Game One

[Big Pete]

Watching through the first half again.

Generally thought that Queensland dominated play but the Blues defence was just a touch better. Queensland asked more and better questions but the Blues had good answers. When the shoe was on the other foot, the Maroons defence wasn't as good with a couple of blemishes (Myles dropping off the Tamou tackle and Inglis completely losing his head on the Scott try) ruining what was otherwise a strong effort. Otherwise it was very even with Queensland the better side in every department but the one that mattered.

Got to wash my mouth out with XXXX (the beer, not the poster) after watching Smith's first half. He's the most dangerous player on the field, is doing the most organising of anyone and came up with a couple of try-savers. Only blemish on his performance was his involvement in the Tamou break but if Myles does his job then Smith would have been able to lock the ball up better.

Noticed a few home crowd decisions from the referees but nothing overly controversial. Namely Slater catching it on the full off the second kick but being told to play on, Myles losing the ball when there was a hand on it and he was crowded by Hoffman and Chambers 'knocking it on' when it actually went backwards off him before coming off Dugan. I can forgive those calls but letting Farah keep the ball off of Hodges' tackle seemed off.

Neither Morgan or McGuire have impressed me thus far. Morgan just about cost Queensland a try with a bad effort on Pearce only for Smith to save the day. Otherwise Michael has struggled to position himself and get himself involved in the play. Maybe he goes better in the second half?

 

[Big Pete]

Oh and to top the Myles call, Fifita earned a penalty for basically the exact same situation late in the first half. I don't know if Jesus Christ truly existed but Andrew's ability to convert mistakes into valuable penalities is a miracle all on it's own.

 

[Big Pete]

Second Half

From the moment Mitchell Pearce made a meal of Farah's offload, it appeared that it was going to be the Maroons night and they went on with it. I'm glad that happened when it did too, Fifita walked about 3m off the mark, took Smith out of play giving the Blues undeserved momentum and that was karma at it's finest.

Queensland weren't at their best but they simply got by on experience and made short work of the likes of Tupou, Hopoate & Jackson who were set-killers. I think the problem was more or less positioning. Too often the Queensland players found themselves standing too flat so the likes of Cronk, Smith and JT just had to dummy, take the tackle and reach the end of the set. The few times they did work something down the left, it came undone for one reason or another. It's a shame Boyd was late on his assignment as that was a really well worked play and a good use of Morgan who got better as the game wore on. I think he'll make way for DCE but he didn't embarrass himself with his performance either.

Another copping some flack is Gillett. Now I've made my thoughts pretty clear and while he didn't do a lot to persuade me his efforts to stop not only Dugan but Jennings in-goal was great and I'm sure the type of plays Mal will remember. The knock on was unfortunate but that was more on Cronk who threw the pass too late than it was on Gillo. Any other second row in the team would have lost it.

Back to the game, Queensland were head and shoulders the better side in the second half. The only time they lost any ascendency was when they opted for the two points where really they should have just gone with the kick for touch. NSW really should have put the Maroons to the sword and stolen it in what should have been a classic victory but the likes of Farah and Pearce combined to come up with one of the dumbest plays in Origin history. Good to see Robbie continue the Balmain tradition of choking under pressure.

I thought the Maroons forwards were great. So much for the NSW pack being better, Queensland got the better of them and Mat Scott continued to assert himself as the best prop in Australia. Hope he keeps it up for the rest of the series. Smith continued to show Farah why he's the best hooker in the game and why basing opinions on quantitative stats is ridiculous. Onya captain and I'm sorry for denying you a well deserved Man of the Match. I'll guzzle and gargle a whole carton of XXXX as penance.

 

[Socnorb]

Oh and to top the Myles call, Fifita earned a penalty for basically the exact same situation late in the first half. I don't know if Jesus Christ truly existed but Andrew's ability to convert mistakes into valuable penalities is a miracle all on it's own.

Surely the refs must be on to him by now. He does it at club level constantly.

 

[jarro65]

Fatfita is so overrated it's not funny.

 

[Super Freak]

Wally on the Thurston tackle.

"Neither of those players had an intent on tipping him upside down."

Why do they keep saying that? Who cares if there was no intent? There doesn't need to be any intent for it to be illegal..

Besides, you can't say Merrin did it accidentally. You can see his intention was to pick up Thurston and throw him.

 

[1910]

Players' player vote is taken last night but not announced til the weekend away at the end of the year.

 

[Renegade]

I thought it was a bit of a boring game personally, both sides never really threatened a great deal and it always seemed like QLD had the upperhand even when they were down. The second 40mins was pretty much all Qld, NSW really blew it not once but twice, firstly with the Hodkinson error and then the missed FG.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

I thought it was a bit of a boring game personally, both sides never really threatened a great deal and it always seemed like QLD had the upperhand even when they were down. The second 40mins was pretty much all Qld, NSW really blew it not once but twice, firstly with the Hodkinson error and then the missed FG.

Your not on your own Renegade. I thought it really lacked the usual Origin intensity and was a bit of a snooze-a-thon.

 

[Porthoz]

And now for something different... Origin viewed by a NFL analyst:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/sta...rican-nfl-writer/story-e6frf3ou-1227372369975

 

[Super Freak]

The only player charged from last night was Merrin.

A little surprising.

I thought Slater would have definitely been charged.

Fifita wasn't charged for his chicken wing which is ridiculous.

Hodges is free to play.

 

[Dexter]

Yeah I hardly remember him being off the field as well.

Mammoth effort.

His time stat is 49 mins, I'll have to watch it again because it seemed he was on longer than that.

 

[Super Freak]

NRL.com has his time listed as 53 minutes.

 

[Dexter]

Surely the refs must be on to him by now. He does it at club level constantly.

What about his tunnel ball play the ball style, worse than a pommie.

 

[Sproj]

I thought it was a great game. Maybe I'm showing my age because I don't think you always need a bucket load of tries and line breaks to be enthralling. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Huge]

I thought Slater may have been charged/mentioned for his half baked trip attempt.

 

[BroncosAlways]

Fatfita is so overrated it's not funny.

I disagree, hes one of the best props in the game IMO. If he wasn't such a moron with his errors and penalties he'd be close to the best.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

I disagree, hes one of the best props in the game IMO. If he wasn't such a moron with his errors and penalties he'd be close to the best.

Usually i would agree, but he was a powderpuff last night. The longer he stayed on the field the better it was for QLD. Never was the first in to a tackle, doesnt tackle with his shoulder, and didnt run on to 1 single pass.