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New South Wales squared up the 2015 State of Origin series with a 26-18 victory at the mighty Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night.
Here are five things we learned from the game.
1. Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia (maybe even the world)
A crowd of over 91,000 on a weeknight in a non-traditional rugby league market is incredible. Yes there would be a component of that crowd that travelled down from the northern states, but the majority were Victorians that love sport.
The atmosphere at the ‘G was the equal of any State of Origin or NRL grand final I’ve attended in Sydney.
It’s also a testament to the impact the Melbourne Storm has had on the Victorian market.
The NRL should be applauded for bringing the game back to Melbourne and its greatest theatre of dreams.
It makes you wonder how good it would have been had the A-League taken the bold decision and held its grand final midweek at the MCG. It looks like the FFA missed a big opportunity.
2. Queensland have more upside heading into Game 3
Heading home for the decider, where they are extremely hard to be beat, the Maroons have far more upside than their southern counterparts.
Outside brief glimpses, the Maroons got very little from three of their spine players. Cameron Smith had a rare quiet game and Billy Slater was clearly not fit, hence his season ending shoulder surgery that was booked in the next day.
Johnathan Thurston was a one-man band in the halves, his kicking was phenomenal and his chasing was just as good, especially the chase which resulted in the much bigger Josh Dugan being dragged back into the in-goal.
Greg Inglis was the only other Queensland player to consistently shine. His move into the fullback spot for Game 3 will give him more time around the ball, which is sure to cause Laurie Daley some headaches.
3. Cooper Cronk must come back
Daly Cherry-Evans is not an Origin halfback at the moment and Mal Meninga will be sweating on the medical reports out of the Storm on the fitness of Cooper Cronk.
Even if Cronk doesn’t come up, DCE should not be in the seven jersey. One option is to move Thurston into that role, where he started his Origin career, bring Michael Morgan in at five-eighth and shift Cherry-Evans back to the bench.
Another is to call up Brisbane Broncos half Ben Hunt, leave Morgan on the bench and omit Cherry-Evans.
4. New South Wales’ halves paring somehow works
The much maligned halves pairing of Mitchell Pearce and Trent Hodkinson has been getting the job done for the Blues. The structured game of Hodkinson allowed Pearce to use his speed and dart around the ruck to great effect.
Pearce would have scored a try if not for a pass that floated slightly forward and was generally a menace, assisting on two of the Blues’ four tries.
It’s one of the great successes of Daley’s coaching career that he has made this halves pair of a halfback playing five-eighth and a half back who is struggling to get a club game work.
5. Origin football rules rugby league
We probably already knew this, but it was confirmed in the past week. Billy Slater putting state ahead of club to play despite clearly needing surgery that would end his season is a prime example of this.
The impact it has had on the NRL competition also needs to be addressed. Weekends of minimal games being being played between sides missing their best players is really not good enough in this day and age of professional sports.
For one night at the MCG, it was all worth it though.
Bring on Game 3.
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