If Murray was an injury risk then he had no place being anywhere near the team. Fitler’s thinking is astounding.

And Luai is just giving us motivation for the next 10 years.

This series win still hasn’t made up for NSW’s hand grenade try celebration.

I never said “all” the pressure is on Australia. I just said that “pressure” is on Australia for some certain aspects, Matt.
Are you suggesting that there will be no deep discussion in camp AU on how Boland got carted and had way of countering it other than just keeping his line and length?
Do you not think that there will be serious discussion on the innings of Lab, Smith and to an extent Warner?
I believe that there will be pressure about these aspects of the game.

But Lyons nearly threw the game away with his pull shot to Stokes. What possessed him to do that and then attempt to repeat it with a stacked leg side field I will never know.

Other than his leg side in the air fondness, he was stellar.

The Bush, I agree with your opening comment and points 2-4. The jury is still out on point 1.

I get what you say about Stokes, too. But he came on in the second dig and got the wicket that needed to be taken while keeping runs to a premium. he is clearly unfit but he did what the captain needed to do. He is constantly in players’ ears and buoying them up. he is constantly tweaking fielding positions and his team would run into a brick wall for him right now.

But something is up with Anderson as much as he still put in a great effort. Ali was underdone and Bairstow was slow behind the stumps in innings 1. he improved in the second dig. So that is 4 of the team with either niggles or otherwise not at their best in a team of 11. It will be interesting to see what happens in the 2nd test.

Root nicked a ball in the first innings that landed in Carey’s gloves and Australia never appealed. So England declared on the first day in the first innings. There were many more moments that had potential to change the game.

Bairstow’s drops in the first innings. Broad’s no balling. Cummins starting the match with a wide floater outside off stump instead of a bit of chin music to set the tone. Plenty of others. There is no way to know how Australia would have responded to 20-30 more runs on the board for England’s first innings.

England applied pressure to Australia by declaring and we saw a very cautious Australia batting and bowling thereafter. When was the last time you saw an Australian team so timid in field placements and batting attitude throughout a game? From that point of view. England’s declaration was important. It has also put Australia on notice that England will not be dictated to in a way that they have been for so many years for long periods.

I See Bazball as a state of mind rather than just ramp shots. England are just taking a more attacking stance rather than consolidating as they might have in the past. They are backing themselves and riding their confidence. I don’t think this loss will deter them at all. If nothing else it will steel them because they came so close to making Australia passive at many times throughout the match.

Pressure is now on Australia with keeping Boland in the squad. Labs, Smith and Warner now have additional pressure. And Australia need to consider their line and length as well as fielding options.

Great theatre and a thrilling test. After watching all of day 5’s play, there were some very key points for mine. After Carey’s wicket, Lyons strode to the crease and with a stacked field on and behind leg, continued to attempt hooks and pulls with little success. He did connect with one that Stoke’s gallantly attempted to take over his head one handed. Lyon’s swung and missed a few more times before putting those shots in the kit bag.

Stokes in hindsight bowled Root for one too many overs. Cummins took to him and lofted two sixes over mid off. That changed the momentum of the game. Root had been going along at 2 runs per over and getting good turn off the pitch until that over.

Lyon’s wonderful lofted shot over mid on released the last of the scoreboard pressure and made the runs very gettable with the number of overs remaining.

England’s sweepers on the boundary had a few fumbles as the runs required started dropping. Untill then, their out fielding had been of a higher standard.

Let’s hope for 4 more tests like this one, regardless of the outcomes!

Before Robinson came on for his last spell, there was a long discussion with Stokes and his bowlers about he was going to be thrown the ball. Anderson was in that discussion and didn’t look all that animated about wanting it.
English commentary was glossing over the fact that Anderson was not bowling by suggesting that he was being selfless by blooding Robinson when Ponting was suggesting experience was needed.

English might have known that Anderson was injured.

What do you mean? Bairstow is hitting a few in the middle 😉

And if NSW grounded two balls over the line, the scores would have been very different. NSW would have been much more buoyant at half time. NSW were disjointed as many have pointed out but they still should have got the chocolates.

There is much less between these two teams than the press is making out. An upset tomorrow night would not be suprising tomorrow night.

As for Fittler, he looks like a man with the world on his shoulders. He had success with his carefree attitude and that seemed to permeate through the team. But when coaching staff are looking despondent, that must have some effect on the whole team.

Monday is due to be overcast with just a couple of showers. Tuesday is looking like a lot more rain. It could be a tricky chase for Australia no matter what target is set with a steamy juiced up wicket and overcast conditions on Tuesday.

I think Terry Butler and Gary Smith also had a single origin as well.

Michael, Teddy always used to worry me with the ball in hand, too. It wasn’t Collin’s out jumping or the slip during Hammer’s try that made me think that Teddy has issues. It was the lacklustre kick returns. It unfortunately reminds me of Darius Boyd’s “running through treacle” phase in his last years as a player.

