On one of the craziest days in history as far as Australian politics and Wimbledon are concerned, one expected result came out – Queensland’s 26-6 victory over New South Wales in the second match of the 2013 State of Origin series.
Hours before the first ball was to be kicked to start the second State of Origin match in Brisbane, Julia Gillard announced she would be contesting a leadership spill against Kevin Rudd, the man she ousted from the Prime Ministership three years ago. The loser was to retire from politics altogether.
Eventually, Kevin Rudd won the vote 57-46, thus sentencing Julia Gillard to retirement and giving Queensland a ‘moral’ State of Origin victory before the real boys had even started to play the game.
The ballot was contested at 7:00pm Canberra time, and when it rolled over into 7:30pm, Channel Nine viewers, including myself, started to get annoyed the State of Origin was going to be delayed.
But, as Peter Overton promised on the live coverage of the leadership spill, viewers would be going live to the State of Origin as soon as a solution to the leadership spill was announced.
It was then announced by Cameron Williams on the Origin telecast that Kevin Rudd had won back the Prime Ministership from the woman who ousted him almost three years ago.
It shows what goes around, does go around. Rudd ousted Julia Gillard from the top post and now has total control of the country, at least until September, when all of Australia go to the polls to decide our next leader.
Onto the game itself, and Queensland were very determined to level the State of Origin series after losing Game I in Sydney.
Two changes were made to the team that lost by 14-6 three weeks ago; Ashley Harrison and David Shillington paying the price for poor performances and being dropped in favour of Josh Papalii and Daly Cherry-Evans.
Queensland’s intent was clear from the first whistle. After just 20 minutes, Sam Thaiday and Darius Boyd scored for Queensland and it started to get very ominous for the Blues.
But just as the match threatened to blow out, as was the case the last two times the Blues took a 1-0 lead into Brisbane, the Blues tightened up for the remainder of the half but were unable to find a way past the Great Wall of Queensland.
The half-time score was the exact reverse from Game I – Queensland led 14-0 at half-time, and were 40 minutes away from levelling the series.
By the time they went out to 24-0, they had scored 30 unanswered points in the last 100 minutes of football. The Maroons had surely learnt their lesson from Game I and made it clear the era of dominance they are enjoying now was not going to end.
The NRL’s no-punch rule was tested for the first time more than ten minutes into the second half. Blues captain Paul Gallen, whose Game I punch to the head of Nate Myles not only earned him a one-match suspension but prompted the NRL to introduce the no-punch rule, was pushed out of a tackle by Brent Tate, prompting Trent Merrin to retaliate.
Merrin earnt himself ten minutes off for his punches to Tate, who, along with Justin Hodges and Greg Bird, was also marched.
In my opinion, only Merrin should have been sin-binned, given he was the only man to even swing a punch.
For the next ten minutes, it would be 11 on 11. Swap the Steeden for a rounder ball and we’d have had a game of soccer instead.
But by the time the four sinners returned to the field, the match was dead, but not before Brett Morris saved the Blues from a wipeout by scoring in the 70th minute.
The final score was 26-6. This means we will have a decider in Sydney, and what a match it guarantees to be. However, Paul Gallen’s participation may be in doubt after he suffered a foot injury late in the match.
All of New South Wales will be holding their breath to ensure he is okay for what could be the most important match in the history of New South Wales State of Origin.
Queensland’s victory, on the other hand, gives them two victories, on both the Australian politics and sporting front. Perhaps the Maroons were inspired by Kevin Rudd’s leadership victory earlier in the evening? Time will tell.
Bring on Game III in Sydney, on July 17.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Queensland often has the right mix of generational talent, playmaking brilliance and these nuts-and-bolts players that bind them together like glue.
There are few greater sledges you can give an NRL team than calling them pretenders but the Cowboys will not be contenders until they…
The Parramatta coach was furious with his side after coughing up a first-half lead and going on to lose 44-16 in an embarrassing second-half…
Jamayne Isaako missed five out of nine conversions in a huge win over the Eels - with the Channel Nine team having some fun…
The Eels led 8-4 at half-time. They lost 44-16 in a Dolphins onslaught.
Who is this team and what have they done with the Dolphins? With Wayne Bennett consigned to his sick bed back in Redcliffe, the…
