Watching last night’s game I was trying to figure out what I should write about. I could analyse the Blues tries, but then I wouldn’t have an article.
I could analyse every one of the Maroons eight tries, but we might be here for a while. I could write about Mitchell Pearce’s atrocious defensive performance, but some Roosters fans get offended when Pearce is criticised and while his defence was bad, it wasn’t the reason the Blues lost.
I could discuss some of the terrible calls by the referees, but while some of them did swing the match they did not alter the outcome of the game. So instead, I decided to discuss Cooper Cronk’s Origin performance.
Cooper Cronk was one of the most talked about players heading into Wednesday’s game. Many experts were quick to highlight the Maroons struggles when Cronk is out injured and their successes when he plays the 80 minutes. In the last six games Cronk his missed almost three full matches, the Maroons have lost those three. It is quite clear that the Maroons are a better team when Cronk is playing at halfback.
He is the best halfback in the NRL after all.
The Maroons 46-point thrashing is only going to make things look worse for dropped halfback Daly Cherry-Evans. It is very easy to look at the score lines for Game 2 and Game 3 and claim that Cronk was the difference, that while Cherry-Evans was unable to take control of Game 2, Cronk led with aplomb in Game 3.
However we must highlight one caveat. Cherry-Evans was playing behind a badly beaten pack at the MCG. On Wednesday night at Suncorp, the Maroons forwards ran rampant. Take Cronk out and replace him with Cherry-Evans and the Maroons still dominate Game 3, especially given the way Johnathan Thurston played.
Cronk was good on Wednesday night, he wasn’t great but he definitely did play better than Cherry-Evans did in Melbourne. In attack he started a bit slowly, he ran across field with his first two attacking touches. However, after this he was far more direct and kept the Blues guessing by attacking the line.
In the 21st minute he took on the line and threw a short ball to Sam Thaiday running a hard line. It took a brilliant tackle from Trent Hodkinson and Michael Jennings to stop Thaiday so close to the line, but Cronk had now sown the seeds for future attacking raids.
Just six minutes later Cronk found himself in the same situation, albeit 20 out rather than 10 out from the try line. This time, however, Hodkinson hedged his bets and held off Cronk, knowing that Thaiday would be running straight at him.
Cronk saw this and dummied and went through the gap, before being dragged down by Boyd Cordner who came across from the inside. This situation only occurred because of what Cronk and Thaiday did six minutes early and is something that the Blues halves were unable to do, put doubt in the opposition’s minds.
While Cronk’s attack improved throughout the match, overall he wasn’t required to do that much attacking. Instead, his halves partner Johnathan Thurston took charge of the attack and absolutely terrorised the Blues right edge, in particular Mitchell Pearce’s defensive channel.
Seven of the eight Maroons tries came down this side of the field. With the Maroons left flank completely dominating the Blues, Cronk just had to complement his teammates on the right side of the field. There was no need for Cronk to overplay his hand, or attempt to take control of the match, he knew his teammate was on fire and allowed him to run the match accordingly.
The one area in which Cronk was a major contributor was his kicking game. Unsurprisingly, his kicking game was outstanding, as it always is. He had 10 kicks, one of which was bad and two were average.
Of those three subpar kicks the Maroons scored a try off one, forced a dropout off another and held the Blues to just 32 metres in the ensuing set of six. When the Blues put in a bad kick it results in a 20m tap restart, and a seven tackle set, or an easy exit from their own half.
Cronk was able to get away his kicks with very little, or no, pressure as a result of the dominance of his forward pack. He had time and space to think about where he wanted to kick the ball and execute those kicks.
As a result, he almost always executed those kicks. It was far superior to Cherry-Evans’ kicking game in Game 2 and far better than either Pearce or Hodkinson in Game 3. In Pearce and Hodkinson’s defence, they were regularly kicking from inside their own 30, sometimes inside their own 20.
You can’t possibly hope to get a deep kick away when you’re kicking from that deep inside your own half.
Overall, Cooper Cronk did exactly what he was expected to do. His kicking game allowed the Maroons to start each defensive set on the front foot. Although he didn’t do much attacking, he left most of that to Thurston, when he had the ball in hand he attacked the Blues defensive line and put doubt in their mind.
Queensland didn’t win this game because of Cooper Cronk, as has been the case in the past, but he certainly helped them to victory.
Justthetip
Guest
I think you will find it's mal meninga who wanted dce out and it's got a bit to do with him not honoring his titans deal, a struggling qld club. When Mal asked thurston who he preferred as 14 he knew that JT would pick the bloke he trusts. Mal dropped cherry Evans and I doubt he will ever become a permanent half for qld now. This type of decision is what separates the blues and maroons. Very arrogant of cherry to think this wouldn't alter his perception within the qld side. He has also never played above average in any rep game and he's had a few. He's a player that needs time to become comfortable with the style of players around him before he fires, he's played outstanding footy for manly in the past and will most likely continue to.
Jackson Henry
Roar Guru
I actually think he's in the grand final for being the most underrated player in the history of the game (in the 19 years I've been watching anyway!) http://www.theroar.com.au/2014/07/15/we-need-to-talk-about-cooper-cronk/
Bill Larkin
Guest
Spot on. He will go diwn in history as one of the best three or halves of all time.
Jackson Henry
Roar Guru
Agree.
SpongeBob
Guest
Dally M points are given to 3 players on the field. Brisbane, Cowboys are winning games everywhere and have half a dozen good players every round to select from. Same way Hayne was a shoe-in, rest of the team was so bad unless the opposition won all 3 votes Hayne was almost a pre-defined selection.
