Match Review thread

[Broncoman]

Very well done Pete on your Baby Broncos game review, really looking forward to watching this game and I will review it as well when I get around to it.

I need to review a QLD Origin win to keep the majority on here happy; Game 1 1999

The Queensland rugby league had been rocked significantly as hero Allan Langer announced his retirement a month out from the series. Queensland had a new coach in Mark Murray after Wayne Bennett stood down after the success of 1998 and Wayne Pearce took over the NSW reigns from Tom Raudonikis. Pearce's plan of a horse riding bonding session backfired as Brad Clyde and Robbie Kearns injured themselves and were ruled out of the series. NSW selected 8 debutants for game 1 and 4 didn't feature after 1999. Queensland called up Mat Rogers to debut and his Cronulla teammate Chris McKenna was welcomed to Origin. Lockyer was absent through injury recalling Robbie O'Davis to the side while Adrian Lam was welcomed back after Alfie's 'retirement'.

A dour contest dominated by strong and hard defence ensured as both teams battled for chances throughout the night in the slippery conditions. Rogers got his Origin career of to a great start by landing 2 goals from penalties and thundering his opposite Matt Geyer into the ground in the first 20 minutes. Rogers twisted his knee 14 minutes before the break but was cleared to return. After struggling to make any headway NSW get a rare break through Terry Hill who charges past Matt Sing but after slashing past O'Davis Hill slips but manages to get the ball to Anthony Mundine who plots the ball behind the posts. Girdler converts to put NSW ahead 6-4 at the break.

There was very little ball movement and attacking chances from both sides in the first half but the second half becomes more open. Queensland get their first chance to score just after the break as Rogers looks to have scored in the corner but is denied by the video-ref who rules Rogers lost control of the ball at the last moment. Back to back goals from Rogers puts the Maroons ahead 8-6 but a contentious penalty against O'Davis for a strip against Laurie Daley gives the Blues a chance to level the game and Girdler takes the chance and levels the game with 16 to play. After missed field goal attempts from Andrew Johns and Adrian Lam Rogers calmly pots over a goal from 15 out in front with just over 6 minutes to go to put Queensland in front. The score proves to be the winner and Queensland get home on the boot of Mat Rogers by 9-8.

As I said before the game was a dour spectacle with very little chances to score and play being dominated by strong tough defence and spilled balls. Despite being behind at halftime Queensland controlled the game very well and their accurate kicking game keep the Blues at bay superbly in the first half and caused problems in the second. Bit ironic Queensland won but never really looked like scoring a try beside from Rogers' close miss but the game was won on guts in the end and the Maroons just had enough to win.

Notes

- NSW fielded 8 debutants; Robbie Ross, Darren Albert, Matt Geyer, Jason Stevens, Craig Gower, Bryan Fletcher, Luke Ricketson, Ryan Girdler and Anthony Mundine. QLD's 2 debutants were; Mat Rogers and Chris McKenna. The 4 NSW players that didn't play again after 1999 were Ross, Albert, Geyer and Mundine.

- This was the only Origin appearance of Newcastle's 1997 hero Darren Albert. Albert had an ineffective game on the wing opposing Wendell Sailor offering little in defence and attack which was due to the tight nature of the game (attacking wise). Didn't offer much and was dropped for Adam McDougall for Game 2

- Despite playing on the wing Matt Rogers played a halfback role on the last tackle plays and his kicking game gave NSW problems throughout the game. Rogers had a great debut scoring all of Queensland's points and landed some impressive goals from wide out.

- There were very few standout performers but Jason Hetherington picked up man of the match and deservedly so after a strong defensive performance at hooker and provided good service from dummy-half although Matt Rogers would've come pretty close.

Queensland 9: 4 goals and field goal by Matt Rogers
New South Wales 8: Try by Anthony Mundine and 2 goals by Ryan Girdler

Queensland

1: Robbie O'Davis
2: Matt Rogers
3: Darren Smith
4: Matt Sing
5: Wendell Sailor
6: Kevin Walters
7: Adrian Lam (Captain)
8: Shane Webcke
9: Jason Hetherington
10: Craig Greenhill
11: Gordon Tallis
12: Chris McKenna
13: Jason Smith

14: Ben Ikin
15: Steve Price
16: Tonie Carroll
17: Martin Lang

Coach: Mark Murray

New South Wales

1: Robbie Ross
2: Darren Albert
3: Laurie Daley
4: Terry Hill
5: Matt Geyer
6: Brad Fittler (Captain)
7: Andrew Johns
8: Jason Stevens
9: Craig Gower
10: Rodney Howe
11: Bryan Fletcher
12: David Barnhill
13: Nik Kosef

14: Glenn Lazarus
15: Luke Ricketson
16: Ryan Girdler
17: Anthony Mundine

Coach: Wayne Pearce

 

[Big Pete]

Round 1 2014
Manly Sea Eagles v Melbourne Storm

Been meaning to check this game out since it happened but took longer than expected to get round to it.

Game of two halves sums it up nicely. Manly were amazing in the first half, they have perfected the sweep play and were honestly unlucky not to have lead by more. Highlights actually don't do their play justice believe it or not but they do show how fantastic Stewart was. His performance would rank right up there as one of the best in Round 1 despite only playing 40 minutes.

Yet, Melbourne did very well given the conditions to fight back. I think they were aided somewhat by the referees who seemingly gave them a lot of cheap penalties to 'even the ledger' so to speak but to come back from 20-0, sans Cronk, in the wet at Brookvale is still a marvelous achievement.

The credit really needs to be shared around. Slater + Smith played to their abilities, the forwards really muscled up and I thought their halves did a very good job of leading the team around. You'd only hear it from Melbourne, but Ben Roberts had a very good game I thought. Kicked well and while he wasn't Cronk, he kept the same structures that have served the Storm well for so long.

