Well I had a ton of questions, let's see how they turned out...
After two serious knee injuries can Stewart handle Origin? He did his job at the back but practically all he did was return the ball. A pass mark.
Can Hayne perform on one leg? Sure can. Gave us a few headaches out-wide and the shot on Tate to prevent a try was important. Probably went a bit too sideways at times so plenty of room for improvement.
Can Jennings beat somebody not named Nielsen? Yep. Definitely won the centre battle against Hodges but away from capitalising on a Slater mistake, never went on with any of his breaks or half-breaks.
Was B. Moz just the wrong Morris or are they both crap? Jury is still out. J. Moz came up with some good reads but was otherwise fairly quiet.
Will Carney pull another Houdini? Pretty much did, in fact, the only 'big' plays he came up with were mistakes and missed goal kicks. Only positive is that it can't get much worse.
Can Pearce show us what he's made of? Ehhhh, more of the same really. He was solid, but still came up with a couple of clangers at times and while he gave Jennings some good early ball, there were times where his side needed him and he didn't front up. Game 2 will be defining for him.
Will Farah get exposed at Origin again? Top shelf performance from Robbie. Kept it simple and really gave the Blues the ascendancy in the early part of the first half. However, that was the best performance I've seen from him in years - can he keep it up for Game 2? Especially if his pack doesn't dominate as they did on Wednesday?
Is Tamou more than just another Villasanti? Early signs point to - Yes. Gave Gallen some good support through the middle, attracting plenty of defenders yet still making good ground. Solid debut.
Can Lewis & G. Stewart make Origin their own? Nope. Solid performers but didn't quite lift the gear you'd expect them to. G. Stewart in particular seemed a little lost with ball in hand.
Will Buhrer be a better utility than Kidley? :haha: Nope.
Can Creagh run faster backwards? Probably, he was still very ordinary.
Is Merrin better than his sooky Dragons brethren? Yeah...but he still didn't have a break out game. It was an improvement on last year, so he keeps his spot but...eh.
T. Williams more than just a big man? He was a wrecking ball but his 7 weeks off made him look a little slow in my book. Looks like he might be injured which is a huge shame as he clearly has tremendous potential.
