Bring on Game 3

[farmeister]

Good win by NSW for sure. Definitely the better team. Sure there was a bit of luck with the ball hitting Hayne's foot and not the ground but thats the bounce of the ball. Cronk's sin bin was fair enough too.

The only gripe I have is with the commentary. They whinged and moaned about every little thing that didn't go NSW's way in the first game, and I admit there were a couple, but when Jennings knocks the ball out of Tate's hand over the dead ball line (which should have been yet another drop out for NSW) nobody says boo. I saw it as soon as it happened and it was even more obvious on the reply.

Cronk was decent in the second half but his first half wasn't great again. Save for a few kicks QLD's kicking game was pretty ordinary, as was NSW's. I also think Thurston and Cronk have been way below par for the most part.

As for Taylor, he should be on for the last 15 of the first half and first 15 of the second. Not when the game is on the line.

No changes for mine outside of Thaiday coming back in for Parker, although I wouldn't have an issue for then keeping Parker at Gillette's expense.

I thought Queensland's kicking game tonight was one of the best kicking displays I've ever seen in Rugby League. The number of times Cronk and Smith kicked from inside their own half and trapped NSW in goal was unbelievable. Not to mention all the repeat sets with perfect little grubbers. It's almost impossible for any team to defend against kicking like that. It took a superhuman effort for NSW to restrict Queensland to only 2 tries after all that.

 

[aussie_q_factor]

Gillett didn't have too much of an impact - but they'll probably stick with him.
Agreed that I think Thaiday should come in for Taylor and keep Parker. Felt like we needed some spark off the bench. Maybe throw Barba into the mix?
.

 

[Knightmare]

I thought Farah should have been Man of the Match. Watching an individual highlights reel of Smith and Cronk in that game would be very interesting- Cronk's kicking game was well thought out in those final 10 minutes, going for the repeat set of sick rather than grubbering for a try and risking it. Ricky and his coaching staff need to pay very close attention to him and Smiths' more subtle but just as dangerous kicking and passing game.

NSW showed great spirit and self belief tonight. But while we saw them celebrating tonight, I hope they are all firmly reminded that the job isn't done. Ultimate glory is only 80 minutes of football away. In the final 10, they were doing too much dummy half running while the Maroons were happy to throw the ball around and they looked dangerous a couple of times. Ahead by just 4, it should have been the point where NSW gunned for another try within 60 metres of their line and put the sword to the throat. That one-man-out style of attack is like waving the white flag to Qld.

Wally's commentary was really insightful tonight as well, I noticed. I thought his assessment of NSW was very fair.

 

[Snappy]

What an absolute epic, drama galore. Really liked Gus' point about NSW finally winning a thriller with the Maroons coming to get them.

F*ck this is an incredibly courageous qld side, the blues were on top of them but the maroons just never, ever fall away. We'll celebrate hard after a great win but the job starts again in a couple of weeks. Outstanding game and cannot wait for Game III. How good is RL!!!!!

RL = The greatest game.

Yep we dont give up, but Blues held their nerve very well and their goal line defence was epic. That's a dam formidable team. Game 3 could go either way.

 

[Lowdown]

I thought Queensland's kicking game tonight was one of the best kicking displays I've ever seen in Rugby League. The number of times Cronk and Smith kicked from inside their own half and trapped NSW in goal was unbelievable. Not to mention all the repeat sets with perfect little grubbers. It's almost impossible for any team to defend against kicking like that. It took a superhuman effort for NSW to restrict Queensland to only 2 tries after all that.

Agreed. Had to laugh when Vautin stated their kicking was awful in first half. Save one kick it was great ( and led to the try on halftime too ) and got even better in second half.

Sater was clearly hurt but I thought he tried hard and played a good game. Taylor was the weak link. But Qld could have stolen that game and dominated the last 30 minutes.

Suncorp will see 7 in a row.

