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Now that we know the official State of Origin teams the proper analysis on who will win next Wednesday night can begin.
During the latest episode of Roar LIVE, expert Tim Gore was convinced the Queensland Maroons had the team to triumph despite missing Johnathan Thurston and the surprise omission of Billy Slater.
Wearing his blue-tinted glasses Roar assistant editor Daniel Jeffrey had a different point of view. Let the debate begin.
They’ll win because they’ll be able to hold New South Wales off for that first crucial 20 minutes and after that the smarts of their spine will take over and they’ll be able to squeeze the more desperate NSW out of the match.
I’m still convinced Anthony Milford won’t play at six, he’ll come off the bench. That initial announcement was just to keep Broncos coach Wayne Bennett happy. Michael Morgan will almost certainly be in the six jumper. He can slot straight into the Cameron Smith/Darius Boyd reliable role and be the new king of the north once Thurston retires.
Morgan is already used to guiding North Queensland around the field while Thurston is doing his usual running attacking play.
Milford will then be able to come on the field as a substitute and cause some chaos because he is made for that sort of role.
The backline is scary but it would have been even scarier if Billy Slater was in the team as well. I can’t believe Queensland has left him out of the side.
In saying that they’ll still be able to eek out a 4-6 point win in a very low scoring match.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Logic tells me Queensland will win but putting that aside, NSW has a much better forward pack going into this game and forwards are so important. Even more so in Origin.
If your pack gets on the front foot it can just be the catalyst for a win.
The Blues’ backline is just chock full of X-factor. James Tedesco, Jarryd Hayne, Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson. There are a lot of tries in that backline.
Then there’s the bench. The NSW bench has a hell of a lot more X-factor about it than Queensland’s. They’ll get a lot more out of their extra players than the Maroons.
Also Queensland are missing so many players who we’ve seen just destroy NSW in the past.
There’s no Matt Scott there, there’s no Greg Inglis there, there’s no Johnathan Thurston there and then there’s the strange decision on Slater.
If NSW are going to win a Game 1 in Queensland it’s going to be this one for those reasons.
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So, it’s over to you now Roarers. Who wins the crucial Game 1 next week? Let us know in the comments below!
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