Well once again Wednesday night showed that perhaps an 80-minute performance from a year ago, which meant nothing to one side and everything to another, with different teams isn’t the golden barometer it is trotted out to be.
For almost a year we’ve heard how great the Blues were in that final Origin, how much spirit they played with in a dead rubber. Only to be shown again that both the team and the selectors are sadly lacking.
If you pick wide running, ball playing back rowers without clearly better props you will lose more often than you win against a better constructed side.
One day there will be an NRL team with enough foresight to employ a 17-year-old that understands that regression and correlation aren’t medical conditions and, combined with a seasoned scout because objective analysis needs a subjective filter, they will probably tear apart the league for a good four to five years before everyone figures it out.
The numbers tell you that for all the verbose praise that is slathered on our outside backs like gravy on a Yorkshire pud, the game is won by better kicking, better kick returning, less errors and a well directed forward pack that wins the battle of the advantage line.
You want to win games then win the battle of field position. It is simple, it is boring, but it is effective, and most importantly, it is how Origin games are won or lost.
And yet NSW left Gallen at home, not a great human being but a damn good blunt instrument for going forward, as they went into battle against a seasoned Maroons outfit.
When I saw the rain start falling in waves on Macquarie street yesterday I smiled a wry smile. The gods were angry with NSW and their in ability to grasp the basics of football.
Despite the vast majority of the rub of the green calls, NSW last night looked like a state of 1,000, not eight and a bit million.
The basic selection philosophy, not some two foot extension that comes with a Maroon jumper, is why despite NSW having double the population, Queensland is always competitive. Our slow-minded uneducated backwater selectors actually understand how rugby league works.
So long as NSW persist with their current selection practices, Queensland remains a chance to always outperform them.
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