Hayne has won plenty of games for NSW but tonight he cost them. He had Morris clearly unmarked on his outside in the first half but instead wanted the glory for himself. Then in the second half he forced stupid passes that weren't necessary. Easily his worst game in sky blue since his Origin debut.
The referees decisions tonight, especially on some of those "strip" rulings, were completely ridiculous. They aren't solely what cost NSW the game but how on Earth is a try by Holmes- an identical "try" to Hayne's "no try" 8 years back- suddenly a try?
How often in the game did Qld get the meekest of penalties that helped them go 40 metres up field?
It's nights like tonight you can't help but wonder if the NRL wanted their Game 3 blockbuster all along. Give Thurston his shield and the glory and they get their "feel good" story again. It's a joke...
For NSW though- they made the exact same mistake the Broncos did in the 2015 Grand Final. If they'd scored just one more try in that second half, that'd kill Qld's momentum right there. Trying to defend a 4 point lead, 10 minutes out looked ominous. They had the players and the firepower to put more points on the board and roll Qld but instead they were taking 1-ups trying to wind the clock down.
Dumb move. Play like they did in Game 1 and the first 40 minutes tonight, and they can salvage the series. They were the better team but they weren't the smarter team. Hopefully we don't do a Qld and cut swathes through the squad. Re-group, re-focus, let Qld carry all the hype into Game 3 and go back to what has worked so well for them for 120 minutes...
