With the momentum of the State of Origin shifting in NSW’s favour, game three shapes up to be an intriguing contest. With the game scheduled at Suncorp, it’s needless to say the Maroons fans will be out in force.
Queensland will receive the same crowd support that pushed NSW.
The question is, will this galvanise the NSW players and will they embrace their role as the villains, which the crowd will bestow on them?
Suncorp Stadium will no doubt be a cauldron of hate, directed at anything in blue.
Tactically Queensland are faced with more dilemmas than in recent series with the chance of Billy Slater being ruled out.
This leads to an interesting tactical problem for big Mal.
He has two blokes in his outside backs that play fullback for their club, in Darius Boyd and Greg Inglis.
But his 19th man in game two was Ben Barba, who plays full back for Canterbury.
Frankly Barba is an electric runner, but he is not a large full back and not that powerful.
In his favour, he has quickness to boot and can tear defensive lines apart.
But would he have the metal to play his debut in the decider?
If there is a move of Greg Inglis into fullback, there is a chance he can link up with his old mates from the Storm in Smith and Cronk.
I don’t believe Boyd is really in the running for the position because he seems to be more of a defensive full back.
He is not a powerful runner and does not have a quick step.
The Maroons won’t be happy with a win.
They will want to belt the Blues in front of their fans after they got physically demolished in game one.
Another player who has been in great form is Matt Bowen, who plays fullback for North Queensland.
Bowen is a great runner and has played some Origin, but Hunt and Slater have usually been picked in front of him.
Unlike Inglis, he doesn’t have any connection with Cronk or Smith, but he plays week in, week out with Thurston and there is a good understanding there.
Inglis will be the pick as he is a proven big-game player.
The problem with moving Inglis from the centre is that Josh Morris will be able to exert himself more when he has the ball.
He won’t have to be as concerned with protecting Uate defensively.
This could lead to a few line breaks from him; with Uate on his outside, they can really do some damage.
A thought from left field is to potentially pick another five-eight and send Thurston back to fullback.
When Darren played, Queensland always played Cronk from the bench to inject a third half and kicker.
Playing fullback gives Thurston the ability to attack the broken play from quick returns and gives him the ability to inject himself when he feels he needs to.
It would also limit his tackling amount, if the extra five-eight was more of a defensive half who could marshal the defensive and focus on their play defensively.
The move would either be seen as a coaching disaster or a masterstroke, depending on the result.
The player picked at fullback won’t be picked on form and ability solely.
There are multiple players with the class to fill the void.
But at such an important position in the series, the player picked will be the most mentally strong.
It will be somebody who can handle the rigours of the occasion.
The rumours running on the NSW side are that Uate will potentially be dropped and Tony Williams could be fit.
The dropping of Uate would be silly.
Defensively, he can be a bit of a liability. However, if Morris is able to help him – and play like he did in game two – then it’s not so much of a problem.
Uate is similar to Hayne in that he too can do some silly things, but he has real class and the ability to get himself over the line.
He loves to score tries and if he is put in the position he will nose himself over the line.
The potential replacement who has been floating around is Brett Morris.
This would lead to a Morris right-hand defensive; they are both solid and powerful, but lack the class that Uate has.
They should keep him in as he has the ability to turn it on and win games.
The work they put into forming a cohesive unit will be ruined by needlessly changing the dynamics .
If Williams is fit, he should play instead of Merrin.
Merrin was in solid form from the bench in both games, but there’d be nothing better than having Tamou and Grant touch up the Maroons for the first 20 before Williams comes on and really break spirits.
Williams is capable of runs and tackles, which will inspire his teammates.
Our best chance of winning that game will be to make them feel real pain in the first 20.
Whatever decisions are made, it has shaped up to be an epic decider.
It only works in the favour of NSW to break up the Queensland one-seven-nine combination.
At the same time, the players they have to pick from can turn the game on its head really quickly.
To think ‘there is no Billy back there, we’ll be right’ will not fly and hurt us.
NSW cannot afford to underestimate the Maroons; if they get complacent they will get hurt very badly.
The Maroons will attempt to take the underdog tag back but their names are on the shield.
For as long as that lasts, NSW are the underdogs.
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