At 22-20, I believe the old Storm would have won the game right then and there but felt the effects of the salary cap as the burden of carrying a player like Fonua hurt them on two key occasions. In the end, it set up a nail-biting finish which was ultimately won by their captain who would within a week's time sign a deal that would see him stick with the club for the rest of his career. A famous win for the club despite the controversy.

Random points

- DCE by his standards, had a shocker. Bombed a certain try by blasting his cross-field kick over the dead-ball line, gave the Storm cheap possession by kicking a 40/20 attempt over the sideline on the full and of course threw a forward pass to Dunamis Lui. Still ran to the line well in the first half, but he would have been filthy with himself after the game.

- Hiku had a shocker at fullback, turning the ball over on a couple of key occasions which would later hurt Manly in the worst way.

- Storm bench in particular was good. Kenny Bromwich & Jordan McLean have really stepped up, Tohu Harris is still a player of plenty of promise and Georgey Rose was at his enigmatic best.

- Waqa continues to impress me on the wing. Couple of technical errors here and there but he can finish a try and has been one of the Storm's best. Definitely underrated by the media & one of the players Bellamy has turned from trash into treasure.

- Hampton is a player worth keeping an eye on. Not blessed with a lot of talent, but really backs himself. Couple of rookie mistakes, but came up with some big plays too, I'm excited to see how he performs in 2014.

 

[Broncoman]

Follow up on the Game 1 1999 review; Game 2 1999

After defeat in Game 1 NSW made a few changes to the squad. Lazarus was dropped, Jason Stevens was ruled out with suspension. Mark Carroll was recalled and Michael Vella and Ben Kennedy were the newcomers and Adam McDougall replaced fellow Knight Darren Albert. Queensland made only 1 change with Paul Green replacing the injured Adrian Lam.

Despite atrocious conditions the game attracted an Origin record crowd of 88,336 as Stadium Australia hosted its first Origin game.

NSW started the game with a bang scoring inside 42 seconds as Ryan Girdler got outside Darren Smith, drew the fullback Robbie O'Davis to send Robbie Ross over under the posts. Despite the torrential rain the game was already a far better spectacle than Game 1 as both sides spread the ball wide and defended strongly. Mat Rogers continued to score all of Queensland's points as he got the Maroons on the board through a penalty and scored a try after good leadup work by Hethrington, Kevin Walters and Jason Smith. Rogers landed a terrific conversion from the sideline and gave Queensland the lead after 25 minutes. Laurie Daley on farewell in Sydney was having a blinder and his work was rewarded as he took an inside pass from Johns to slam the ball down near the posts in the 33rd minute putting the Blues back in front. The score remained unchanged at halftime and NSW went to the break ahead 12-8.

The second half was a story of attacking football from both sides being stopped dead on the goal line through desperate defence. The Blues went on attack straight after the break after Greenhill was penalised and Johns came a meter from scoring. Queensland soon replied as Tallis charged at the line but crashed into the post in a gang tackle. After forcing a dropout Sailor swooped to catch a bomb but couldn't control the ball and Matt Geyer was there to take advantage. The Blues looked to have secured the game with 7 minutes to go as Geyer dived over in the corner but was called back as a pass from Hill went forward. Queensland rallied and tried to steal the game but NSW held on to send the series to a decider and sent Laurie out a winner in his final home Origin game.

Despite the conditions the teams put on a superb show of footy. There was plenty of attacking football but it was meet with courageous and bone crunching defence. More points could've been scored as Sailor, Rogers and Tallis all got over the line at some point but couldn't score and last ditch defence by Queensland kept NSW limited to 12 points.

Notes

- (Was going to put this in the Game 1 review) Robbie Ross was a controversial pick ahead of David Peachey who was in superb form for Cronulla. Despite being a controversial selection Ross played solidly in Game 1 making 227 meters from 22 runs and backed it up in the second game with another strong performance. He of course scored the early try but again provided good service from the back making 176 meters but also coming up with some good options at fullback and making a superb try saving tackle on Mat Rogers.

- Mark Carroll showed tremendous guts to play as much as he did. Playing his 1st Origin since 1997 Carroll played a strong game despite being belted hard by the Maroons all night and going of injured twice. He made 20 tackles and 16 runs chalking up 137 meters. His battering by Webcke and Hetherington is one of my favourite Origin tackles despite being a Blues fan.

- The game attracted an Origin record crowd eclipsing the previous record from Game 2 1994 in Melbourne

- Laurie Daley received MOM after a superb performance making 35 tackles and running the ball hard and leading the team despite not being captain. Also scoring the try that proved to be the winner. Head and shoulders above anyone else on the field and a deserved winner.

New South Wales 12: Tries by Robbie Ross and Laurie Daley; 2 goals by Ryan Girdler
Queensland 8: Try and 2 goals by Matt Rogers

New South Wales

1: Robbie Ross
2: Adam McDougall
3: Ryan Girdler
4: Terry Hill
5: Matt Geyer
6: Laurie Daley
7: Andrew Johns
8: Mark Carroll
9: Geoff Toovey
10: Rodney Howe
11: Nik Kosef
12: Bryan Fletcher
13: Brad Fittler (Captain)

14: Luke Ricketson
15: Michael Vella
16: Ben Kennedy
17: Anthony Mundine

Coach: Wayne Pearce

Queensland

1: Robbie O'Davis
2: Matt Rogers
3: Darren Smith
4: Matt Sing
5: Wendell Sailor
6: Kevin Walters (Captain)
7: Paul Green
8: Shane Webcke
9: Jason Hetherington
10: Craig Greenhill
11: Gordon Tallis
12: Chris McKenna
13: Jason Smith

14: Ben Ikin
15: Steve Price
16: Tonie Carroll
17: Martin Lang

Coach: Mark Murray

 

[Big Pete]

State of Origin 1980

Queensland 20 (Boustead, Close tries; Meninga 7/7 goals)
New South Wales 10 (Bretnall, Raudonikis tries; Cronin 2/3 goals)

I'll start with the obligatory - the game has changed a lot since the 80s. 5m, no holds barred in the ruck, contested scrums, different scoring system etc. etc. The reason why I point this out is that I found it pretty difficult to distinguish what I was seeing and the differences between the two teams other than the scoreline.

