So … how did that happen?
How did the Blues blow a 10-point lead with thirty minutes to go and a shot at their second State of Origin series in 12 long lonely years?
How did they go from all-conquering flat-out beast-masters in the first half to supplicant fraidy-cats in the second?
How does that work? Talk us through that mad action, Bluesmen.
Answer is there is no one answer. Hell – you watch the Raiders lose by four points after leading by eight with less than two minutes to play, and tell me if anything makes sense anymore in this Godforsaken crazy mixed-up world.
No – some things have no answers. At least not easy ones.
At least not hurtful, truthful ones.
Because you want to hear the truth? Do you think you can handle the truth?
This is the truth: NSW lost because they’re not Queensland.
Oh – check out the big brain on Brad?
Allow me to retort.
Fact is being from Queensland means more to a Queenslander than being from New South Wales does to a New South Welshman.
Fact.
You think Jarryd Hayne cares about the state he grew up in? It’s like a municipality. It doesn’t really matter. He’d sooner care about Campbelltown City Council. And he doesn’t care about Campbelltown City Council any more than Israel Folau cares about it, and he grew up there, too, and played for Queensland.
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
But Queenslanders? They care about Queensland. And when there’s 30 minutes until they’ve lost the State of Origin series they believe is theirs by divine right, they dig in and have a crack.
Other reasons NSW lost include:
• Jarryd Hayne didn’t pass the ball to Brett Morris who would have scored in the corner, increasing NSW’s lead to 14 with a kick to come. And Queensland would not have come back from that had they snorted flaming Bundy Bear fur.
* Instead Jarryd Hayne hung onto the ball in the belief he was on another dummying barnstorming burst over the line and into the love of Blatchy’s Blues.
• The Blues did not run at Johnathan Thurston’s shoulder which was hanging off the bone like a hunk of bruised osso bucco. Why they did not will confound scholars of this greatest game of all rugby league until time immemorial. One reason would be that…
• NSW lacked leadership. Boyd Cordner is not a talker, they say, he’s an action man who leads by example. But NSW needed someone to tell them to run at Thurston’s shoulder. League 101 says run at the busted blokes. And if it’s Thurston you do it three times a set.
• NSW choked. What else could you call it? They stopped playing footy with their eyes on the prize. Their eyes flared in the headlights. Queensland came hard at them. And NSW choked.
• Hayne dropped the ball and passed into touch, and we already mentioned hogging the ball with B-Moz out wide believing he was going to dummy his way over the line as he had in Game 1 before running into the blue-wiggers for all the love of Jesus.
• Andrew Fifita was gang-tackled by three and four men. Yet Nathan Peats didn’t exploit all those big tired bodies around the ruck.
• Johnathan Thurston: the best there’s ever been? I’ve got a thing for the King. Many anoint Holy Joseph Johns. But you can make a very good case that Thurston is the best we’ve ever seen.
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
• And he’s got some mates – Cam Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk. These people are ridiculous. They’re 34. They’re still owning rugby league. The dynasty lives, with a vengeance.
• The Blues didn’t think Josh McGuire could break so many tackles (and Josh McGuire probably didn’t think so either) and initiate a superb 60m attacking raid supported by Cronk who passed to Will Chambers who flopped a superb no-look pass for Dane Gagai who scored yet another Origin try, he looks as if he belongs.
• Referee Matt Cecchin didn’t penalise Queensland for taking out Josh Dugan and Hayne as they chased bombs. Fair enough in Origin they let some things go .. but you still have to apply the actual rules.
• Johnathan Thurston. Yes – we mentioned him. But how about him? When he lined up that conversion it was like, of course he’ll get it. It’s Johnathan Thurston. How about him. Champion.
• And so is Billy Slater and so is Cooper Cronk and so is Cameron Smith, and they owned the Blues on Origin night, they played super-smart footy out wide and just kept on playing and believing that things would come good.
• The Blues tried not to lose. And choked. And lost.
The end.
Rod
Guest
JT is an amazing player. But Cam Smith is an incredible player. I agree with Gallen. The thing that blows me away with Smith. Is he has been consistently incredible since virtually day one. As good a player that's ever played the game
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
Of course Queensland means more to them as who else other than the trillion of cane toads and millions of crocodiles would want to live there- Rudd was right outer Brisbane suburbs and beyond is Banjo music land. Only been there once when some bloke in a funny hat and an alleged peanut farmer wanted to be PM- It was like the 1950's or some bad episode of the Andy Griffith show. Who else would call their beer XXXX other than those yet to graduate 6th class. :-)
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
they had more than 17 players too
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
game 3 decider that's why
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
they wanted a game 3 decider that's why
Soothsayer
Roar Rookie
Btw why did the ref stop the game when the Queensland right centre knocked himself out trying to take out a NSW player on Qld's left edge? The trainer could have walked him off without impeding the game which had moved upfield. The stop halted NSW momentum, gave Qld the opportunity to rest, regroup, defend well and bring on a fresh player who gave the final pass for the winning try!
