After eight consecutive series losses at the hands of the Queensland Maroons, the Blues have finally reclaimed the State of Origin trophy, with a gritty 6-4 win at Homebush.
It wasn’t pretty. In fact, calling the game ugly would be massive compliment. Few of the 80 minutes of play in Sydney last night will be used in promotional material to win new fans to rugby league.
Yet coach Laurie Daley and his players – not to mention NSW fans – will struggle to care less, for the Blues have finally ended Queensland’s reign.
Though there were numerous talking points from last night’s game, here are my top five:
Hats off to Queensland
I implore all New South Welshmen to put their passion and lack of objectivity to the side just for a minute, and recognise how truly great this Queensland side have been. They deserve all the kudos that come their way, because they’ve been nothing short of amazing.
The thought of one state winning eight series in a row would have been considered ludicrous nine years ago, but here we stand, applauding the Blues for putting an end to an astonishing Queensland dynasty.
Queensland have played wonderful football, and some incarnation of the Maroons side over the last eight years should be considered the best rugby league team of all time.
If the previous paragraphs sounds like a eulogy, I can assure you this Queensland team is far from dead. It’s important to remember that they could have easily won both games, and there is absolutely nothing to suggest they’ll be down for too long.
NSW should be extremely proud they have finally broken through and won a series, but as Mal Meninga said last night, let’s keep things in perspective: Queensland have lost one series in the last nine.
And make no mistake; the bar has now been set. One series is a row is nothing to get too excited about. The standard is far higher because of this amazing football team.
Well done Queensland.
Niggle, niggle
There’s always a lot more passion in Origin games than your standard NRL match. With that passion comes a little ‘extra curricular activity’, shall we say. However, I struggle to remember an Origin game with more niggle than last night’s encounter.
It seemed like every kicker was hit late. Facial massages in tackles were allowed without even a hint of a warning, let alone a penalty being given. There were slaps to the face, elbows to the jaw, cheeky jabs, dangerous lifting tackles, and plenty of colourful language being used, all right from the kick-off.
It was a rough, tough, and often dirty, game.
It some respects, you have to give the referees credit for being consistent. Once they had decided to let some of the early junk go without penalty, they were almost compelled to call the rest of the game in the same fashion.
By the same token, it was hardly surprising that the last 15 minutes of play threatened to erupt into a full-on fight on several occasions, with a number of players telling the referees they had lost control.
We could argue for days on which team was the bigger perpetrator, but there is little debate on which team handled it better.
If you need evidence to come to your conclusion, look no further than Johnathan Thurston losing his cool with Josh Reynolds towards the end of the game.
NSW were a little lucky
Queensland were the better side for much of the match, and I doubt anyone would begrudge them if they had actually won the game. Yet the Maroons, much like the Blues over recent years, just couldn’t land the killer punch.
In the second half, the Maroons had the Blues on the ropes, but continually made errors that allowed NSW to stay in the game, and with the amount of repeat sets NSW had, you assumed – or hoped, depending on your geographical location – that they would eventually make Queensland pay.
They did.
I couldn’t help but feel that the Blues were a little fortunate to win the game, but Queensland had every chance to remove luck from the equation, and couldn’t quite get the job done.
Four Origin moments
There were four moments that typified the Origin spirit, and had a massive impact on the game.
1. Josh Reynolds lunging at a ball that would have been a Daly Cherry-Evans try if the Blues five-eighth hadn’t got his boot to the ball at the last moment.
2. Sam Thaiday knocking the ball on when a certain try was on offer, primarily due to a Jarryd Hayne tackle.
3. Daniel Tupou holding Brent Tate back after the Maroons winger had re-gathered a kick and was just inches away from scoring a try.
4. Michael Jennings tackling Justin Hodges in-goal to force a drop-out.
What strikes me as remarkable about all four moments is that they’re normally the type of plays that Queensland make.