Basically, the gist I got was this. Queensland made the most of their opportunities, taking penalty goals when they could and through the work of Choppy Close were able to get on the board, where as NSW often refused to take the two points on offer and kept testing the Maroons line only to drop the ball in key situations.

Otherwise, I had no idea what I was watching and really need to watch other games from that area to establish a clear context.

Anways, the big talking point of this game was the debut of Artie Beetson in the Maroon and I've got to tell you, his performance held up very well. It seemed like in the first half he was simply playing up to his reputation and was just throwing offloads for the sake of it and picking fights in scrums because he's an enforcer but by the second, he was making more in-roads and was still coming up with big plays right until the 80th minute. For a 35 year old struggling to play first grade, he was pretty damn good on the evening. Also cool to hear a chant of 'Artie' from the Lang Park crowd - it's almost like the original Queenslander chant.

He'd go close to my Dally M style polling, but Choppy was a clear stand out. Was the key participant in the Boustead try, scored a good individual try and came up with a lot of nice plays after his disappointing start to the contest.

One Game Wonders: Alan Smith, Greg Oliphant, Rod Reddy, Arthur Beetson, John Lang (Queensland) John McDonald (Queensland Coach) Graham Eadie, Tommy Raudonikis, Jim Leis, Graeme Wynn, Bob Cooper, Steve Edge, Gary Hambly, Robert Stone (New South Wales).

Thoughts: Pretty crazy to think that just under half of those involved only ever played one game in this arena. I've already touched on Artie, I thought he played well despite his age and was fairly impressed with what I saw of Lang & Reddy. Didn't think too much of the halves outside of the early stages.

For NSW, I was impressed by Cooper who I thought came up with a few bullocking runs. Otherwise, the rest either lived up to their rep (Raudonikis & Edge), put forward busy efforts but hard to distinguish whether it was anything more than solid (Leis & Hambly) while Eadie was just plain poor. I think Steve Rogers was the worst player on the park, but by this point, Eadie was well past his best.

Referee: Billy Thompson - English referee who had some very expressive gestures. Didn't think much of him, blew a ton of penalties and seemingly let a lot of knock ons and other mistakes go.

Commentators - Billy J. Smith & Mick Veivers - A pro Queensland call team. I've always had a ton of time for Smith, he calls it like he's calling radio but there was always this cheekiness about his tone that makes a lot of his commentary a lot more palatable to Hadley. Veivers was a pretty sensible commentator, didn't provide a lot of insight but just called the action and gave credit where it was due with a Queensland bias. I'd take them over the current team.

 

[Morkel]

Excellent work once again.

 

[Broncoman]

State of Origin 1 1992

I see this game as one of the most pivotal events in Origin history. It was the opener to the first series without Wally Lewis and NSW changed the coach and captain with Phil Gould taking over from Tim Sheens and Laurie Daley taking over from Benny Elias. Gould would go on to become NSW's most successful coach and Daley imo the greatest captain. NSW won an extremely physical and brutal encounter 14-6 to score first blood in the series and began a 3 year reign as Origin champions.

NSW fielded 4 newcomers in Paul Harragon, Paul Mcgregor, Graham Mackay and Robbie McCormack. Brad Fittler and Daley changed positions with Laurie playing his first Origin in the halves. Ricky Stuart was selected at halfback but withdrew with injury and Illawarra teenager John Simon was called in to debut. The Maroons fielded a familiar side. Shearer was switched to fullback after Paul Hauff and Gary Belcher were injured, Kevin Walters got his first start after 7 games as a reserve and Trevor Gillmeister was recalled as Andrew Gee was injured.

The first half was a brutal and fast moving encounter as Lazarus was penalised in the first play and Cartwright and Gillmeister were lucky to escape penalty for high shots. The Blues opened the scoring after a penalty enabled them to receive territory and they capitalised on it as Elias and Cartwright wrapped around and sent Bradley Clyde over in the corner. Wishart converted from touch to give the Blues a 6-0 lead. Clyde exited the game in the 17th minute after suffering bone and ligament damage. After a near miss the Maroons pressed the Blues line and got rewarded as an offload from Allan sent Langer over as NSW's defence was slow to react. Meninga landed the simple conversion to tie the score. Defence was dominating as the game was dominated by heavy tackles and swinging arms. Larson as knocked out after playing superbly and went of on a stretcher. Despite poor execution by NSW which gifted Queensland chances to score the Blues survived and the score was locked at halftime.

Bone crunching and bruising defence continued to dominate the game as both sides continued to go for each other. Daley was knocked out attempting to tackle Peter Jackson and was carried off and Benny Elias received a nasty headgash when attempting to gather a lose ball. NSW continued to control field position and eventually got the lead as Elias forced the ball loose from Shearer and Steve Walters caught the ball offside. Wishart landed the goal and got the lead back with 22 to go. Elias continued to be a great influence and it was exemplified when after Shearer fumbled a grubber from Simon, Elias passed short to Salvatori who scored beside the posts and NSW had breathing space and lead 14-6 with 15 to go. Queensland threatened to steal the game but scrambling defence by the Blues held them out and NSW ground their way to a win.

