After their outstanding effort in Game 1, Origin 2 was a dismal outing for the Queensland Maroons, thrashed by 24 points at ANZ Stadium.
While they were clearly hampered by Cameron Munster’s absence, few if any Queenslanders were able to impose themselves on the game after the opening exchanges, and it showed on the scoreboard.
Here’s how the side rated.
1. Valentine Holmes: 5/10
Holmes looked like someone who hadn’t played footy in more than a month. Was solid enough at the back, but didn’t inject himself in attack often enough.
2. Xavier Coates: 6
Scored a brilliant, acrobatic opener but was targetted by the Blues with the high ball and struggled. Getting hit so hard by the NSW freight train Jake Trbojevic didn’t help.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
3. Kurt Capewell: 6
After a star outing on debut last week, Capewell was brought back to reality with a far tougher time in Game 2. Came up with a couple of errors as all of the side struggled with ball security, but did have comfortably the most running metres for the Maroons.
4. Dane Gagai: 6
Like his centres partner, Gagai had a far quieter night than last week. Produced a stellar try-saver on James Tedesco in the first half but slipped off Jack Wighton early in the second when the NSW centre went over.
5. Phillip Sami: 3
Didn’t get the ball much in attack, and the Blues found some success kicking in behind him. Not deciding to knock the ball dead for Josh Addo-Carr’s second try was a shocker.
6. Cameron Munster: N/A
Went off early for an HIA and didn’t return. Was sorely missed by the Maroons, who’ll be sweating on his fitness for the decider.
7. Daly Cherry-Evans (c): 6
Threw a lovely flat pass to set up the opener and also put Josh Papalii into a hole for the Maroons’ other try, but his kicking wasn’t what it was in Game 1. Missed having Munster outside him, but didn’t have a great platform to work with.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
8. Dunamis Lui: 6
Lui was strong on his Origin debut as Queensland had the better of the opening exchanges, and it was a surprise that, after a 20-minute opening stint, he only played a further six.
9. Jake Friend: 5
Typically industrious in defence, but didn’t offer much in attack and came up with a howler when he kicked the ball out on the full. Probably won’t be thrilled the next time he sees Nathan Brown running his way.
10. Josh Papalii: 7
A typical Josh Papalii performance, even if he was quieter than usual: tackled well, ran hard, and chipped in with a nice second-half try. Strange that he wasn’t brought on after halftime until there were only 20 minutes left.
11. Felise Kaufusi: 4
A poor night for Kaufusi. Didn’t make an impact running the ball and fell off a good handful of tackles in his 80-minute outing.
12. Jaydn Su’A: 6
Su’A was strong in the opening passages of his first Origin start but got quieter as the game went on. Almost cracked 40 tackles though.
13. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui: 6
Fa’asuamaleaui’s game will be remembered for his efforts to bring back the biff with Payne Haas shortly after returning to the field in the second half. Paul Kent will be pleased. When he wasn’t ignoring Gerard Sutton’s warnings and throwing hands, he ran strongly.
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14. Ben Hunt: 4
Forced onto the field early when Munster went off and while he was alright in attack, the Blues relentlessly targetted his side of the Queensland defence with plenty of success. A careless penalty in the dying minutes summed up his night.
15. Lindsay Collins: 7
Ran really strongly for a beaten pack, and was one of only two Maroons forwards to crack the hundred-metre mark with ball in hand. Like Su’A, finished with an impressive 39 tackles.
16. Jai Arrow: 6
While it certainly wasn’t his best game for the Maroons, Arrow doesn’t really do bad Origin performances. Was pretty good when running the ball, but fell off a few tackles.
17. Moeaki Fotuaika: 5
Fotuaika was strong in defence, but he only made three runs in more than 25 minutes on the park.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Haha, can't argue with that!
mushi
Roar Guru
Grant made the West tigers good, that's about as good an audition as you're going to get for this QLD team :happy:
Emcie
Roar Guru
Fair enough, as I said I really have had the opportunity to watch much of Grant this year (or a lot of footy in general really). I would have liked to see Turpin given a chance coming into this season but I think its fair to say that this year didn't do his chances a lot of good. I think we have a pretty similar appraisal of Friend, I wouldn't be going out of my way to pick him but after the last couple series with Hunt being pumped up as a nine I'm glad they went with him instead. But if there are other genuine options I'm certainly not going to argue about keeping him there.
