NEWS Oates: finals pain never leaves you

[Rookie Alan]

Tbh, in my memory, every time after Oates did an interview, he’s going to **** up his game, he’s really really a good gentle genuine guy, but too “ soft” !

 

[animal eater]

First off, the chances that Oates wrote that article are nil. That's not his language. Secondly, and most important are the following points in that day of imfamy.

1. The person most at fault was none other than Bennett with his rediculous plan to have the team play safe with 15 to go and keep kicking into touch instead of doing exactly what they were doing to get the lead which was play football.
2. If Blair and McCoullough don't do a shit ass job of arm tackling Thurston, the ball never gets out wide in the first place.
3. Can we never bring this fucking day up again please. As you can probably tell, I don't want to talk, read or think about it. Still too fresh.

Thank you,
animal eater

 

[Mustafur]

I agree, The 2015 loss was a result of defending a lead rather then taking the win.

 

[Super Freak]

I agree, The 2015 loss was a result of defending a lead rather then taking the win.

It's easy to criticize the gameplan now but that was a gameplan that had worked for us all year and worked against the Cowboys just a couple of weeks prior.

 

[winslow_wong]

It's easy to criticize the gameplan now but that was a gameplan that had worked for us all year and worked against the Cowboys just a couple of weeks prior.

But did we consider the Thurston fairytale? The nrl sure did.

 

[tommy]

It's easy to criticize the gameplan now but that was a gameplan that had worked for us all year and worked against the Cowboys just a couple of weeks prior.

Nope, we decided to go in a different direction in the last half to what had been working all season.

 

[CaptainHook]

The truth is in the middle.

2015 was Queensland's greatest year for Rugby League.

The apex of QLD's dominance in the State of Origin arena.

The first all-Queensland Grand Final.

It's like a religion north of the border. It's easy to understand why the NRL and Channel Nine want another team here.

Queenslanders vote with their feet and their hearts, minds and wallets.

The 2015 decider has been hailed not only as the best Grand Final of all time but one of the greatest games of all time.

We are only a few years removed. The tale will only grow in the telling. Thurston's field goal and Hunt's blunder will be shown this time of year from this time until the end of time.

We cannot escape it. If it is unpalatable to you, consider following knitting or fly-fishing from now on.

It's wrong to blame Ben Hunt and I think it's very silly to isolate a few moments and chalk the result up to that.

Rugby League doesn't work like that. It's one of the most volatile, unpredictable sports on Earth.

At least it was that night and it would be again if the NRL and coaches weren't hell bent on strangling the life out of it. But what can you do? It's a results driven business and structured, boring, tedious, time-wasting, stalling styles of football is what wins games these days.

Here are some moments that don't get talked about:

- a loose carry from Thurston led to the Broncos second try
- Thurston put Kane Linnett through a gap for a certain try only for Linnett to drop the ball
- Matt Gillett fumbled with the Broncos leading 8-0. From the scrum, O'Neill scored by dragging several defenders across the line
- Oates taking Feldt into touch with the right hand corner beckoning...
- Thurston putting in a shocking kick on just the third tackle
- Ben Hunt dropping a regulation pass
- McCullough darting out from dummy half with the tryline in sight trying to do it all himself. Replays showed he probably should've passed to Parker who would've scored.
- Brisbane making an error from a Coote kick
- Coote getting pinged for a double movement. Don't get greedy mate...
- Oates knocking on after the Broncos gained a valuable repeat set as the clock ticked down...

My favourite moment was Brisbane getting the rub of the green with a moment involving Darius Boyd.

It looked like he knocked on trying to defuse a bomb but play was allowed to continue.

Not too many Broncos fans blow up about that. Make of that what you will...

The point I'm making is that seemingly innocuous errors in the early stages of a match create a ripple effect and can lead to fatal errors in the dying stages of that same game.

So we come at last to the end.

Or at least our understanding of it...

Kyle Feldt dislodges the ball and regains possession.

64 seconds...

Brisbane clinging on desperately. 16-12. Strong runs from Winterstein, Taumalolo and Matt Scott and suddenly the Cowboys are 13 metres out.

Thurston picks up a loose pass around his boots. Surrounded by Broncos. He spins around and looks to the short side. There are no options.