Notes

- Harragon debuted after winning MOM in City-Country which was won 17-10 by Country. Harragon went on to become one of Origin's greatest warriors and played a mighty game on debut

- Queensland really missed Wally Lewis's guidance I reckon if he played he would've gotten the Maroons out of trouble on a fair few occasions

- The players that were injured (Gary Larson, Laurie Daley and Bradley Clyde) all were playing outstandingly and Daley would've won MOM if he played the whole game I think. It went to Benny Elias.

- This was the game where Elias's mother ran out and wiped her son's blood away as he was doing a post match interview

- I thought the Blues won this game on the back of their speed and quick play the ball's which left Queensland with less in the tank when they had to attack and it got the Blues better field position as a result. Queensland also were quite error prone and Daley and Elias guided the team around effectively and John Simon played well for a 19 year old on debut.

- I hear Queenslander's sometimes complain about the commentary these days about being bias towards NSW. Fatty was one of the main callers in these times and he was literally saying "GO QUEENSLAND" on air. Doesn't bother in me in the slightest though Origin always brings out your true colours and it made the game more enjoyable.

New South Wales 14; Tries by Bradley Clyde and Craig Salvatori, 3 goals by Rod Wishart
Queensland 6; Try by Allan Langer and a goal by Mal Meninga

New South Wales

1: Andrew Ettinghausen
2: Rod Wishart
3: Paul McGregor
4: Brad Fittler
5: Graham Mackay
6: Laurie Daley (captain)
7: John Simon
8: Glenn Lazarus
9: Benny Elias
10: Paul Harragon
11: Paul Sironen
12: John Cartwright
13: Bradley Clyde

14: Robbie McCormack
15: Craig Salvatori
16: Brad Mackay
17: David Gillespie

Coach: Phil Gould

Queensland

1: Dale Shearer
2: Michael Hancock
3: Peter Jackson
4: Mal Meninga (captain)
5: Willie Carne
6: Kevin Walters
7: Allan Langer
8: Martin Bella
9: Steve Walters
10: Steve Jackson
11: Trevor Gillmeister
12: Bob Linder
13: Gary Larson

14: Mark Coyne
15: Gary Coyne
16: Steve Renouf
17: Gary Larson

 

[Big Pete]

New South Wales were beginning to reap the benefits Gibson's tenure as coach provided them. Gibson took over in 1989, after the rep retirements of Kenny, Sterling and Pearce so he was forced to experiment and bring in the likes of Clyde, Daley, Sironen, Lazarus, Mackay, Cartwright, (1989) Wishart, Stuart, Toovey and Fittler (1990) among a whole host of others and test them out. In the end, he got the biccies in 90 when the Maroons were understrength in Game 1 but I think he played an important role in getting the Blues back on track.

Interesting write up, wasn't aware of all the injuries or Simon's debut. Sounds like a close one where Queensland just lacked the mettle to pull through.

On commentary, Fatty, Lewis and Badge were all employed just to put a token Queenslander on the panel. For the most part, they just play the role of cheerleader and really don't have much of a voice. The commentators try hard, but it's clear they're calling from a NSW perspective and since emotions are running high, Queensland fans would much rather hear Queensland callers who empathise with what they're going through. It's very jarring to listen to the call and Gus is seemingly willing the Blues to victory. It's especially worse when he tries to discredit the Maroons like he did in Game 3 2009.

 

[Big Pete]

State of Origin 1981

Queensland 22 (Backer, Lewis, Close, Meninga (penalty try) tries; Meninga 5/7 goals) defeated New South Wales 15 (Grothe 2, Cronin tries; Cronin 3/3 goals)

Topsy turvey game. NSW held a 15-0 lead early after a wave of tries but a lack of concentrated gave Queensland the opportunity to hit back which they did through Backer down the left hand touchline. From there, Queensland always looked like the better team but it took them until the dying minutes for them to take the lead as Ray Price struck Phelan with an obvious head-butt to gift Queensland a 2 point lead, which later blew out to 7 following a penalty try to Queensland.

I'd rate this as better than the inaugural match. I thought there were more highlights, pretty much most of them involving Grothe in some capacity and I think these memories hold up better than the other game. I mean, we still see replays of Choppy backhanding Grothe so he can get a hold of the ball. The Grothe try was pretty special too, although I think Backer may have just forced one of his feet into touch.

BP Man of the Match: Wally Lewis. Actually won the Channel 7 MotM but official honours went to Choppy who was certainly in the conversation but I think Wally was more instrumental for the Maroons. I thought Wally's Origin debut showed plenty of promise and this really delivered on it, a real captain's knock.

Debuts: Mitch Brennan, Ross Henrick, Chris Phelan, Paul McCabe, Greg Conescu, Paul Khan, Norman Carr, Mark Murray (Queensland) Phil Sigsworth, Terry Fahey, Eric Grothe, Terry Lamb, Peter Sterling, Ray Price, Les Boyd, Peter Tunks (New South Wales)

Coach: Arthur Beetson

One Game Wonders: Barry Jensen, Steve Bowden, Garry Dowling, Ron Hilditch (New South Wales)

Thoughts: For the Maroons I don't think there were any real-stand outs of their side but I thought Khan, Phelan and McCabe all had their moments in the middle. Was a bit surprised at how ordinary Conescu was and thought Henrick was pretty hopeless.

Meanwhile, I think the Blues had more stand outs. I thought Grothe was one of the best players on the field and Sterlo looked really good early. Rest had pretty mixed games with Fahey being pretty ordinary. I think the Maroons basically had a slight edge in the ruck.

Referee: Kevin Steele (New Zealand) A balding Kiwi who favoured the Maroons. Queensland won the most penalties and I think got the benefit of a few calls. Only one I felt that went against them was Grothe's try where I think his foot may have gone into touch on Backer's tackle but can live with it.

Commentary: NSW commentary team who didn't introduce themselves. A very laidback call of the game where they seemed more concerned about the behaviour of the Queensland fans than the action at times.

