In preparation for State of Origin 2, I dug up last year’s Game 2, which I remembered as a great game of footy, and watched it again.
The second time around it was still a great game of footy, fast-paced and entertaining, very different from this year’s Origin 1.
The first game this year was a match that from a NSW point of view, was like watching a feisty but toothless hamster being slowly asphyxiated by a remorseless python.
The impotence of the NSW attack in this year’s opener has been widely criticised, some commentators insisting that without wholesale changes the Blues will not be capable of scoring enough points to trouble a powerful Queensland team on its fast-paced home track.
The consensus is that to win, NSW need to play attacking football – the kind they played in Game 2 last year. In that game, the Blues created plenty of opportunities and got over the line five times (including one try that was called back for a forward pass).
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That night in Melbourne felt like the dawning of a new age: NSW had youth and verve, Queensland was old and wheezy, and in the closing minutes Gus Gould stirringly cried “Attaboy!” as a rampaging, maniacally grinning David Klemmer got in the faces of his opponents, shocking the demure and unworldly Corey Parker with his uncouth behaviour.
As NSW surged towards victory Gus got so carried away that he uttered the d-word: “These are the kind of players you could build a dynasty around.”
We all know what happened in Game 3 – the nascent dynasty miscarried in a Suncorp bloodbath, a maroon avalanche that rolled the Blues before it like so many hapless lego-men.
Two weeks ago in Sydney, a pedestrian NSW outfit fought hard and remained competitive, but never really looked capable of scoring more points than Queensland.
So what happened between Game 2 in 2015 and now? What selection blunders turned a razzle-dazzle team of world-beaters (or at least Queensland-beaters) into plodding journeymen?
Comparing the team from Game 2 last year with the team that will take the field tonight, there are seven players in common (Michael Jennings, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, James Tamou, Paul Gallen, Klemmer and Josh Jackson), and ten differences.
| State of Origin 2015 | Position | State of Origin 2016 |
| Josh Dugan | Fullback | Matt Moylan |
| Will Hopoate | Left Winger | Blake Ferguson |
| Michael Jennings | Left Centre | Michael Jennings |
| Josh Morris | Right Centre | Dylan Walker |
| Brett Morris | Right Winger | Josh Mansour |
| Mitchell Pearce | Left half | James Maloney |
| Trent Hodkinson | Right half | Adam Reynolds |
| Aaron Woods | Prop | Aaron Woods |
| Robbie Farah | Hooker | Robbie Farah |
| James Tamou | Prop | James Tamou |
| Beau Scott | Left Second Row | Greg Bird |
| Ryan Hoffman | Right Second Row | Josh Jackson |
| Paul Gallen | Lock | Paul Gallen |
| Trent Merrin | Interchange | Jack Bird |
| Boyd Cordner | Interchange | Tyson Frizell |
| David Klemmer | Interchange | David Klemmer |
| Josh Jackson | Interchange | Andrew Fifita |
Among the changes in the backs: Josh Dugan is out for Matt Moylan; Will Hopoate for Blake Ferguson; the Morris twins, Josh and Brett, for Dylan Walker and Josh Mansour; Mitchell Pearce for James Maloney; and Trent Hodkinson for Adam Reynolds.
With regards to the forwards and bench players: Beau Scott, Ryan Hoffman, Trent Merrin and Boyd Cordner are out, and Greg Bird, Jack Bird, Frizell and Andrew Fifita are in.
The strange thing is that, on paper, the 2016 side appears to have at least as many points in it as the 2015 version.
Moylan is more creative than the admittedly barnstorming Dugan, Ferguson packs more punch than Hopoate, Walker offers more in attack than either Morris, and Mansour is one of the hardest players in the game to tackle.
As to the halves, I’d say that the Maloney-Adam Reynolds combination has greater potential to create tries than the Pearce-Hodkinson pairing.
For the remainder, Scott/Greg Bird and Merrin/Frizell pretty much cancel each other out, and the loss of attacking potency in Hoffman and Cordner is balanced out by the inclusion of Jack Bird and Fifita.
All this leads me to believe that NSW’s uninspiring showing in Game 1 was not the result of poor team selection, but rather of difficult playing conditions, limited preparation (the opening games of the last few series have all been low-scoring), and an over-conservative gameplan.
In short, and surprisingly given the outcome of Game 1, I believe NSW have a team that can score 20-plus points at Suncorp. What do you think, Roarers?
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