Teams for Game II

[rnabokov]

Bird and Gallen are their most dangerous IMO. Both always seem to give it their all.

If they are allowed to run and not stopped in their tracks, yes, but then that is what it's all about.

Bird is IMO, far more effective than Gallen but he stuffs up when he is seriously hit and pressured.

Lewis can smell a break and create it. He is a real class act in my book. Dugan is, well, capabable of anything from brilliant to dreadful. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action and how we defend him

As for other NSW player, sure, in a very real sense, anyone on the park is dangerous if given the chance, and that is also what it's all about - limiting chances?

 

[Je$ter]

Origin has always been won up front. Now we don't have a front.

EXACTLY.

For the past 7 years NSW always tried to beat us with an athletic team of back rowers. Price, Civo, Shillington, Scott, Hannant et al. were all too big and slow. Except we'd come out and bash them off the park!!

Shillington should have retained his spot imo instead of DCE getting picked, but thats just me. I still have faith we can do it.

 

[Je$ter]

I'd really like to know how skinny DCE is going to improve our defence.

IMO he's the best defensive halfback going around. Put him on an edge 3 or 4 in and he will be fine. I assume he'll be given a roving comission.

 

[Je$ter]

Absolutely.

Anyway, size wise, Papalii is 110 kg, not exactly small, T'eo 106 kg, Thaiday's about 108 kg, Scott 108 kg, Myles 105 kg,

For NSW, Fifita is a 116kg lump, Gallen 104 kg (while he remains in one piece), and Woods 109 kg.

For mine, we not only have the size, strength, speed and combinations to match them up the middle and on the edges, but everywhere else as well.

about 26kg of that 116kg of Fifita is made up of pies.

 

[Porthoz]

As rnabokov said, we don't really lack size, although we lack specialist props, but guess what, NSW also only has 2 in Woods and Fifita, with Gallen playing the role Myles will undoubtedly play.

NSW this year and last year, gave us a lot of grief with the mobility and speed of their pack. Watamong, Lewis, Bird, Hoffman, and even Gallen are fairly mobile and quick players we need to watch, which is why I agree dropping Shillo and Harrison is a good choice. I probably would've brought in Hannant for McQueen after the Tigers demonstration though.

After what Gillett has been doing for the last month at least, I cannot fathom why people still want to drop him... What gives? :huh:

Not too sure about DCE on the bench, albeit he would have been very handy in Sydney. But being a very good defensive halfback, I think he can do a job on the fringe if necessary, while giving us a good utility option from the bench. Alternatively, if Cronk has another shocker, DCE can hopefully take over.

I just hope we see Inglis and Thurston fit and firing on all cylinders!

 

[Big Pete]

Not to turn this into yet another Gillett thread (it may need the Bennett/Dugan treatment...) I still think he's as inconsistent as ever. Yes, he had his best game of the season against perennial wooden spooners Wests but what about a week before? That effort on Campese pretty much killed whatever chance we had and his defensive performance all game was poor. At best, it was an inconsistent performance that week.

But why McQueen > Gillett?

Because I believe it suits the team tactically. In Origin I, Mal was able to bring GI mid-field by placing McQueen in the centres and giving GI more opportunity around the field. It didn't work out that night but I believe it has a lot more merit.

Secondly, I'm being selfish and want as few Broncos as possible representing Queensland. If Hannant comes in, I'd hope it'd be a Bronco who comes out.

Ultimately, I believe what Gillett brings to Queensland is at best marginal to his contemporaries.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter between now and Origin III. Now that he's there he'll have my 100% support to smash some Blues.

 

[broncos4life]

he thinks hannant needs to "prove himself" at the broncos before origin...... how about YOU prove yourself thaiday? youve done **** all for YEARS. easily the most overrated player in the entire league. also funny that he played the age card - hannant is 6 months older than thaiday lol.

thaiday cant tackle for ****, hasnt done a decent hitup in years, and is the worst captain in the comp. and here he is bagging someone who just had a great game.

Yeah, I just can't understand why no one wants to sign with us?!? I mean our form is shit, our coach is questionable at best and to top it all off you can have our captain disregard his own personal form and call you out at the post match conference.... What is not to love about that!

