This is not a joke, nor a faulty keyboard – Queensland have parted with the Origin championship belt for the first time in four Prime Ministers after a 6-4 loss to the Blues at ANZ Stadium.
Here is how their players rated.
(You can also see the NSW player ratings.)
Billy Slater – 6
Despite a shoulder fettered with theatrical tape after a week of bogus injury talk and a relatively quiet shift in attack, was still a rock at the back in a points-starved affair. And it was his birthday- c’mon man, who works on their birthday?
Darius Boyd – 6
The man with the extremist beard looked likely to be the Inglis benefactor on a few occasions again, however this time he was unable to infiltrate enemy lines. Showed good vigour in defence when required.
Justin Hodges – 7
Stated pre-game that there will be no representative retirement in 2015 as he plans to play on in to his 40s. Showed that he’s still got the game to cause headaches with some slippery runs and enough dialogue to fill a 26-hour talkback shift.
Greg Inglis – 8
Another man who will be on ASADA’s radar after Maroons propagandists had his funeral booked in the early stages of camp. Was back to his storming best in a game of two benign offenses and looked the most threatening of the Maroons backs.
Brent Tate – 6
Was once again tireless in the trenches and had 12 gut-busting runs for 108 metres before being cruelly struck down with another leg injury. Another unsung performance from a fine state soldier.
Johnathan Thurston – 7
A marked improvement on Game 1 where he was stale prawns. Bookended the breaking of Mal Meninga’s point-scoring record with a Benny Hill slap on Beau Scott and a Liverpool kiss on Josh Reynolds.
Daly Cherry-Evans – 6
Looked proppy after being mercilessly bashed in the first half and then totally buggered after being forced to make a gruelling 28 tackles. He did his best, but the corner tip was that he was carrying an injury? Can anyone confirm this?
Matt Scott – 7
Big Thumper from Ilfracombe was once again hard as concrete and never gave an inch in a first half dominated by the middle-third Neanderthals.
Cameron Smith – 7
Was said to have flown the equivalent of 9698 kilometres in the 22 days prior to this match – that’s the equivalent of a flight to India or an east-west trip across Sam Backo’s waistline. Despite this gruelling lead-in, he never shirked the task and made a colossal 40 tackles in a gallant performance.
Nate Myles – 8
This man is like an Adam Sandler movie – you always know what you are going to get, except in Myles’ case it’s quality. After another superb performance in the mud pit, his name now surely deserves to be mentioned alongside Maroon front-row royalty like Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva.
Aidan Guerra – 6
Another honest performance from the self-appointed stud of Maroons Origin camp. Missed a few tackles in the early stages but was tireless throughout and finished with nine runs, 30 tackles and seven debonair fringe flicks.
Should carve-up in the carefree environment of a dead rubber Origin camp and all of the nightclub action it brings.
Matt Gillett – 8
This guy has quietly established himself as a proven performer at Origin level and Game 2 was another one of his workmanlike best. He’s the man who mops up in defence and backs up in attack. Potential future leader once Smith is pensioned-off for cryogenic freezing.
Sam Thaiday – 7
Provided some much-needed thrust for the Maroons after his unavailability for Game 1. Revelled in the back-alley scuffling and went within a whisker of a hot-stepping try that would’ve blown the game wide open for his side.
Interchange
Jacob Lillyman – 5
The amateur country music artist was solid but unspectacular. Let’s help the man out for his next song. How does a lost dog and a broken-down truck rhyme with seven runs and 11 tackles?
Ben Te’o – 6
Mal and his crew will be lamenting the loss of this man to rugby next year. He produced an energetic 32-tackle performance for his state to show his worth once again.
Chris McQueen – 5
Slogged it out in the middle with six runs and 32 tackles before showing his versatility by replacing Tate on the wing after his knee injury. However, may struggle to retain his position when all hands return to deck.
Dave Taylor – 6
After a week of lambasting from various former greats, looked the goods when he produced some enthusiastic charges. Looked especially handy when not passing the ball, then he decided to pass the ball. In fairness, on tonight’s performance, probably just nudged ahead of Tony Williams in the frustrating giant stakes.
Carlos
Guest
I thought Thurston was terrible, as soon as it was apparent Hoppa couldn't lift his arm defending outside of an out off position Dugan the game was QLDs. But they showed no spirit or imagination and for whatever reason Thurston decided to leave Hoppa and Dugan alone and concentrate more on his running battle with half a dozen other blues players. Mal needs to look to the future Hunt into 7 and DCE at 6 for game 3
Jack Henry
Guest
Dunno about Smith, but maybe Slater and JT should make next year their last. Cronk seems to be the most evergreen of the four, and I suppose it would make sense to have your hooker and halfback at the core while you blood new players.
