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The New South Wales Blues will win tonight’s second State of Origin match at Homebush, giving them victory in the interstate series for the first time in eight years.
Why am I confidently and boldly writing that the Blues will win Origin 2?
Because The Roar Editor made me! Bloody editors. How dare they tell me what my opinion should be!
That’s not to say that I don’t think the Blues will win tonight, because I think they will.
MORE ORIGIN:
>> PRENTICE: Why Queensland will win Origin 2
>> [WATCH] Highlights from Game 2 2013
>> TURNER: Blues skipper Gallen poised for the game of his life
>> Roar preview for State of Origin Game 2
>> [WATCH] Highlights from Game 1 2014
Click here to read why Ryan O’Connell is wrong, and why the Maroons will win Origin 2.
But after eight long years of pain and suffering, I don’t want tempt fate by getting all cocky and proclaiming that the Origin shield is guaranteed to head back to New South Wales.
A losing streak of that magnitude does tend to jade one’s conviction and belief.
However, the Blues could hardly be in a better position to finally end the misery for their state. Ignoring for a second the crucial injuries to the Morris twins and the subsequent gamble of selecting Josh Dugan and Will Hopoate to replace them, everything is perfectly set up for New South Wales to finally end Queensland’s dynasty.
They’re up one-nil. The game is in Sydney. Queensland have numerous injury concerns, and will be without their preferred halfback, Cooper Cronk. Basically, the series is there for the taking for the Blues.
And here are three reasons why I think they’ll get the job done.
Jarryd Hayne
Let’s not overcomplicate things here. A big reason why the Blues will feel bullish about their chances tonight is because Jarryd Hayne is a match winner.
It’s a not cliché when describing the Parramatta fullback, because he’s capable of winning a game for his team by himself. That’s just how good he is.
Though plenty of Blues players performed well in Game 1 in Brisbane, Hayne was the standout and justifiably took home man-of-the-match honours.
He’s been consistently brilliant at Origin level during his career, and the Queenslanders respect and fear him. If he plays anywhere near his very best football, the Blues will win the game.
It was absolutely staggering that some people suggested Hayne should have been moved to the centres for NSW to cover the loss of Josh Morris.
Though I agree with the sentiment that Hayne can have a big impact on the game no matter where he plays, he can have the biggest impact on the game from fullback, and you want to put your best player in the position where he can have the greatest influence upon the result of the match.
Fullback enables him to get more touches of the football, while also allowing him to attack the Maroons from broken play. It’s vital to the success of the Blues that both of these things happen, and it would be much harder for Hayne to do that from right centre.
Above all, Hayne enjoys playing fullback and is most comfortable there. You don’t want to mess with the head of a superstar of Hayne’s ability. Play him where he wants to play.
Confidence
The Blues will take many positives out of their victory in the opening game of the series, but none will be bigger than the confidence and self-belief that the win would have generated within the NSW camp.
Beating the Maroons is no mean feat at the best of times. Beating them at Suncorp Stadium in front of a parochial home crowd, with the Queensland team throwing everything they could at NSW in the second half and the Blues weathering the storm with an amazing defensive effort, is a truly remarkable achievement.
Such efforts can have a profound effect on the psyche of a team. It can galvanise them long after the full-time siren has sounded, and be the building blocks for a strong culture of success – an area in which the Blues have always felt second rate in comparison to Queensland.
Game 1 certainly felt like a turning point for NSW on many levels.
Blues halves Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson will be even more settled and self-assured for Game 2. Considering how poised they both were in Game 1, that bodes well for NSW. I think they’ll have an even greater impact on proceedings in Sydney.
Greg Bird returns to a forward pack that will already be buoyed by their Game 1 efforts, and the backrower has never been short of confidence and swagger – something that can be infectious in a playing group. He also adds even more starch to a team that showed plenty of toughness and courage in the opening game of the series.
The team can also look to superstars Jarryd Hayne and Paul Gallen and feel assured that the Blues team have individuals who can match the elite quality of their opposition.
Make no mistake, the Blues will be filled with an amazing amount of confidence and momentum, and those two factors are vital ingredients for success.
Luck
You need some good fortune in sport.
Analyse any team that has ever won a championship, premiership, title, tournament or series, and you can be sure that they had some good luck upon the way. It’s just the way it is. You could say that you make your own luck, but you still need some to be successful.
If the Blues win tonight, you’ll be able to credit some aspect of the victory towards luck. It could be a referee decision. It could be a Queensland injury. It could be a bounce of the ball.
It could be the Blues getting away with picking Dugan in the centres, something I’m extremely nervous about.
Or perhaps it will simply be a case of the law of averages catching up with Queensland. Though Maroons fans may disagree, at some point this magnificent dynasty was going to end.
For NSW fans, tonight seems like a perfect time for that to happen.
Go the Blues.