 

[Dexter]

Ultimately, I believe what Gillett brings to Queensland is at best marginal to his contemporaries.

I have been of the opinion that Gillett is best off the bench. I thought he played well for Qld in game 1 but more importantly against the Tigers he looked to have that bit of mongrel and self belief back which has been missing.
I'm tipping him to have a big impact in game 2

 

[Morkel]

I reckon we'll be fine. If the game is reffed like game 1, then we're talking a 12 - 13 metre '10', which is why the mobility side of things is being preferred. When NSW were on top it was because our defensive line was barely back to the ref by the time the next runner was coming. Shillington in that regard was a liability and Hannant, if underdone, could well have been the same.

But the biggie is that in game 1 we were minus the best player in the game, effectively playing with 12 men. We had only one half who could kick, so Cronk was pressured all night and was atrocious. Thurston had no spark or ability to create or run through a gap. And worst of all he was butter in defence - he said himself that he had no power in defence. Luke Lewis had a MOM game just by running at him all night.

Thurston carved up last game for the Cowboys. He got dis.

 

[subsbligh]

The fact Thurston was at 65-75% contributed greatly to the game 1 loss.

Qld was still in it when the whips were cracking, but lacked that game breaker play (usually led by Thurston) at the death to win it (Slater's linebreak almost got us there).

The 1-0 advantage plays a massive psychological part - for NSW, to not put in the 1%ers and for Qld, to add a new level of desperation.

The crowd, a better bench, a fit Thurston, the constant media barrage about Ferguson/Dugan and Tamou all point to Qld victory.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but Game III, if it's a decider, is going to be epic.

The Blues have never been this close.

 

[rnabokov]

The fact Thurston was at 65-75% contributed greatly to the game 1 loss.

Qld was still in it when the whips were cracking, but lacked that game breaker play (usually led by Thurston) at the death to win it (Slater's linebreak almost got us there).

The 1-0 advantage plays a massive psychological part - for NSW, to not put in the 1%ers and for Qld, to add a new level of desperation.

The crowd, a better bench, a fit Thurston, the constant media barrage about Ferguson/Dugan and Tamou all point to Qld victory.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but Game III, if it's a decider, is going to be epic.

The Blues have never been this close.

I agree. At the same time, the "renowned" Slater-Cronk-Smith combinations weren't really there, nor did we use Inglis intelligently. For mine, he was utterly wasted.

Cant wait for Papalii to say hello to Gallen

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

Gotta remember, we got held up over the line once (shillo), disallowed a try (double movement for smith), taken over the side line (boyd) as well as the above mentioned slater line break. We werent far off!

 

[Anonymous person]

NSW also dropped the ball every second set, gave us something like 70% of the posession in the second half, and still won. for all the improving we have, they have a lot to do as well. difference is they still won.

 

[Big Pete]

Perhaps that's what they're capable of? We know from experience JT, Slater, GI and Smith are capable of more. What more can Gallen, Farah and his merry men offer?

 

[Broncoman]

NSW also dropped the ball every second set, gave us something like 70% of the posession in the second half, and still won. for all the improving we have, they have a lot to do as well. difference is they still won.

Well spoken AP, QLD obviously need to improve but NSW need to improve and lift their game quite considerably and just as much as QLD do.

 

[Coxy]

I think the point is that QLD has more improvement in them than NSW from game 1 to game 2.

Question is will they both do it, or just one? I really don't think Queensland has picked the team to enhance that improvement.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

I think if thurston is fit, we win this. We had heaps of ball in game 1 but couldnt convert to points, and i put the blame largely on thurston not being able to play his natural game. he looked fit and ready for the cowboys the other night, i think hes in for a MOTM performance

 

[Alec]

As long as we move up in defence instead of letting them come to us and beating us with their footwork, we should win. They just don't have the creativity in their side, especially now with Hayne out too. Pearce is worthless at this level, and Maloney is more of a ball runner than ball player. Farah is their most creative player, but he's just one man and he'll start to really tire after 50 or so minutes (his final 20-30 in the last match were horrific).