SpongeBob
Guest
Watch any of the footage from the Maroons camped on the blues line. No organisation, set plays fell to pieces constantly, little improvisation based on what the defence was doing.
geoff evans
Guest
Totally agree about Cronk. He is a great player.
geoff evans
Guest
The big difference between Game 2 and game 3 was the forwards played terrible in game 2 and were terrific in game 3. No backline can function if the forwards are playing like crap.
geoff evans
Guest
You are terribley wrong about DCE and his defence as he is the best defencive half by a long way. He averages 23 tackles a game and the next in is Pearce. In origon 2 DCE did 30 tackles, with only two Qld players doing more tackles and they were Cam Smith and Cory Parker. And as for million dollar players DCE is on $500,000 this year while Thurston, Smith and inglis are on over a million each a year . You had better get your facts right and stop listening to your vibes. It also seems funny that DCE IS ON MORE DALY M points than both Hunt or Morgan so he cannot be playing too bad can he.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
I've stated it before,and I will repeat Cronk is more valuable to the Maroons than any other player.He might not have the strength and speed of Inglis,nor the guile and perseverance of C Smith,however he organises,reads,encourages his players,and utilises hi unique ball and kicking skills at the appropriate time and inevitably with pin point accuracy. His presence in SOO1 & SOO2 is proof positive of his influence.
SpongeBob
Guest
Cronk is the organiser. Look how hopeless the team was Origin 2. So many plays broke down, they were running behind each-other, into each-other. The right edge NSW defence in particular rushed up constantly yet no kicks were put in behind them (amateur hour stuff). It was total schoolyard make it up as you go nonsense. When the opposition isn't the West Tigers you're not going to rock up, bump off 5 defenders and score with ease - except for maybe Inglis. Yet that seemed to be how the entire attack was orientated without Cronk. Chalk and cheese Game II and Game III, not even the scoreline but how much better everything looked, they were constantly chopping up the attack to keep them guessing. The whole team was given direction and they worked in unison.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I've said this in the other thread but I think they went with Morgan because of he his ability to also cover fullback. Mal also said this in his selection. Add to that JT and Morgan have a little combination going from club. Morgan instead of playing as a 2nd rower off the bench the way DCE and Cronk did previously was used more as a 2nd 'fullback' on the left with JT when Inglis lined up in attack on the right. This put the Blues defence in disarray as they usually mark up on where the fullback (Inglis) will go. Result was a try and try assist to Morgan and a try to Chambers when Morgan ran the inside decoy. Morgan basically ran the plays of a fullback on the left side. I think it was a great tactical and coaching decision using club combinations and the added skillset and not because of anything to do with JT and DCE which I think was a media beat up.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
You may be right about the backstabbing part - unfortunately I actually think Morgan has taken hisspot with both hands and looks like he has been in the team for a long time. He deserves to be there more than DCE does especially when it comes to defence. At the end of the day I would like to think JT gave his opinion for the better of QLD. For those blokes it's less about who is in the jumper, it's more about what is best for QLD. DCE is obviously the highest paid player going around now, so I hope we as game don't go down a route of looking at these million dollar men and automatically think that they should be picked for every rep team regardless just because of the coin they are on. I've been getting that vibe from DCE for a couple of years.
geoff evans
Guest
I agree with you that play more as a team man than DCE at SOR but at Manly he has players that understand his play and score a lot of tries off of him. I think that you are a bit harsh saying that DCE for himself when in game 2 the forward were crap and gave no go ahead for the halves. Most experts said this about the forwards and the forwards agree. I love the way that JT plays and have always supported him but i am not sure i will in the future after him BACK STABBING DCE by going to the coach and saying he did not want him in the team. DCE should have still been on the bench as be fills in as a forward and a half/fiveeight as well.In game three in 2014 the maroons could not score at all until DCE set up the first try fot Cam Smith.
Joe
Roar Rookie
I think JT's game is much better when Cronk is on and he has said as much. It is probably because of familiarity and confidence in having Cronk run the game plan leaves JT to his more natural attacking game. DCE is too much like JT in this respect and having both of them on the field does not work for QLD. Rep games also have a much shorter prep time so having someone like Cronk to basically take charge is invaluable. In the interview with Phil Gould the Big 3 and JT they were asked who was the boss out on the field and the unanimous answer was Cooper Cronk. Cam Smith is the leader but Cronk is the boss. Cronks true value comes out in the tight games when everyone is fatigued and under pressure and needs someone to take charge and win the game. In a thrashing like Wednesday when everything is going right he will just do his job and keep things flowing. Cooper played a good game on Wednesday but it was an outstanding team effort that delivered that result.
Benedict Arnold
Guest
From what I think after watching DCE and cronk over the past few years, it appears cronk delivers a game plan that is best for the team and executes it with precision. He does what is good for the team. With DCE I find he is more of a half that does what is best for his own game, and I think the team suffers as a result. In game 2 you could tell that other maroons were not cohesive and to me that was a sign of them not having a team plan in place getting executed. DCE was fishing for the big play, for himself. I think that is the beaut of cronk, everyone in his team knows what they are getting and know what it is going to happen. I guess what works for manly doesn't translate to working for teams outside of manly.
Richard Maybury
Guest
Poor old DCE. Where have all his fans gone ? You know, all the ones that were coming on here saying Cherry was better miles than Cronk and that he should be the Australian half. A lot of people with short memories all of a sudden.
Johnnyball
Guest
Sponge bob, your an optimist after all!
SpongeBob
Guest
DCE is just hard done by. Given him another 20 rep games and he'll come good.