As a proud New South Welshman, it has been difficult watching the Blues only muster one series win from the past ten years, and as we approach the second game at Suncorp Stadium, some things need to change if NSW want to send this series to a decider at ANZ Stadium.
With Laurie Daley only making changes to compensate for injuries, NSW must find a way to ambush the Queenslanders at home.
If we adjust our game plan slightly and target what works, then we’ll go a long way to winning at Suncorp.
Adam Reynolds must take control
The young halfback may only be one game into his representative career, but he really needs to grab this game by the scruff of the neck.
He wasn’t bad in the first game, but he has so much more to offer. His kicking game for the Rabbitohs weeks in and week out is near perfect, and he needs to bring this on the big stage.
Give Moylan space
Matt Moylan is one of the classiest young fullbacks in the NRL, although his spot at the back came due to an injury to Wests Tigers custodian James Tedesco. Regardless, Moylan wasn’t used to full effect in the first game, given balls under pressure and taking hit ups on his own line.
He was safe at the back, but needs to be better injected into the attack.
Eyes on Thurston at all times
Johnathan Thurston has written his name in the rugby league history books over these last few years, achieving everything an NRL player could hope for. So it should be second nature for the Blues to spend 80 minutes monitoring him. However, he exposed the left-side defence far too easily in the first game, sending an attacking movement down there on the last tackle.
Josh Mansour had dropped back and given Darius Boyd room to move, who passed it on to Dane Gagai to score in the corner. It is the little one per cent plays like this that make JT so dangerous, and NSW need to always be aware of what he is doing.
Play direct, simple as that
The Blues’ only four-pointer of Game 1 came through Boyd Cordner crashing over the line from a nice James Maloney short ball. For the rest of the game we kept trying to create something with Moylan.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t use Moylan, but we seem to be so much more effective in attack when we play straight and try to punch through the Queensland defence. With hard ball-runners Josh Jackson and Tyson Frizell in the back row, we have a perfect opportunity to execute this tactic.
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