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
The Refs/Touchies/Bunker should have got MOTM from Queensland - did they have shockers or what- forward passes missed /tackled without the ball when competing for a bomb missed/foot on the line still awarded a try missed etc etc etc- Oh Archer says they made mistakes a tad bit late for defending the indefensible of the incompetent officials though- Seems it was always destined for a game 3 decider
The Barry
Roar Guru
Tend to agree...you can argue all day if this was a penalty or that wasn't but if a 3-0 penalty count is enough to completely derail you then there's bigger issues than the ref.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Cooper was solid and did his job. He didn't have the impact of Napa and McGuire but he was good. I think that's true of most of the Queensland team. If everyone does their job you only need s couple of standouts to win games.
Chivasdude
Guest
Agree with you The Barry. Also interested in your thoughts on how Gavin Cooper went. I thought he was one of the more unsung heroes. A gritty and professional 80 minute performance I thought. Never left JT's side and gave him a lot of protection. And this is thecQueensland way. They just seem to play for each other more. Not one selfish action by any of their players whereas I could not say the same for the Blues. You have to hand it to Queensland. Patience, discipline and composure beats flash every time.
ScottWoodward.me
Roar Guru
Analytically, there was no way the Blues should have lost game 2. Even after watching the replay and studying the key figures it is still a shock. Poor discipline was THE only way the Maroons were going to clinch an unlikely victory. Discipline stems from attitude and footy smarts and the surprising aspect is that it was the NSW left side; yep three of their most experienced players who threw the series away. It was not Mitch Pearce and it was not the lack of running at a wounded Thurston. o Maloney Brain snap conceding 2 dumb pens in initial 5 mins, missed 5 tackles which led to a try. o Graham Shocking miss on McGuire which led to a try. 5 missed tackles overall. Missed every Bench Mark with ball. o Hayne Worse player on the field. Gifted Qld 2 tries and refused to pass to Morris with line open. That’s 12 points for Qld and at least 4 away from NSW. If you look at the penalties and errors conceded almost all of them came on the Blues left side, and there were 24 missed tackles on the left compared to only 6 on the right. It is time for Cordner to move back to the left and stay there for 80 minutes.
soapit
Guest
yep morris 1 on 1 with a fullback committed to charging across a couple of metres out from the line is odds on to score every time.
Col in paradise
Guest
Robbie ran the team around him not the paddock
Swannies
Guest
NSW will blow Qld off the park in Brisbane. Hayne, Woods and Pearce are champions and will rise for the occasion. Daley has done a great job as coach and looks set to steer the Blues for a well-deserved series victory.
Rob
Guest
What part of Boyd tackling Dugan did you not understand? Pushing Slater in back play is far less worse than taken someone out in contention for a play at the ball when a possible try is on the line. All the offences should have been penalised including Maloney push on Slater and Slater been taken out in second half but i guess Woods figured he would try his luck and it paid off. You say the penalty hasn't been given all year for blocking? Brenko Lee i think it was sinbinned for ten minutes against West Tigers for blocking and taking player out. The same weekend Cronulla was awarded a penalty try for blocking. What hasn't been penalised all year is incorrect play the balls so cry me a river on that especially when wrestling for too long does not earrant a penalty.
Bfc
Guest
JT is out for the season....
Bfc
Guest
A few individual clangers here and there (yes...Hayne failing to pass to Morris was one...) but QLD won because they had the best game 'managers'...JT, Cam Smith and Cooper Cronk. All three perhaps past their best, but still so far ahead of Pearce and Maloney. Pearce and Maloney looked good when the NSW forwards were on top ( game 1 also...) but were found lacking when the pressure was on in the last quarter.
Rob
Guest
The officials can't score the tries or kick the goals, but they can certainly relieve pressure, gift field position and turn a blind eye to mistakes. When QLD hit the lead the Ref found a soft off side penalty to give NSW great field position. They then found another soft hold down penalty for NSW to continue attacking QLD line until they scored. With that momentum NSW skipped out to a 16-6 lead. Then the ref's started gifting equally soft penalties to QLD and started ignoring blatant forward passes in the 2nd half? I'm as one eyed Maroon as they come but I can't help but feel the Ref's were trying to keep the game and series alive as much as possible at certain points during the match. A similar thing happened when the Titans played the Broncos late last year. The Ref's did their best to keep the Broncos the game.
Jack
Guest
State origin is game of ref
Jack
Guest
Shame on ref