It's nearly a good NSW side. Just need to get rid of the last of the losing brigade in Gallen, Bird, Farah and Jennings and they will easily account for Qld next year.
Oh...and Daley and Fulton.
This- plus Walker. With the exception of those players you mentioned (Jennings had a bad game tonight but overall he's been good enough) I saw more promise tonight in how NSW took more chances and weren't afraid to kick early in the set (Reynolds) or throw the ball around as opposed to doing the "5 hit-ups, bomb and pray for a try" monotony that's dictated some of the more recent grinding, low-scoring matches.
The real problem is the lack of mental discipline in the Blues squad at times. In that first half especially they had Qld on the back foot but then didn't finish them off. Why go for the penalty goal early on when they could've gone all out for a try and signalled to Qld early on they were there to win? Then early in the second half, silly handling errors that cost them further when ideally you'd hope an Origin team could keep their resolve, hang in there and wait for a legitimate chance to score? They could've kept the foot on Qld in the second half but instead allowed themselves to get into a position where they were playing catch-up because of mental weakness- which reflected in the handling errors and lack of direction in play at times.
Qld have done alright this series, but not great. Taking nothing away from them, they have great players in the key positions and this is why they win (take those players out and then let's see how effective that "spirit" "passion" and "brotherhood" is). But surely I'm not the only one who thinks that a better coached NSW side, and a side not hampered by political selections, could have got the job done and won this series?
Kind of like in 1991, NSW lost the series by a combined total of 6 points. Tim Sheens was replaced as coach the following series, Gus came on board (and to be fair, a couple of new faces came in) but it set the catalyst for the next 15 years where Qld barely got a look in. This is that point right now. Gallen, Farah, Bird, Daley and Fulton all need to be axed and take that losing culture with them. It's out-dated. NSW have the playing stock to be playing an up-tempo game and matching (if not beating) a Qld team whose spine is nearly done. We can (and should) do this ASAP, starting with Game 3.