Things this guy hated about Queensland...
*Their fans heckling Cronin when he lined up conversions
*Their fans chanting
*The kids running out onto the field
*Choppy backhanding Grothe. Should have been a send off apparently.
*Price headbutting Phelan and Phelan being consulted by a trainer.
*Their selection of Choppy as MotM

Not a very good call really. Didn't capture the excitement of the spectacle and felt really laidback. Guess that was just the style pre-Eastlake/Rabs although Smith was a better caller.

 

[Big Pete]

Round 26 2013

Sydney vs Souths

For the minor premiership.

This has been in my possession for way too long I decided it was about time I watched through it. Last time I watched, I was up to half-time with Souths leading 12-10.

Story of the half was that Souths had all the early opportunity thanks largely to the work of Luke but they couldn't capitilise. The closest they got was through Dylan Walker who came up with a rookie mistake, slamming the ball into his leg, instead of the ground. Sydney through a quick counter attack score two consecutive tries and with 20 left to play, hold on pretty comfortably with Souths unable to build any sustained pressure.

SBW was great in this half - cleaned up a grubber kick he had no right to and made a mini-break, threw the offload which resulted in the controversial Maloney try (where he looked tackled but was told to get up) and then set up Pearce for the second. Speaking of Jimmy, he was very good in this game as well. Scored two tries and pretty well all evening.

Other things that happened
* Minichiello ran down Merritt
* JWH & Big Sam clashed with Sam dishing out some cheap shots
* Kennedy was just as bad back then as he is now

 

[Broncoman]

State of Origin Game 2 1983

After losing Game 1 in Brisbane NSW made 10 changes to the team that played in Game 1 with 8 players from the champion Eels team being named, 6 of them backs. Ray Price took over the captaincy from Max Krillich and country boy Paul Field was named to debut. Queensland named a similar side but injures forced out John Ribot, Daryl Broham, Steve Stacey and Paul McCabe. Chris Close, Ross Henerick and Kerry Boustead were recalled but Boustead was ruled out with injury and replaced by Terry Butler.

Rain forced the middle of the SCG into a sticky muddy patch but it didn't dampen spirits as both sides intended to attack as much as they could. The game was basically controlled very well by the NSW forward pack and the kicking game of Sterling and Kenny kept the Maroons down in their own half but Queensland put up a strong effort and could have easily tied up the series but NSW levelled the series with a 10-6 victory.

As I said the game always followed the same script as NSW controlled the game and played most of it in Queensland's half but gutsy defence by the Queenslanders kept the score close. Mal Meninga scored Queensland's try after he received a short pass from Scott and busted upfield and beat Steve Ella to score. NSW levelled just a few minutes from halftime as the Parra connection of Sterlo, Kenny and Cronin who lobbed a pass to Hunt who scored with an easy run to the corner after Butler came of his wing Nathan merritt style.

The only try and the eventual winner was scored as a miscued kick from Cronin went through Grothe's legs but Ella was there to dive on the ball with Lewis tagging behind. Queensland applied pressure for most of the game after that but they bombed 3 tries and Lewis had one disallowed for obstruction.

Notes

- A Sydney journo in the SMH referred to the game as an unofficial Parramatta V Queensland game as NSW fielded 8 Parra players. Eels players in this game; Neil Hunt, Mick Cronin, Steve Ella, Eric Grothe, Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Ray Price and Stan Jurd.

- Cootamundra boy Paul Field played his first of 2 Origin's in this game. Despite not being a Sydney boy he played a very solid performance making 14 runs and topping the tackle count with 37. Worth noting he was the only 1 of the 3 NSW bush boys that was called back for a 2nd game and he never ventured his career to a Sydney club

- There was criticism of referee John Gocher (NSW) from Queensland afterwards after he slammed the maroons in the penalty count which read 7-1 against them at halftime and ended 11-7 in favour of NSW.

Broncoman MOM

Peter Sterling was my MOM as his kicking game, composure and defence in the front line went a long way to the Blues victory and I personally felt that he was the difference that gave NSW the edge. He was the official MOM for this game as well.

New South Wales 10: Tries by Neil Hunt and Steve Ella and a goal by Mick Cronin
Queensland 6: Try and a goal by Mal Meninga

New South Wales

1: Marty Gurr
2: Neil Hunt
3: Mick Cronin
4: Steve Ella
5: Eric Grothe
6: Brett Kenny
7: Peter Sterling
8: Ray Price (Captain)
9: Paul Field
10: Gavin Miller
11: Lindsay Johnston
12: Ray Brown
13: Geoff Gerard

Bench; Steve Mortimer and Stan Jurd

Coach: Ted Glossop

Queensland

1: Colin Scott
2: Terry Butler
3: Mal Meninga
4: Gene Miles
5: Chris Close
6: Wally Lewis (Captain)
7: Mark Murray
8: Paul Vautin
9: Wally Fullerton-Smith
10: Bryan Niebling
11: Dave Brown
12: Greg Conescu
13: Brad Tessman

Bench; Brett French (not used) and Ross Henerick

Coach; Arthur Beetson

 

[Broncoman]

Forgot this...