As I said in my Origin preview, the Blues’ victory in Origin 1 was a turning point. We’ve often heard how State of Origin matches can be decided by the smallest of margins, and the little one per cent plays can have a dramatic influence upon the end result.
It’s therefore no coincidence that when the 2014 series is reflected upon, NSW will be the team that is remembered as creating the small, yet defining, moments within the first two games.
Did Aaron Woods touch it?
I can’t believe this was actually a debate coming out of the game. Did the Tigers prop touch the ball before it went dead? Seriously? That’s really a question?
Yes. It clearly hit his chest. This is not even open for discussion. It happened.
The referees made a mistake. A slightly forgivable and understandable one, especially if you’re from south of the border, but a mistake all the same. And a big one, considering the match circumstances, and how it robbed Queensland of the opportunity to attack the NSW line.
Having said that, it was a poor kick and probably deserved to go over the dead ball line anyway.
Plus, as I mentioned in my Origin preview, whichever team won was going to be the recipient of a little bit of luck, and this was the Blues’ piece of good fortune.
Queensland fans can make a big deal of the non-call if they like – NSW fans would certainly do the same if the situation was reversed – but NSW deserve their series victory, and I hope not too much commentary is reserved for this one incident.
casper
Guest
Gallen was always going to get MOM if nsw won the game, no matter what happened on the field. As a dyed in the wool maroon, I was hoping he'd get the ball one more time instead of your halfback, who ended up making his only run of more than 1 metre to win the game. I think it was also nsw's only line break that I can recall. Good to see Harrigan agrees Sam should have been given a try, that was always my understanding of the law (punched out/recovered before it hit the ground - six again & try). That said, the most telling blows were Scott kneed in the face by Farah & not coming back on followed by Tate going off & McQueen having to play wing & forcing Qld to leave Taylor on longer than expected. There were 2 clear opportunities on the right attack where Tate would have had a smarter play option than McQueen. The other big negative for Qld was Parker being out, with his workload being sorely missed but that's a similar situation to NSW & Cordner. Hoffman was far & away the best on field for NSW but that wasn't going to mean anything if you won, with all the Gallen hype.
Mac
Guest
Lol typical Bill Harrigan just trying to grab some headlines at any opportunity. Makes me laugh...
RICHARDN
Guest
As Bill Harrigan stated in the Sunday Mail Queeensland were robbed with the Thaiday no try decision. Honestly how could have not been a try? Hayne knocks the ball out of Thaidays hands then Thaiday dives on the loose ball and therefore try. There is not even any grey area in my opinion. Of course Qld were never going to get any favours from Luke Patten the so called video ref. I was disgusted when I saw him talking to Wilko on the ABC after Gallens unprovoked assault on Nar Myles. Patten was perfectly OK with it stating that the assault was acceptable in orgin and Gallen had a right to assert his authority. That is just not acceptable coming from a supposedly neutral match official. What about the no action on the swinging arm by Gallen on Slater or the touch by Woods on the kick off. The refs got no help what so ever from Patten and co. No surprise there.As for boofhead Gus yelling over every other commentator that it was no try , well that was just too much. To complete the joke nine replayed the Thaiday no try on the news the next morning and actually went to the trouble of editng out Haynes touch on the ball.
Paul B
Guest
I agree. It was an executional mistake that deserved the treatment it got. There was no definitive proof that it touched Woods, it may have appeared to, but as someone who has worked in professional imaging for 25 years I would say that it is not as cut and dried as that. Anyhow, if you are sailing that close to the wind not only do you risk breaking the rules, but you also open yourself up to potentially flawed interpretation, which is arguably what occurred on this occasion.
Luke M
Guest
Yeah right, it was NSW and NSW only.
Luke M
Guest
I'm sick of this argument. If you can't hold on to the damn ball long enough to score a try, you shouldn't be allowed a second chance.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
For goodness sake . . . Stop and think about it for a minute. Queensland kicked the ball too far. That's an executional mistake. One that comes with repercussions. If you make a mistake, you 'deserve' the consequences. That's not foolish.
