Late reaction to the game. The game finished late over here in NZ, and I have to work today so I was straight to bed afterwards and straight to work this morning ahaha.
But that will certainly be an Origin game I'll never forget! It was interesting to say the least. There's no doubt that the game was over, and the result was effectively decided after seven minutes with the send off, and that took a bit of gloss away from the contest and the spectacle.
However, it was still a pretty decent Origin contest up until about halfway through the second half. I was really surprised with how well and how long NSW actually hung in there for. It was a pretty amazing effort to be honest and I'd argue that they were actually on top at the start of that second half. But fatigue was always going to be the killer with 12 men, and that proved to be the case in the end. Ben Hunt's try especially is a good example of that.
Queensland certainly prepared better with Cobbo on the bench, and it proved to be a masterstroke. They targeted Hynes and that right edge, especially after the sin bin, and tore it to shreds.
While it's a hard one to analyse because of the send off, I do still think that Queensland would have prevailed if it was 13 vs 13. NSW had a good start defensively, but the strike of Queensland was already breaking them down. It would have been close, possibly a really good contest, but I do still think Queensland win.
On the send off, I don't know how anyone could possibly say that's not a send off. It was 100% a fair call and it couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke! Ahahaha.
So, the Maroons take Game 1, in Sydney, and now have a huge upper hand heading into the rest of the series with still a game to be played at Suncorp up their sleeve. How good!!