Sterlo became the first NSW player to win a MOM after his performance in this game

 

[Big Pete]

State of Origin Game I 1982

New South Wales 20 (Niszczot 2, Mortimer, Izzard tries; Cronin 4/5 goals) defeated Queensland 16 (Ribot, Brennan tries; Meninga 5/6 goals)

Queensland
1. Colin Scott 2. John Ribot* 3. Mitch Brennan 4. Mal Meninga 5. Kerry Boustead
6. Wally Lewis (c) 7. Mark Murray
8. Paul Vautin*
9. Paul McCabe 10. Bruce Walker*
11. Paul Khan 12. John Dowling* 13. Rohan Hancock
Interchange
14. Bob Kellaway* 15. Gene Miles*

New South Wales
1. Greg Brentnall 2. Chris Anderson 3. Michael Cronin 4. Steve Rogers 5. Ziggy Niszczot*
6. Alan Thompson 7. Steve Mortimer*
8. Ray Price
9. John Muggleton* 10. Tony Rampling*
11. Craig Young 12. Max Krillich(c)* 13. John Coveney*
14. Royce Ayliffe* 15. Brad Izzard*

* denotes debut

New South Wales were clearly the better team for the majority of the contest but a few quick tries gave Queensland a real sniff late before the Blues were able to hold on. NSW were virtually better in all departments but the two best runs of the night belonged to Mal Meninga who had threatened on a couple of occasions to tear the Blues apart before doing so leading to two really good long distance tries for Ribot and Brennan. Unfortunately one of his conversions from right infront sailed wide which would have put the game to 18-17 and changed the complexion of the closing minutes where Queensland were desperate to add to their tally and made some mistakes along the way.

BP Man of the Match - Steve Mortimer
This is actually difficult because I believe the real difference was the scrum play which NSW dominated and as a result they had all the possession and territory but I just think Steve played a big hand in most of their points, scoring one running straight through two tired forwards, another through a nice bomb and the last try through a nice switch of play to find Izzard in the corner.

Mal Meninga was the official man of the match and he'd be thereabouts but I thought Steve was more consistent across the game.

Other stand-outs...
Greg Brentnall - I haven't heard his name mentioned so far in terms of NSW Origin greats but so far he's been one of their best players in the two games I've seen. Made some very important plays for the Blues, was an absolute handful everytime he had the ball and just a very well rounded player.

Michael Cronin - Have really liked what I've seen from him. A strong runner of the football and also a very skillful playmaker with a reliable boot.

Ziggy Niszczot - Went missing in the second half but his first half was strong with two wingers tries in the corner and a few strong runs which put NSW on the front foot.

Ray Price - Greg Bird reminds me a lot of him. Capable of giving away some dumb penalties but also a real handful all night.

Max Krillich - Was interesting to see him named captain on debut but Max had a strong game, causing plenty of headaches around the ruck for Queensland and playing a key role in the scrums winning possession for the Blues over and over again.

Mal Meninga - Is really starting to come into his own. Was a bit quiet in the 1980 game but is making these odd big runs which no other player outside of Grothe is capable of. Before then, he just seemed to be one of those players picked for his goal-kicking and ability to kick for touch.

How did Wally play? Not great. NSW targeted him early, leaving him laying during the early exchanges and he never really recovered. He threw some nice passes but a lot of the time he was caught trying to go for desperate chip and chase plays and kicks that weren't really on. The Maroons really needed his kicking too since they couldn't win a scrum to save themselves.

Other notes...
- Izzard scored virtually moments after coming on for Anderson who suffered a serious hamstring injury. The commentators called it a 'pulled' hammy but the way he was chaired off made it look a whole lot worse than that.

- Mortimer had this funny trick play where he'd take a quick tap with his back turned to the defensive line and then kick it into the in-goal. It nearly worked once but he tried it again and Scott read it fairly well before conceding a goal line drop out.

- Bit of controversy surrounding some of the selections in the Queensland team. Namely Fatty Vautin who was preferred over Rod Morris who had been one of Queensland's best. Fatty wasn't too bad out there but was a downgrade on the old-fashiond tough nut forward.

- The biggest problem with Queensland was the lack of direction really. There was a real 'go yourself' mentality to the team, not unlike what we've seen from the Broncos in the past and it made it easy for the Blues defence. Dowling and Murray were probably the most guilty of this. Oh and Paul 'Genghis' Khan had a shocker. Queensland made something like 10 errors and at least half of them had to come from him, the other five just from desperate passes.

- John Muggleton would be up there as a contender for a NSW Worst Side. Seemed like he always found himself in the thick of a few try scoring opportunities and only coverted one getting a desperate pass back on the inside for Niszczot when Kerry was about to show him the sideline.

 

[Big Pete]

It isn't often I have the time nor interest to check out a Round of NRL footy but with a very light week, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to familiarise myself with the current offering of action and pay my two cents.

Absolutely no order with these matches, just whatever strikes my mood at the time beginning with...

NRL Round 16, 2014

Match #6
Parramatta Eels vs Newcastle Knights

One of the biggest tragedies of the modern game is that the best time slot of the weekend, 3pm Sunday, is given the worst broadcast timeslot. It's such a shame because Sunday Footy provides teams with a liscence to throw the footy around and there just seems to be a stronger atmosphere at these games than at a night time game so it makes for more compelling viewing. Unfortunately as it stands, you flick on Channel 9 and you're greeted with ads about Titan Sheds, Bunnings and that putrid Jeep ad.

Anyways! Eels v Knights was a far more compelling match than 8th v 15th would have you believe. The Eels have been a real surprise packet so far in the competition and while they've had to deal with their poor culture and their inexperience, they've been pretty exciting to watch. Meanwhile, Newcastle is a team trying to play champagne Rugby League, but doing so with a lot of mediocre players. I think the problem is their side depends a lot on their stars like Boyd, Uate, Mullen, Kidley, Snowden, Smith & Scott to fire and half are either past it or have been below par by their standards. Never the less they finally got the monkey off their back last week so they go into this game with a bit of confidence which is basically all you need.

What we got was a very even game. Both teams employed a safety first approach but the difference between this and let's say Broncos on Friday night is that the team was committed to their gameplans and played strongly. The forwards ran hard, they'd test edges, get to their kick and an arm wrestle would ensue until a penalty was blown or a turn-over was made. Simple but effective Rugby League and it was pretty amazing how both teams mirrored one another, right down to the method of scoring tries.

So okay, at the end of the day, Newcastle won 3 tries to 2, but 2 of those tries were very similar plays.

