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Captain Cameron Smith hoped the Kangaroos 16-0 win over the Kiwis was a good show for the near capacity Hunter Stadium in Newcastle crowd of 27,724.
After only two training sessions, the Kangaroos looked like it, so no, it wasn’t a good show.
The Kiwis were minus Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Kieran Foran, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Issac Luke, Manu Vatuvai, Ben Matulino, and Bodene Thompson with 137 international caps between – and looked like it.
The win stopped the Kiwis from winning four Tests in a row, but it begs the question how long can the growing list of over 30s last in green and gold?
The Kangaroos led 10-0 at the break, with man of the match Paul Gallen, and Matt Scott, with benchmen James Tamou and Sam Thaiday causing plenty of trouble up the middle.
But the backs didn’t click as a unit, even though Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, and Darius Boyd have played plenty of Queensland Origin and Tests together.
The “outsiders” – Semi Radradra, Josh Dugan, and Blake Fergsuon didn’t know or understand the necessary lines to run to slot in with the Queenslanders.
Dugan had a least at least eight carries and died with the ball eight times. The next time coach Mal Meninga selects a Kangaroo team, Michael Morgan must replace Dugan in the starting line-up.
Morgan on debut proved he’s in for the long haul – he has initiative, vision, speed, and defence, to be the full bottle.
Radradra was in the bin for illegal play six minutes after kick-off, but came back eager to make amends and every time he had the ball he tried to do something positive with it, while Ferguson so nearly scored three times only to be felled within sniffing distance of the try-line.
Justice was done when Ferguson crashed over in the 79th minute for the Kangaroos’ third four-pointer to clinch the win.
The highlight was Tamou’s front-on tackle of Kiwi Martin Taupau – that collision shook the Hunter Stadium foundations, it was awesome.
The lowlight was Sam Moa’s extremely late tackle on Thurston that rattled every bone in his body.
Why referees don’t act on the constant late tacking of Australia’s premier footballer, defies description. It’s a week-by-week proposition and must stop before Thurston is seriously injured.
So Mal Meninga’s bid to put more standing in the Kangaroo jumper was partially fulfilled.
Sure the Test was won, that was important, and there was obvious pride and passion in the victory. But had the Kiwis been anywhere near full strength the result could well have been very different.
As it sits, State of Origin beats Test rugby league by the length of the straight.
But Meninga is a very formidable figure, and he won’t rest until the Kangaroo jumper is worth more than Origin.
The crowd showed their Kangaroo belief last night, now it’s the players who must pick up the slack.