Great effort from NSW and deserved win based on that, some luck in the way the ball fell, and mostly the fact that Qld shot themselves in the foot several times.
There's no questioning about the NSW'kers will to win and make it a contest, but that won't be enough in front of 50.000 Qld'ers!
If the Qld playmakers play their natural game in the decider, we'll tear NSW a new one with ease, because they're about 50 times better than their counterparts in the 1, 6, 7 and 9 (although Farah has been playing very well).
Of the spine, only Cameron Smith played to his ability, and while Cronk was good, Slater and Thurston played one of, if not the worst Origin games of their career. In fact, I believe Qld played the worst game in their current Origin streak.
The backs were starved of good ball and tried to make the best of it. Hodgo got me worried for a little bit there, but came back strong and killed it in defense, kuddos to Slater and Tate of course for their bravery under duress, and great effort from Inglis under the circumstances.
Smith reigned supreme again in the forwards, with much better support from all his props, including Petero. Our second row however was mostly woefully disappointing. Myles was actually very good, Harrison worked is arse off as usual, but got in the way of Thurston several times and missed a crucial tackle one on one with Carney, and more importantly I'm calling it now, Taylor is not an Origin player and never will be. Not because he dropped that ball, but because of the way he tried to score that try and the way he defended. He is more of a liability that we will ever be an asset. Parker was very good off the bench, but unlucky with that injury, and Gillett was definitely much better than in game one.
Btw, I'm not going to make a drama like a NSW'ker would, but that decision to give the ball back to NSW when it was Uate who clearly tapped it out of bounds... Well... IT MAY HAVE COST US THE GAME! Mal, get on the phone with Hollywood quickly, because we can't let that slip! :ranting:
Congratulations to NSW, you wanted this win and you fought bravely for it!