Just when Kevin Walters thought he was settled on a team for game three, Greg Inglis breaks his thumb and all hell breaks loose.
Maroons captain Inglis is gone for at least a month, causing a major backline shuffle amplified by the decision to dump halfback Ben Hunt after the first two games.
Dane Gagai will shift to the centres as cover, with Brisbane’s Corey Oates returning out wide.
Injury dramas aside, there are still many reasons for Queensland to be up and about for this game – not least being avoiding an Origin sweep on their home deck.
It’s the last chance for a number of Queensland players to remind Walters that they’re able to do a job for the Maroons next year.
It’s Billy Slater’s last State of Origin match. Slater’s impact on the team was one of the things that stood out in Game 2; patrolling the defence, organising his team and coming into the attacking line almost as another half.
Game management is a somewhat under-appreciated aspect of Slater’s game that we didn’t get many chances to see with Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and co. out there. It would be fitting that he finish his Origin career as Queensland captain now that Inglis is out.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
As well as Inglis, Kalyn Ponga is gone too and also prop Dylan Napa (named as 18th man, but expected to be ruled out).
Jai Arrow comes in for Napa, but I’m still pushing the barrow for Brisbane’s Joe Ofahengaue to start in the Maroon pack. For mine, he’s got a long career ahead in the Queensland jersey.
We’ve mentioned all series that New South Wales aren’t the only side to be turning over their squad. Queensland has been able to bring through new blood under cover of victory, with eight debutants last year.
This year Walters blooded Ben Hunt, Andrew McCullough, Felise Kaufusi, Jai Arrow and Kalyn Ponga, who unfortunately will be missing with a hamstring complaint.
Ponga’s Origin debut in Sydney was relatively short but very sweet, giving us all a glimpse ahead to some really fun State of Origin times.
But Queensland’s other 2018 debutantes learned very quickly how big the step up from the ‘real world’ of club football is to State of Origin.
The Gold Coast’s Arrow has been solid in his first Origin series. Kaufusi had his concerns in Melbourne but grew into Game 2. McCullough has done what has been expected of him.
But after two middling games Hunt has been banished to the bench, replaced by Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans in a perplexing move which raises a few questions.
If DCE is the answer now, why wasn’t he anywhere near the squad for the first two games? Does this mean the halfback role is his to lose going into 2019? Why not call on Titans half Ash Taylor instead?
I thought Taylor would be worth a crack off the bench to work alongside Cam Munster. He’s driven his club to some impressive wins of late, but I guess the spectre of 0-3 combined with the forced injury shuffles made bringing in another rookie bridge too far for Walters. Whether you can blood a young gun or not, avoiding the sweep is what Game 3 is all about.
Cameron Munster of the Maroons (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Hunt was always under crushing pressure to deliver in the shadow of Cronk and Thurston. It’s a tough gig no doubt, but I’m surprised they pulled Hunt’s chute so quickly.
If you thought the pressure on Hunt was intense, think about what Jarrod Wallace faces after being highlighted by the Courier-Mail’s Peter Badel as the only starting front-rower for Queensland in the past 20 years to run for fewer than 50m in a game three times.
To state the bleeding obvious, Wallace needs to produce something good. Sticking tackles is one thing, but bending the line is more important.
There was talk that Maroons legend Johnathan Thurston would be brought in for a farewell Origin game, but the man himself has on numerous occasions poo-pooed the notion of coming back for one last turn.
In any event (arm in a sling or not), surely going out on the podium with the shield singing ‘Aye aye yippie yippie aye’ is much better than trying to salvage a hollow, face-saving victory?
Don’t fall for all the ‘Queensland is doomed’ noise out there. For all the injuries and shuffling this is still a really good line-up. They’ve hardly been dominated either – in fact they’ve controlled both games for long periods.
It’s going to be interesting to see how they perform for a rabid home crowd who will not accept anything less than a victory.
The Maroons have been in position to win both games until the final moments. If one or two things had gone Queensland’s way in Sydney, this game has a completely different complexion. But they didn’t and Walters’ men now need a focused 80-minute effort to avoid an Origin humiliation.
