8 min , I thought the score on cronk is generous , same for slater. Hannant needs more game time
May 24th 2012 @ 11:06am
ryan said | May 24th 2012 @ 11:06am | Report comment
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. No Chechin?………………..thsat bloke got a perfect 10 for QLD!, man of the match by far
May 24th 2012 @ 1:00pm
Paul said | May 24th 2012 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Tate was the only queenslander delivering from about 63-70 mins when QLD were spent. That effort alone should have one Man of the Match.
Our forwards were outplayed by NSW so hats off for effort but the impact was minimal. Slater more than mad up for blunders with some superb passing.
Thurston also was excellent and made Uate/Morris look ametuer. His kicking game was largely on song and a critical differnece between Cronk whoi released the pressure valve a few to many times.
Marker defence and tackling pressure need to improve from Queensland as there were long periods when NSW play the ball was lightning quick
May 24th 2012 @ 1:30pm
The Barry said | May 24th 2012 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
Tate was MOM – not often I’d say that about a winger that didn’r score a try but he diffused about 6.
I didn’t think Myles had a lot of quality about his work.
May 24th 2012 @ 2:25pm
The Greatest Game Of All said | May 24th 2012 @ 2:25pm | Report comment
Tate would have went missing had the NSW kickers kept on bombing Slater, why did they stop bombing Slater???
Tate was not MOTM, Myles defended like a champion and played tough, deserved winner.