mushi
Roar Guru
Grant. Hand's down. Wednesday's score line to me feels like a "fair" approximation of the two sides playing at 80-90% of capability - we need a way to lift our ceiling not our floor. It might blow up but staying put is basically just hoping for a horrendous NSW performance anyway (which we just eeked out a win on). Grant may not be the answer, but I feel like we “know” Friend (in this side) is not. And if we wait until we "know" about Grant then we've probably wasted 2-3 seasons of deliberate mediocrity . I think my issue is we do know enough about friend, as a roosters + qld fan I've often said if Jake Friend is our hooker we're in trouble. Love him at the roosters - he's stable and consistent, 100% effort every game. But he’s in a side there with disruptive edge forwards and two elite creators in the spine vs their competition. But he has nothing in his game which is suddenly going to lift when surrounded by better players. The guys that "grow a foot" are those that play better surrounded by rep talent who enable them to make that leap. When Munster went down we had one genuine top flight creator in the side. That’s just never going to work against the side they’re up against, heck two was going to be an up-hill battle that is unwinnable without a great platform.
Gun Dog
Roar Rookie
Forwards got done..how do you fix that?
Gun Dog
Roar Rookie
Kaufusi was terrible..some really dumb ill disciplined play...
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
I feel slightly sorry for Hunt. His career never really recovered after dropping the premiership trophy back in ‘15... and even in that year he benefited from being made to look good by Milford in career best form, Darius Boyd in the last year he was worth anything, and a forward pack that knew how to get the job done.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Or G.I.
andrew
Roar Rookie
Albo,unfortunately QLD doesn't have any options. I'm just stating the obvious. Provided he's fit I'd leave him in the centers,Bennett and Mal will no doubt address this. I still think Holmes is a better option on the wing with Allen at fullback. But hey, they're playing at the Cauldron and hopefully it'll be a different result to last night.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Capewell is a backrower playing at centre with a dodgy groin. He ran for more metres than any other QLD player (16 runs for 165 m) and made 18 tackles missing just 2 tackles ! Hardly terrible , though he was beaten badly by speed and outnumbered NSW attackers on one occasion. He would have been helped here if Munster was still there. What are the QLD options here ?
Albo
Roar Rookie
What's wrong with Grant ? He would easily step up to Origin level.
Flexis
Roar Rookie
Allen to centre maybe? But more likely to be Lee. Re Holmes. I think he was the biggest loser from Munsters absence. Threw off the team balance and Holmes was made to look ordinary. Brimson, in a similar vein to Teddy creates his own chances but just getting involved in absolutely everything. Holmes, while a great finisher needs the opportunity given to him somewhat. I think Brimson would have better repositioned himself and shown more urgency to nullify NSW’s kicking tactics too. Cleary being on song and no Munster didn’t give Holmes the best opportunity to debut at fullback. If Munster is back I’d be happy for him to be given another crack.
Aiden
Guest
My problem with that is they are selections based on potential. Holmes HAS been average at FB all year, Allen was going great in the role. Holmes is a v good winger. Allen was poor on the wing for Sths.
U
Roar Rookie
Is it possible they go for a Hail Mary and ask Cameron Smith to play one last game for Queensland?
matth
Roar Guru
Allen and both Lee’s will come into consideration. Welch will be a useful in.
matth
Roar Guru
I’d give Coates another point. He was mercilessly targeted last night but get taking the hard carries. A tough young player. Copping a shoulder point to the head which went unpunished was just the icing on a cake that will leave him with a barrel of bruises today
Emcie
Roar Guru
Haha, have we? I don't think we actually disagree on Friend, he wouldn't be my first choice but I'm just not sure who else there is. Harry Grant is the only other 9 in the squad and I honestly havn't seen enough of him to know what to think about throwing him in. Who would you have?
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
They really missed Munster on that left side in defence. Didn't think Hunt was terrible but I'm sure Munster would have done a much better job in combination with Capewell etc
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Thought it was strange that Bennett left Lui and Papa sitting on the bench for so long - particularly when the game was slipping away from the Maroons. I thought their first 20 minute stints were pretty decent. Lui showed plenty of energy and Papa showed what was missing when he scored late in the match.
mushi
Roar Guru
I think we've disagreed on this before :) The key to containing the opponents hooker is all of the defensive middle forwards, if a roll is on a hooker by themselves isn't stopping much. In a balanced side I see the argument but this side doesn't have much ability to manufacture points.