Queensland Maroons squad for Game 3
1. Billy Slater (c) – Melbourne Storm
2. Valentine Holmes – Cronulla Sharks
3. Dane Gagai – South Sydney Rabbitohs
4. Will Chambers – Melbourne Storm
5. Corey Oates – Brisbane Broncos
6. Cameron Munster – Melbourne Storm
7. Daly Cherry-Evans – Manly Sea Eagles
8. Jai Arrow – Gold Coast Titans
9. Andrew McCullough – Brisbane Broncos
10. Josh Papalii – Canberra Raiders
11. Gavin Cooper – North Queensland Cowboys
12. Felise Kaufusi – Melbourne Storm
13. Josh McGuire – Brisbane Broncos
14. Ben Hunt – St George Illawarra Dragons
15. Jarrod Wallace – Gold Coast Titans
16. Coen Hess – North Queensland Cowboys
17. Tim Glasby – Melbourne Storm
18. Dylan Napa – Sydney Roosters
Coach: Kevin Walters
Mumbles
Guest
Will the ARL "fix" the draw to allow Qld back into next year. That is running the order of games out of order which has favoured NSW in recent years.. A sham
Zenn
Guest
Corbin Sims of Gerringong, NSW is apparently a Queenslander or o Bennett tells him.
Rob
Guest
“DCE and Taylor are not suited “ may I ask why? I feel from all reports Thurston doesn’t like DCE. The fact JT has been an integral part of QLD’s inner sanctum and Smithy’s best mate has really curtailed DCE IMO. Has DCE sledge JT when he was first at winning Premierships? Has DCE been paid more than JT thinks he’s worth? Does DCE refrain from team bonding that JT enjoys? Is DCE a person that doesn’t run with the heard off the field if he doesn’t like the direction they’re going? DCE has had a fall out with characters such as the Stuart boys, Watmough, Lussic and Hastings also which makes me feel he maybe doesn’t mind speaking his mind when he doesn’t like people’s actions. As for Taylor he has played twice as many games as JT had at this age. The Storm have struggled against the Titans when Taylor has stepped up against them because he gets them on the edges and scares them with his big, accurate kicking game IMO.
Ghost Crayfish
Roar Pro
Why is DCE's selection so perplexing to you media types? Manly were struggling and he was out of form at the start of the series. The Dragons were top of the table with Ben Hunt being the NRL's form halfback. Of course he got first crack. Over the course of the two games however he has struggled to show he's a dominant playmaker at Origin level, and his club form has dipped too. So the time seems right for a change. Qld have rightly kept Hunt in the squad and are looking at him as a dummy half option - a role he has done well at before for Brisbane, QLD and Australia - and they have rightly looked elsewhere to see who their next dominant halfback could be. Ash Taylor is inconsistent within games, never mind from week to week. He is not ready. DCE is as ready as he could ever possibly be. He's run into form with Manly, is now an experienced club captain, and has plenty of big match experience under his belt. The time is right, and now it's up to him to take his big chance. If he struggles, QLD will have still have Hunt (who is still being kept in the mix) and Morgan (in the Cowboys no. 7 next year) and Ash Taylor (a year further on) to look to, but if he steps up the spot could be his for the next 4 years. It's not a bad position for him or QLD to be in... The real problem for QLD is our forwards. Arrow and Kaufusi look good, but otherwise we're struggling for good new blood to pick. Hopefully by next year big Joe and Korbin Sims will be demanding selection.
Rob
Guest
Grrrr. Missed a trick? The selectors have had to many head knocks and have other priorities. Instead of watching players they look at the ladder and are picking from news paper articles. How does someone explain picking a busted Slater, Morgan, Hunt and Napa. Last year they selected players struggling to make the starting club teams because they were to old. They selected O’neil as Inglis’s replacement and sat a player like Morgan on the bench. Billy was on fire and they put Boyd in. They picked Milford then a busted Thurston all before getting it right in selecting Munster. Selecting Hunt carrying an injury was stupidity as anyone with half a brain knows he’s a confidence player and if his running game is hindered by a leg injury he’s not going to do well.