Jack Henry
Guest
I actually think that's a bit harsh on Hunt. From the other side of the fence, I'd say he's tremendously underrated - and he definitely has both TH and JR covered. In fact, I'd put him up there with Cherry, just a touch behind maybe. At any rate, I'm worried about all this talk of a dynasty - Cronk will be around for a while yet, with DCE and Hunt in the wings. Geez, I admire confidence but let's not set ourselves up for disappointment - which we seem to know how to do very well. I suppose it's all about selling papers to those who high-five us though isn't it. Shame that itcomes at the expense of actual informed discussion about Rugby League.
Jack Henry
Guest
I don't either, and I half-agree. In attack, I was very worried: his first contact was sensational and he was making us miss all over the place. But he made three errors at crucial times, at least 2 of which were in our 40m zone...and this sort of thing is why I was pretty surprised that Qld picked him. I didn't realise this: he was the highest-ranked forward for missed tackles in the NRL last year (or something like that).
Jack Henry
Guest
Yeah, look, and I guess that's one of my few criticisms. Other greats have evolved their games after serious injuries - look at the way Lockyer changed the way he played after a knee injury robbed of of his strongest asset - his running game. This is why I'm hesitant to agree with others who call for JT to be an Immortal - he's sensational at what he does but he needs certain other types of players around him (calm, clutch, first names like Cameron and Cooper) so he doesn't have the pressure of leadership. For me, an Immortal should make those around him better...and the unfortunate reality for Thurston is that he's been the central playmaker at one of the NRL's most consistently underperforming teams for quite a while now. I would imagine Qld would have needed JT to really stand up in that last 10 minutes the other night. He really didn't. Instead he seemed more interested in headbutting Josh Reynolds. And he's actually been quite rocks and diamonds over the past 8 years, but has had Lockyer, Smith and Cronk to paper over the cracks.
Sideline Comm.
Guest
Poor bloke. Never liked him, as a Qld player, but massive respect for all he's gone through and if he does retire it will be with no shame at all. He has nothing to prove.
catcat
Guest
I've heard his shoulders aren't good, so he shys away from tackles and hit ups. If he does cop a few hits it really rattles him. At club level he can be protected and the kicking and passing game can excel, but at origin level it's harder for a team to cover him like that. Champion player, no doubt about it, but maybe somewhat limited these days.
AdelaideWill
Guest
Slater, Smith and JT were 22yrs old when QLD won the first series but now they are all 31 and they are still trying to play the same game on tired legs - might be time to look for some new energy
Damo
Guest
Taylor is better than that rating. Yes he did pass it once to no one but their were plenty of players who dropped balls and gave away penalties so you cant blame a loss on that. Other than that he tackled his heart out and run with intensity always making his 10m which the rest of the forwards struggled to do. I was impressed with his effort and i think we should have given him 15mins in both halves to get more value out of him. I think this game is a starting point for Taylor and think he deserves Game 3 to show us more. Tate was one of our best. Energetic runs from dummy half helped us make some metres. Thaiday was also great. QLD MOM would be Thaiday.
Renegade
Guest
Smith was enormous for QLD and i said that during the live blog as well.... didn't get them over the line but the captain certainly led the way.
Scrubbit
Guest
My team for game 3: 1. Slater (may as well) 2. Boyd 3. Inglis 4. Hodges 5. Vidot 6. Thurston (who else is there?) 7. DCE(but please use hunt if he's injured. He can't keep getting played without any time at training). 8. Scott(depending on his injury) 9. Smith 10. Myles 11. Gillett (I think he played very well but did drop off in the second half) 12. Thaiday 13. Parker 14. Guerra 15. Teo 16. Lillyman 17. McGuire/Hannant/anyone but Papalii or Taylor
Scrubbit
Guest
Acl. Gone for the season and thinking about retirement.
blackstar
Guest
mate I normally don't rate Gillette,but this game he had a blinder.
Kowalski
Roar Rookie
That was a killer. Any word on Tate's injury by the way??
Kowalski
Roar Rookie
Would of loved to see Hunt have a crack. I reckon he is great. Class player
John Hutchinson
Guest
Hunt: Nowhere near as talented ??...I'm not convinced, He is up there, a lot closer to DCE than you think.
Andy
Guest
Qld definitely could have won that game, Tate going off injured didn't help.
Rellum
Roar Guru
7 for Matt Scott who spent most of the game in the dressing room with a fractured eye socket? He went off at the 20 minute mark.
Robz
Guest
Why not let DCE do his thing? Probably because up until Tuesday evening he wasn't going to play and hadn't ever even trained in the halves for Qld - your half needs to be able to gel with the team for him to do his thing. IMO Qld would have been better off going with Hunt in the end - nowhere near as talented as DCE but with some established combinations with some of the other players. Anyway NSW deserved their series victory this year.
Kowalski
Roar Rookie
Ah hell it was 3 errors was it.? I stand corrected (whoops didn't realise I wasn't logged in for previous comment)