- Both fullbacks grabbed the ball, spotted a defensive lap and raced over 90m to score good but soft tries in the context of the game.

- Both teams scored tries where the intention was to try the edges of the opponent's defence and their noted try scorers dotted down for fairly simple tries.

The only difference was that Newcastle scored one try from one of their typical plays where Mullen dabs the ball adjacent to the posts, a dog pile ensues and somehow Leilua comes up with it and scores a fairly methodical try. It was simple, but effective and in the end, the difference between both sides.

I believe what that says is that the halves pairing of Sandow and Norman didn't do their job. Two of Norman's kicks basically resulted in tries against Parramatta while Sandow's short kicking game was off and he seemed content to turn the ball over instead of trying to apply pressure by either earning a repeat set or testing the Knights through the air or even just on the edges. For instance, it baffled me that in the second half, they didn't try and spin it left more often when they have the leading try scorer going up against a noted poor defensive line-up of Gagai & Uate.

Even with that gameplan, they still created chances down the right but it just seemed like the play kept dying with Ryan Morgan who quite honestly is a solid centre but just lacks the class to ever be considered good. It was his failed attempt at taking Norman's bomb which gave Boyd the opportunity to race 90m+, he dropped a fantastic pass from Hayne and then failed to get the ball away when he made a good break down the right. If I was a Parra fan, I'd be wondering if the result would have been any different if Will Hopoate was there. Now that is a player of class.

Otherwise, it just seemed like a game where a few of the inexperienced forwards (Sims, Tapine, Paulo, Pauli & Terepo) got to make nice impressions while the fullbacks really kept both teams on their toes and really showed their class through out the afternoon. As much maligned as Boyd is for being a smug prick who tries to make the referee feel like an idiot anytime he's tackled, I actually think he's been pretty good for the Knights since Origin I and he got the points victory over Hayne this afternoon with a cracking pass to Leilua who eventually set up Uate in the corner for the opening try.

From a big picture stand-point, I basically see this as a loss that will prevent the Eels from being a Top 4 side and really put them back in the pack. While for Newcastle, it was a really solid win and I get the sense they might go on some sort of run which will fall short but they'll give an honest account of themselves.

 

[ningnangnong]

It isn't often I have the time nor interest to check out a Round of NRL footy

Says the guy who could probably write a thesis on every game from the previous 20 years.

Righto Pete, righto! :biggrin:

 

[Big Pete]

:laugh: I don't know where I would be without Middo or BHQ.

Sadly, I'm not a Twitter god or a Super Freak - I can't sit down and watch all 8 games each and every week and enjoy the game. By that point, it feels more like a job than a form of entertainment and it sort of kills it for me.

I'm down with the odd binge though, especially with no prospects of the Broncos playing. Even the QRL is basically on a bye for the Residents game.

 

[Big Pete]

Game #2
Brisbane Broncos v Cronulla Sharks

This was really the Broncos game to lose. The Sharks may have had a point to prove after a couple of really disheartening losses but really form should dictate that the Broncos at home would be a step too high for the Sharks, particularly since they were missing Fifita.

Instead, it will be remembered as the biggest choke in Broncos history. Up 22-0 with 25 to go and they fluff it.

Must say, the Broncos lead didn't seem overly convincing. Credit to them for making the most of their opportunities but I actually thought the Sharks were getting the better of them in a lot of facets but just turned over too much ball and lacked confidence.

Once Gagan, who I thought had a really good game for them, crossed their performance really improved and it was like they remembered they had a roster capable of making the finals and really taught the Broncos a lesson in finals football. Credit to them too, I thought Gallen had one of the best second halves of any player I've seen this year and Carney/Robson put together a great short kicking game performance which virtually won them the game.

Meanwhile, I thought the Broncos were just really off their game all night. They had their moments but there was no cohesion to their play and their defence was very lazy with too many guys going high and not enough people going around the legs. Hunt's kicking game was also off all night too, giving away too many 20m restarts which is just as bad as a knock on in 2014 but I don't want to harp on him too much since I like Hunt and like how he takes the line on and tries different things, he just needs an extra layer of polish to really reside next to the elites.

Shout out to McGuire who I thought really busted a gut for the Broncos and showed great foot-work which eventually lead to tries. Granville, Glenn, Oates, Vidot & Hala all did good things but special shout out to Lowrie who may not be flash but does these little things that usually leads to something positive later. For instance, earning two penalties through quick play the balls in a game starved of penalties.

Meanwhile I'm amazed at how little flack Hodges is copping for that game. Copley and Stagg I get, but Hodges was woeful.

Also I know Wallace gave away a costly penalty but the contact was ridiculously unlucky and his defence was actually better than most. Hook should have kept him on longer, McGuire needed a rest and it wasn't like Hannant was playing well.

So what does this game mean for the season? Like the Eels/Knights, it puts the Broncos season in jeopardy while giving the Sharks something to smile about. It also reminds me of a Broncos/Dogs game from 2008 where SBW had one last hurrah before controversially walking out on the game, instead this time it was TC bubbling out.

 

[Big Pete]

Match #3
West Tigers vs Canberra Raiders

Forgot how heated these matches could be. When they all raced in after the Lee double and again when Milford dropped the kick off it really brought the match to life. I actually think this is one of the more underrated rivalries in the game and would much rather watch it than say Roosters/Rabbitohs which does absolutely nothing for me. Usually more talk than action.

Tigers were really brave, no other way to put it. Got off to an early lead and it seemed like they'd win simply by spreading it to either corner but then injuries struck and they basically lost Tedesco, Simona and Nofoaluma who basically played on one leg for the rest of the night. The forwards really stood up in their absence and I thought Braith Anasta played very well and wouldn't be surprised to hear if it was his best performance of the season. His kick into touch late and the match winning field goal was huge.