Gappy
Guest
Just point out the things Qld got away with in past years. It was all ways going to be NSW day soon and Wednesday night was. One thing is the rules are not punching or running in to a fight it's 10 in the bin. So tell me why (can't remember who it was) Qld player punch Tamou and stayed on the field????? Shit happened on both side get over it. And yes I finished it
Gabe
Guest
Could the video ref rule on Aaron Woods touching the ball? If so, this is unforgivable. We will never know if NSW were good enough to win this on their own. That is not fair on either side. But if he could not rule on it.....then fair enough. Just a ref error. Either way the statement, "Having said that, it was a poor kick and probably deserved to go over the dead ball line anyway." Makes the writer of this article somewhat foolish IMO. Sport should never reward something if it was 'probably deserved'. Queensland 'probably deserved' to win the game.......should we just give it to them!? No they have to get the result and they didn't. Of course this does not forgive a video ref if he could have ruled on this.
jameswm
Roar Guru
284 comments. Well done Ryan.
josh
Roar Rookie
not as crap as McQueen.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Andrew Johns shouldn't be an immortal? Wow. Just . . . wow.
nopuritan
Guest
6th talking point. the penalty count 6 - 3 in NSW favour
Jay C
Guest
After the dust has settled, here are my two cents. It was a bad look for the game. The referees were atrocious. And no, I am not referring to the contentious calls because there will be disagreements long after we are all returned to the earth. I am referring to their complete lack of control. Now, being a Queenslander, I am programmed only to see the elbows and high shots that come from NSW, but I am told that apparently QLD are not the angels that my maroon coloured glasses perceive. So I will say that it is possible that perhaps it goes both ways. Either way, it was disgusting. Being the 'pinnacle' of our sport, and being the fact that it is the only game watched all year by countless 'new' fans, I can't see how the NRL can let it degrade into something like that. Every tackly was high. There was an incident in the first half where Gallen had a massive swinging arm into someone (can't recall, maybe Myles) who stayed down. The replay showed it was a clear penalty. It was ignored, when it would have been the perfect time for the ref's to seize control ( I know there were incidents both ways, I don't want this to get bogged down in QLD V. NSW please). Consider this, how many Mums, watching their first game of football, would have said, Wow! This is something I want my children to do! None. 0. It was a disgrace to the game, and for all of its steps to clean itself up this was a huge leap backwards. If Dave Smith is serious he should address this issue before game 3.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Thanks for that interesting perspective. I have always believed that there is enough room for both codes because they offer something different, as you have summarised beautifully in your comments. You can't help yourself thinking "how would Hayne go in Rugby" or "how would Richie McGraw go in league". Here is one thing you never mentioned that I will throw up. In terms of crowd atmosphere, Rugby is much better. The singing and chanting is just far better than anything league has. SOO crowds are as good as it gets and yet they are also quite unimaginative and uninspiring compared to Rugby.
Renegade
Guest
The problem was the halves were no where to be seen.... when they did get the ball they would simply pass it to Hayne who just ran sideways until he got to JT but couldn't get around him this time as Thurston didn't let him.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Bird and Gallen through the balance elf the team out by dominating possession. Gallen did not deserve man of the match because of that. He topped his stats up impressively but that was at the expense of the team. He needs somebody to tell him to pull his head in and let the halves run the game.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
And Myles performance was also unbelievable with 50 tackles and 133m. Had a better game than Gallen because he didn't get in the way of his halves.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
I agree. I thought Lewis was excellent when he came on. The game sped up and he nearly broke the line. I will be controversial and say that Gallen and Bird made NSW play worse than they are capable of. Gallen needs to let somebody else have the ball. Its not all about how many metres are run, its what you do with the ball that counts. You could hear in Gus's commentary that he was frustrated by the dominance of Gallen and Bird.
Jack Henry
Guest
Cue Round 722...