It can’t just be as simple as putting Mitchell at 1 for game 2. As a wonderful servant and current captain for his state and country, Teddy deserves to go out on his own terms. But if he is fit, then his form really needs to improve. It certainly hasn’t been at his expected high level in club games this year.
Teddy would not be of use coming off the bench a la Kurt Gidley. Would you play him on a wing to allow for Mitchell or Edwards or anyone else at the back? You couldn’t move Brian To’o. He was as good as any NSW player on the park last night. Would you substitute Fox for Teddy?
Could Teddy hide in the centres with a straight swap for Mitchell? You would then have two out of position centres in Turbo and Teddy and both with question marks over fitness.

But Teddy deserves some respect on how things are handled.

Haas has gained a mighty offload in recent times and his wasn’t on display to its best last night either. Maybe coach’s rules were to minimise that risk.

Hey, the majority of my Roar posts are based on “wisdom in hindsight”. I’ll take underrated quality as a compliment 😂 😂

If Nine continue to with the mic-ing up of coaches, my vote would be for Craig Bellamy. Now that would be entertainment. At least for a game or two.

Was Fox even on his favoured wing?

if Fittler is to take the blame for last night then he must take credit for game 2 last year. Could a poor coach put plenty on that Qld side? If it was all the players in game 2 2022, then they really let their coach down in last night’s game.

Luai was a man in motion last night but from memory couldn’t really link up with too many close runners effectively. And Qld shut down plenty of half chances whilst defending their own tryline.

With Cleary not overly interested in doing too much, it really only left Api and Teddy to spark something. Api tried hard.

Cleary is copping plenty today, but DCE has been guilty of playing lacklustre style games before. Everyone has bad days. Coaches need to decide if there has been one too many bad days when any player maker falls short. What is Fittler thinking?

Having time to think more about the game rather than being caught in the emotion, for mine, things become clearer.
Qld played for every scrap in the second half when they really needed to to stay alive. After Crichton they seemed more happy to let Qld know about it then huddle and get on with it and do it all again.

NSW thought they had the game with about 15 minutes remaining and their efforts and lack of desperation show that.

Qld played as a team for a unified cause and were asked to buy into the “Qld” game plan. It looks like that happened to a man. Could it be that NSW players were asked to buy into a “Pather-esque” game plan and subconsciously not everybody did? NSW seemed very out of sync. Yet Fittler mentioned that before the game that the team had gelled well. Well, they hadn’t gelled well. Either Fitller was just saying that for the cameras or he genuinely thought that his team had gelled. The latter is a bigger issue than him covering for poor preparation.

This doesn’t need to be the end of NSW. They can play much better than that and I’d like to think that they will in game 2. But Qld have plenty to improve on.

The game was exciting and will forever be known as a classic, no doubt. But it wasn’t a high quality game and there is plenty of room for both teams to execute better. Bring on game 2!

Young isn’t the first to get a little excited in Origin. Gilbert was playing from a similar songbook. You never know what was put in their ear from the coach about the traditional softening up period. Maybe a bit too enthusiastic and lost their way a bit. Neither Gilbert or Young’s actions lost the game for their respective sides.

“It was usually during the off season, but there were times during the season I have played Russian roulette with the drugs testers.” – https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/my-14-years-of-drugs-joey-20070831-ge91ob.html

TB, I have respected what you have typed at the Roar for years and I not trying to antagonize. I probably was flippant in some of my recent posts that were meant to be a bit tongue in cheek. But I really do mean when I say that any player with a question mark around them involving enhancing chemicals should not be considered for the Immortal tag.
Nerves and pressure and how that is dealt with is part of what makes a great player great. Michael O’Conner nailing a conversion in atrocious conditions, Likewise Thurston in drier conditions. Finding a way to compose oneself under such pressure conditions so that the muscle memory and natural ability is allowed to flow is part of what makes a champion a champion.

Dulling that pressure/fear/fight – flight response with chemicals is no different to gaining an advantage over others in other forms. It makes an uneven playing field.

The half life of mind altering chemicals is hotly debated, but playing “Russian Roulette” gives the impression that there were still lingering effects either in games or at training. Both instances are an unfair advantage.

great player and loved everything he did on the field even when he was giving my teams a lesson. But he should never have ever been considered as an Immortal and it makes a mockery of the award. All in my not so humble opinion.

Defenately Dell. Only heard rumours about Locky. but neither claimed to do so just before a game to give them a spark is my understanding.

Playing with stimulants in the system and admitting to it should have been grounds for no immortal status.

Player would have still been a champ without nose candy. But now there should always be that question mark.

But Queensland also had some very lean years where our pick and stick philosophy was often out of necessity. Dale Shearer, as great a servant as he was was picked for Qld for a couple of years well past his best.
There were times when we we simply didn’t have backline options. But then there were plenty of years where they picked themselves. Maybe NSW have had too many options too often throughout the Origin years?

Alf was just a competitor. I remember seeing a game in the 90s and Qld were getting touched up and the games was starting to get out of reach. Qld looked a rabble behind the posts with head down. Alf turned around and looked up at the clock then went to motivate the troops.

I think we still got beaten, but he never thought he was.

Yep, Fittler had all the skills and could do it all on the field. He had a mighty step. And he didn’t use artificial courage to get him going for a game.