He looks the other way. He knows there must be space there. Where is Michael Morgan?

There he is! JT lobs a pass and prays to the footy gods.

Morgan angles to the right. Three on three. He is deceptively fast and some of these Broncos boys have a nasty habit of rushing up and in. He draws two defenders and delivers a sublime pass to Kyle Feldt who races through and touches down.

What drama! What an ending! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Thurston got his fairy tale. The footy gods were on his side after seemingly abandoning him when his conversion attempt hit the post.

It's a good point some of you make about baggage. That would be a hard game to come back from. I love Gillett, Oates, Glenn etc but I wouldn't be too upset if we had a big clean out.

I think some of them have baggage and it shows in their performances. We don't want to become the NSW Origin team from years gone bye.

 

[Galah]

The truth is in the middle.

2015 was Queensland's greatest year for Rugby League.

The apex of QLD's dominance in the State of Origin arena.

The first all-Queensland Grand Final.

It's like a religion north of the border. It's easy to understand why the NRL and Channel Nine want another team here.

Queenslanders vote with their feet and their hearts, minds and wallets.

The 2015 decider has been hailed not only as the best Grand Final of all time but one of the greatest games of all time.

We are only a few years removed. The tale will only grow in the telling. Thurston's field goal and Hunt's blunder will be shown this time of year from this time until the end of time.

We cannot escape it. If it is unpalatable to you, consider following knitting or fly-fishing from now on.

It's wrong to blame Ben Hunt and I think it's very silly to isolate a few moments and chalk the result up to that.

Rugby League doesn't work like that. It's one of the most volatile, unpredictable sports on Earth.

At least it was that night and it would be again if the NRL and coaches weren't hell bent on strangling the life out of it. But what can you do? It's a results driven business and structured, boring, tedious, time-wasting, stalling styles of football is what wins games these days.

Here are some moments that don't get talked about:

- a loose carry from Thurston led to the Broncos second try
- Thurston put Kane Linnett through a gap for a certain try only for Linnett to drop the ball
- Matt Gillett fumbled with the Broncos leading 8-0. From the scrum, O'Neill scored by dragging several defenders across the line
- Oates taking Feldt into touch with the right hand corner beckoning...
- Thurston putting in a shocking kick on just the third tackle
- Ben Hunt dropping a regulation pass
- McCullough darting out from dummy half with the tryline in sight trying to do it all himself. Replays showed he probably should've passed to Parker who would've scored.
- Brisbane making an error from a Coote kick
- Coote getting pinged for a double movement. Don't get greedy mate...
- Oates knocking on after the Broncos gained a valuable repeat set as the clock ticked down...

My favourite moment was Brisbane getting the rub of the green with a moment involving Darius Boyd.

It looked like he knocked on trying to defuse a bomb but play was allowed to continue.

Not too many Broncos fans blow up about that. Make of that what you will...

The point I'm making is that seemingly innocuous errors in the early stages of a match create a ripple effect and can lead to fatal errors in the dying stages of that same game.

So we come at last to the end.

Or at least our understanding of it...

Kyle Feldt dislodges the ball and regains possession.

64 seconds...

Brisbane clinging on desperately. 16-12. Strong runs from Winterstein, Taumalolo and Matt Scott and suddenly the Cowboys are 13 metres out.

Thurston picks up a loose pass around his boots. Surrounded by Broncos. He spins around and looks to the short side. There are no options.

He looks the other way. He knows there must be space there. Where is Michael Morgan?

There he is! JT lobs a pass and prays to the footy gods.

Morgan angles to the right. Three on three. He is deceptively fast and some of these Broncos boys have a nasty habit of rushing up and in. He draws two defenders and delivers a sublime pass to Kyle Feldt who races through and touches down.

What drama! What an ending! I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Thurston got his fairy tale. The footy gods were on his side after seemingly abandoning him when his conversion attempt hit the post.

It's a good point some of you make about baggage. That would be a hard game to come back from. I love Gillett, Oates, Glenn etc but I wouldn't be too upset if we had a big clean out.

I think some of them have baggage and it shows in their performances. We don't want to become the NSW Origin team from years gone bye.

Great post