Graham
Guest
Another way to look at it is to just look at performances against top 8 teams only excluding lb assists which aren't available as reliably its a fairly even story actually with Maloney being poor Taylor: 0.86 Hunt: 1.13 Cleary: 1.33 Morgan: 0.88 DCE: 0.58 Munster: 1 Maloney: 0 Maloney goes missing in big games but at the moment there isn't any player like thurston or lockyer that plays just as well in big games as a regular game!
graham
Guest
He had 19 last year which is pretty impressive but this year he is just a little behind the very elite in the game in 16 from 14 which is Johns/thurston level if you look at the complete attacking package: tries+assists+linebreaks+lb assists per game, JT and Johns were both around 3. At origin level lewis managed 2.8, johns managed 2.3 and I think thurston managed around 3 but can't find his stats (anyone?) Taylor tops the list of current halves and compares with some of the absolute elites of the game Taylor: 2.4 Munster: 2* Morgan: 1.9 Hunt: 1.7 Norman: 1.7 Cleary: 1.6 DCE: 1.3 Maloney: 1.3 Milford: 1.2 *2017 stats as lb assists missing for 2018. Without that he is 1.4 for this year
The Barry
Roar Guru
Pretty sure Taylor led the NRL in assists last year as well...from a bottom two club. I think Queensland have missed a trick here.
Graham
Guest
true, having more assists etc when your team is poor is even more impressive Titans have half a dozen players that are elite but a lot of weak players
Tony
Guest
DCE was picked in his traditional "scapegoat" position, which usurped his usual "Bench Utility Who Only Plays One Position" role. If QLD lose the decider, he'll be blamed for the entire series loss despite only playing in the dead rubber.
Lance Skelton
Guest
I’m completely innocent, I swear.
Haz
Guest
TPJ is a cockroach. So is Payne Haas.
R N
Roar Rookie
Differs a little to what I thought but I quite like the team... Welch for Glasby would be the one change I would make!
Renegade
Roar Guru
You do realize North Queensland has won a wooden spoon with thurston in the team..... and Thurston was still picked for origin that year.... and QLD won 3-0 with Thurston awarded MoM honors in one of those games.
KenoathCarnt
Guest
Taylor cant help it if his team is trash. He has been their shining light.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
And what correlation is there between those stats and winning games?
Bunney
Roar Rookie
I'm with you AJ - DCE is a strange choice. Walters puts it down to not having experience in the halves, but Hunt and DCE are the same age, and DCE has played 6 origins to Hunt's 3. None of DCE's 6 have been with Munster, while all 3 of Hunt's have been. So is the experience gain that great?? Not really IMO. I'd have blooded Taylor. And Wallace should definitely have made way for Joe O. He had two cracks and was non-existent in attack in both.
Bunney
Roar Rookie
TPJ is a Hunter junior Nat, but he came to the Broncos from Canberra. While at the Raiders he rang Bennett and asked for a spot under him.
Graham
Guest
13 games 16 assists, 12 line break assists 8 forced dropouts and 80% tackling probably worth a bit of hype and reputation For comparison (assists, lb assists, dropouts, tries, tackling%) Hunt after 15 matches 11 8 10 3 76% DCE after 15 6 7 7 4 84% Cronk after 15 3 1 10 3 84.5% Thurston after 15 11 12 14 1 73% Cleary after 7 5 5 1 1 86%
Matt H
Roar Guru
Probably the best QLD could do given the circumstances. Oates has been in top form and Gagai has played centres before. DCE should be in his prime now and there was no point throwing Taylor into what would have been a difficult situation. Remember Morgan is back next year, and if he hadn't been down on form (due to playing busted) he would have been halfback this year. Morgan and Munster is the medium term combination for me. Hunt is a good utility. He can cover hooker (McCullough has a hand injury), halves and is big enough to play that back row replacement role. He has done well as a utility before and frankly there is no one else. DCE and Taylor are not suited. Ponga and Morgan are injured and Milford has been pretty average this year. 13 and 8 both play middle these days, so whether Arrow plays at lock or prop doesn't matter. He deserves his start. Papali needs to step up as a senior member of the pack. Wallace is lucky that Joe O wasn;t picked, but I suspect he was saved by Napa's injury.