They're an interesting young team the Tigers because hardly anybody talks about them. Woods gets a lot of accolades and deservedly so, as he's really taken his game to the next level with his 'good' performances in Origin. Dare I say, Scott/Woods opening pairing for the Four Nations? But basically anybody who follows the game would tell you the same. The players that really impressed me here were Taupau, Thompson and Austin.

Taupau has been one of the best buys all year and has made a real difference to the Tigers. Still has the odd fumble in him but is a big upgrade on the likes of Groat, Bell and Buchannan and sort of lives as a pace setter and to be an inspiration. One of those players I wouldn't nominate for a Dally M or anything, but certainly a player I would enjoy watching.

Bodene Thompson is an interesting player. I actually liked the bits I saw of him at the Titans before Cartwright decided to basically play him exclusively at centre like a dumb ****. From there his form evaporated and he basically seemed more interested in starting fights and throwing balls at the back of people's heads because he played for a crap club. Or something, I don't know, it was a weird phase. Potter has introduced a semblance of stability to his first grade career and he's been able to flourish as a result poking his head through with a lot of his runs and not being completely useless. To me, he's basically the player Ben Murdoch-Masila should have been and right now, a handy squad player. Anyways aside from a couple of strong runs which I thought got the Tigers on the front foot, was really impressed with his work in the lead up to the Nofoaluma try.

Austin reminds me of Casey McGuire. He can't really main a position because he just doesn't have the specific skill-set to satisfy the role on a consistent basis but dammit if he isn't going to get on the field and give it a red-hot crack. Outside of one mistake (which he's usually guilty of making) he did a really good job of filling in for Tedesco all things considered.

So yeah, round of applause to Wests. The big over-achievers of 2014.

Canberra really could take a page or three from that book.

Why isn't Cornish playing? Dead-set I cannot believe how delusional Sticky is being. It isn't like he's dealing with the Broncos halves situation, he's got two of the best halves prospects sitting waiting for a fair opportunity and they've basically been given bugger all. All it took for Cornish to get dropped was a bad 20 minute performance in a game that had been well and truly lost before he'd even come onto the field. How is that his problem? How does that performance justify being dropped but all the terrible McCrone games allow him to stay on?

Boggles the mind.

It's a shame because despite the poor management, they still have plenty of talent to make a contest. Was cool to see the Queensland combination combining for the first few Canberra tries - Papalii just storming over Brooks to set Lee up and then Milford with some of the best foot-work and lead up work to put Lee into space was brilliant. If you missed it, check it out, so far it's been the best play of R16.

When Campo sent Croker over with 30 minutes left to play, really, that should have been the sign for them to lay on a few more tries down the corner but they rarely peppered them through that area and when they did, the interchange of passing was so slow that even Adam Woolnough would have been able to block it.

Interesting to note that's around the time Baptiste came on. Didn't think Kurt played too badly but he appeared a bit fortunate at times (eg. rebound pass, getting the ball knocked out) and seemed a little disjointed. He's a player I'd like to see the Raiders persevere with but got to say, he didn't exactly make me think Gee made the wrong decision letting him go.

Brenko is still very raw, can't say I was excited over him yet but he's being played before his time and out of position, it's a rough deal and already has a nice career highlight.

But yeah, thought their best was Shillo with Vaughan and Papalii deserving honorable mentions. Rest either had their moments or were just plain crap and would be close to the worst players in their respective positions.

 

[Big Pete]

Match #1
Manly Sea Eagles vs Sydney Roosters

Grand Final rematch and the one game I was most looking forward to until the Broncos ruined my appetite for Rugby League on that weekend. Manly are the new big game team and always seem to lift for the big opponents no matter what while the Roosters are a good side dealing with the logistics of being the defending champions.

Basically that was the story of the game, really. Manly won the big moments and when the Roosters had their chances they couldn't finish them off. In fact, I thought they played some really stupid football. With Watmough and G. Stewart out, the gameplan should have been pretty simple: play through the forwards, kick into corners and basically force Manly to do all the heavy work before picking out the pieces. Instead, they kept giving relieving penalties away and handed Manly a 10-0 lead.

They were pretty typical Manly tries too. They're the best team in the competition with the sweep play and it was on show again but really those tries wouldn't have been scored if the Roosters showed some sense in defence.

Roosters hit back through their expertise in using their edge forwards with SBW sending SKD over and then Cordner scoring off the play that sunk Brisbane. They're probably the best team in the competition at utilizing them. It really should have been their game from then on but some great kicks from DCE (40/20) and Stewart basically gave them 8 points which proved too elusive for the Chooks and even though they eventually hit back through Pearce, Maloney missed the kick meaning they had to play catch up footy which put them under all sorts where as Manly were able to ride home fairly comfortably, capitilising on the Roosters mistakes.

When you talk about Manly, I don't think you can really talk about personnel. Yes, players like Brett, DCE, Foran, Lyon make a difference and are the best players in their respective roles but they don't change the style of play all that much. They're a team and it's very rare that individual players stand out. Even on this particular occasion, while Brett was the MotM (much deserved and my new fullback of the Round) it's very difficult to think of the next two or three best for Manly since it was such a team effort from them.

Sydney on the other hand seem to be a collection of great players that have a couple of signature plays and strong defence but that's it. You can tell when they're missing players because it basically just affects their entire gameplan like it did tonight when the ball barely left the right hand side rendering the likes of Maloney and Tupou useless.

That seemed to be their story on the night. A lot of their players had the opportunity to prove themselves in another big game and they went missing or stuffed up in key moments. Players like SKD, Maloney, Pearce, Guerra and Cordner all really disappointed and even Jake Friend, one of the best hookers in the game came up with a baffling play deep inside the second half.

At the end of the day, I don't think this match will matter all that much come September but it really does show where both sides are at right now and if the Roosters don't come to their senses, then you can write them off for back to back premierships.