POST GAME 2026 State of Origin

I think Staggs whole edge was torched in defence, but he stands out for the sinbin and the simple errors on top of that terrible defence on his side.

Being outside Cleary doesn't help either as they arent going to critcise him too hard, so Lucas and Staggs will cop the flack.
 
I read Cleary and Moses missed 19 tackles between them - if Cleary's record of 10 is true, then Moses was right behind him with 9 apparently.

Moses' boot was huge for them in the first half. I'd go Moses/Strange in Game 3, but HoW CAn You LEaVe oUt ThE GOaT 🤪 Katoa must be in the mix soon as well, but he's behind Moses/Cleary and will get his turn (and own it I expect, the kid is good).

NSW implosions never get old...
 
Morkel said:
Then the answer is simple, the ref to send another Queenslander off so NSW can play!
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State Of Origin Ashley GIF
 
Old Mate said:
That’s my thoughts regarding him, he has done **** all till Ponga was off.
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edit: whoops thought this was about cleary not strange lol.

He's legit never shone at rep level because the penref system stuff doesn't work against good players/origin ruleset. Walker has legit shown more from 2 games than Cleary has in years lol.

Im sure they'll jag series wins here and there but NSW will never have sustained success while they keep persisting with it. And they will keep doing it too because the media will never stop gargling him/them.
 
BroncsFan said:
Crazy that NSW is all about Strange being their great hope... was he that good in Game 1?

He came good when Qld went down to 12 men... outside of that was he doing all that much?
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He put a big hit on Munster just before half time causing him to cough up the ball. Prior to the Ponga send off he was troubling us far more than Cleary. He sure as shit isn't the answer though.
 
It's an interesting situation with Cleary.

There seems to be this prevailing thought that he's a complete dud at this level. That's despite him winning several Man of the Match awards and winning series for NSW.

There's a few agendas going around. Knights fans are championing Joey, Roosters fans are defending the honour of Pearce but in general I think it's because his dominance at club level hasn't translated to Origin.

I think fans are still struggling to wrap their heads around the Panthers dominance so seeing this style fail at a higher level aligns with their view.

If I was a betting man, I think NSW get the job done in Game III and that will further Cleary's case as an Immortal.

I don't think the Blues have to do all that much. Sack a couple of players, potentially recall a couple, shift the team around and they'll have the troops to beat Queensland.

On the other side of the coin, this is a huge moment in Sam Walker's career. I think he's always been in the mix as one of the top halves but has let himself down on the big stage. If he can back-up his Man of the Match performance it would take his career to a different stratosphere.
 
Big Pete said:
It's an interesting situation with Cleary.

There seems to be this prevailing thought that he's a complete dud at this level. That's despite him winning several Man of the Match awards and winning series for NSW.

There's a few agendas going around. Knights fans are championing Joey, Roosters fans are defending the honour of Pearce but in general I think it's because his dominance at club level hasn't translated to Origin.

I think fans are still struggling to wrap their heads around the Panthers dominance so seeing this style fail at a higher level aligns with their view.

If I was a betting man, I think NSW get the job done in Game III and that will further Cleary's case as an Immortal.

I don't think the Blues have to do all that much. Sack a couple of players, potentially recall a couple, shift the team around and they'll have the troops to beat Queensland.

On the other side of the coin, this is a huge moment in Sam Walker's career. I think he's always been in the mix as one of the top halves but has let himself down on the big stage. If he can back-up his Man of the Match performance it would take his career to a different stratosphere.
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All NSW need to do is sack their coach. The dude has no idea what he's doing.
 
I deadset compare Cleary based on his skillset to be far closer to Craig Gower and Brett Kimmorley than Johns and Thurston. The fact that the Panthers can put any halfback in there and do the same job tells me everything. Also do not trust NSW media with any kind of rating of players.
 
It makes sense, Qld had Lockyer, JT, Smith, Slater who will all be immortals in the same team. You could pretty solidly argue GI as well honestly. NSW haven't had anyone since Johns and even that was a bit of a debacle. Cleary is on the edge of it with his four premierships but he hasn't dominated origin like the four/five above.
 
The closest comparison to Cleary is Cronk.

Sure, Melbourne could still win games of footy with Croft and Jacks there but their ability to win premierships made it's way over to Bondi.

Cronk wasn't a highleets reel player but he was a difference maker.

I don't see a lot of Gower in Cleary beyond their toughness. I can see some Kimmorley, but I don't think Nathan has the rough edges to his game that Kimmorley had. Noddy had a way of over-staying his welcome.
 
It's going to be interesting to see how Ivan goes as NSW coach in a couple years. All I've been hearing about since Wednesday from journos, ex players on podcasts etc, how good Madge was at making them wanna play for the blue jersey, how he got the players up for games, and how he got Origin.

Like Nathan's 'struggles', it's going to be interesting to see if Ivan can adapt his coaching to Origin.
 
Is dominating 1 Origin series even enough to go from not an immortal to an immortal? The thought seems to be he hasn't dominated yet, so if he does in game 3 and NSW win that would be 1 dominant series from 8 attempts. Is that good enough?

If NSW bring in Turbo, Latrell, Crichton, Hamoule, Brailey and Martin he's got no excuses.
 
Fernando said:
Is dominating 1 Origin series even enough to go from not an immortal to an immortal? The thought seems to be he hasn't dominated yet, so if he does in game 3 and NSW win that would be 1 dominant series from 8 attempts. Is that good enough?

If NSW bring in Turbo, Latrell, Crichton, Hamoule, Brailey and Martin he's got no excuses.
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Thats where i'm at. Its repeated series and having repeated big moments in Origin games that makes you a player thats dominating Origin. I dont think Johns did that either tbf.
 
Big Pete said:
The closest comparison to Cleary is Cronk.

Sure, Melbourne could still win games of footy with Croft and Jacks there but their ability to win premierships made it's way over to Bondi.

Cronk wasn't a highleets reel player but he was a difference maker.

I don't see a lot of Gower in Cleary beyond their toughness. I can see some Kimmorley, but I don't think Nathan has the rough edges to his game that Kimmorley had. Noddy had a way of over-staying his welcome.
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It's like Cleary's only mode is to grind the opposition and then steamroll when the territory battle becomes too much.

He showed he has another gear in the 2023 GF and at other times when panthers are chasing late points.

However, a lot of the good that Cleary does is because the panthers are the pinnacle of a well oiled machine with everyone in the right position and knowing their role.

When you get to origin level you dont play with these guys week in and week out to know their tendencies, etc. so Cleary might have an idea in his head, but Haumole doesnt run the same line that Liam Martin does... or Garner or whoever else the panthers chuck in there.

Panthers play a different style and pundits keep wanting to put it more and more into Cleary's hands, but I dont think that will really help.

If everyone else is used to playing a cookie cutter offence with block plays then how the hell does it help putting everything in Cleary's hands with his panthers attack, but without panthers players.
 
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