 

[Knightmare]

What an absolute epic, drama galore. Really liked Gus' point about NSW finally winning a thriller with the Maroons coming to get them.

F*ck this is an incredibly courageous qld side, the blues were on top of them but the maroons just never, ever fall away. We'll celebrate hard after a great win but the job starts again in a couple of weeks. Outstanding game and cannot wait for Game III. How good is RL!!!!!

It had that feeling of a mid 80's or early 90's Origin match- when there was probably the most parity between the sides in Origin history.

In the end though, Qld benefitted from a very fortunate bounce of the ball, and NSW seemed too nervous to play more than one-out football for the last 10 minutes rather than chase the lead away and seal it, so it could have really gone either way. It was great to see such a calm, spirited performance from the Blues though.

 

[roarr]

Lets just hope no major injuries for either team between now and game three.

NSW better watch the tape of the first half of game III last year at Suncorp... i dare say it's going to be the same quality in 3 weeks.

 

[aussie_q_factor]

RL = The greatest game.

Yep we dont give up, but Blues held their nerve very well and their goal line defence was epic. That's a dam formidable team. Game 3 could go either way.

Dare I say Rugby League was the real winner tonight?

Now that the blood pressure has gone down and the adrenalin has worn off, I am moving on from the disappointment of the loss. Great game, full house at ANZ, a pumped up crowd at suncorp for game 3. All tr usual banter leading up to the game.

Loving it!!!

 

[the kirwan kid]

I thought Queensland's kicking game tonight was one of the best kicking displays I've ever seen in Rugby League. The number of times Cronk and Smith kicked from inside their own half and trapped NSW in goal was unbelievable. Not to mention all the repeat sets with perfect little grubbers. It's almost impossible for any team to defend against kicking like that. It took a superhuman effort for NSW to restrict Queensland to only 2 tries after all that.

I agree that those few kicks were good, the rest of their kicking game was ordinary.

 

[MSIH]

Geez I love Origin. Amazing game. Hate QLD, but f**k me I respect those mofo's.

 

[Light Reflections]

They were bloody good, thought we were going to get home in the end there but not to be.

Bring on the decider.

 

[MSIH]

Also loved seeing Snake cross over for a couple. Stewart's had Slater covered 2 games in a row now. Sure Billy was injured, but both Stewart's knees are pretty much shot as well.

 

[Shorty]

What an absolute epic, drama galore. Really liked Gus' point about NSW finally winning a thriller with the Maroons coming to get them.

F*ck this is an incredibly courageous qld side, the blues were on top of them but the maroons just never, ever fall away. We'll celebrate hard after a great win but the job starts again in a couple of weeks. Outstanding game and cannot wait for Game III. How good is RL!!!!!

Yes.
NSW well and truly dominated in defence, the hits were brutal...and for a while there a few players were down.
Crowd was against them.

Both sides will be sore tonight, Origin is where I really appreciate what these players give us.
Especially the forwards, what they put their bodies through.

 

[simostorm]

Slater was good under the high ball.. he had a couple of good runs.. no less then anyone else on the team really..

 

[Broncos thats my team]

Slater always has been useless at rep level always gets ragdolled around I miss Hunt he was always solid...cant stand loseing to a bunch of nuffies ffs.

 

[Shorty]

Hunt was nothing special.

 

[lockyno1]

Bring on Game 3, no changes unless forced. Parker out for Thaiday who was a massive loss. One has to question why they didn't start with Parker over Taylor though! Can someone also mention to Thurston to NOT run the ball in our own half on the 5th tackle like he did 4-5 times!

 

[Big Pete]

Hunt was nothing special.

Hunt never got his due.

Incredibly safe at the back and was brilliant at kick returns. His combination with Lockyer even proved fruitful at that level.

Obviously Slater has taken over from Hunt but people seem to forget Hunt had to cover for him after Origin 2 & 3 in 2008 for good reason.

But yeah, Hunt was like the spoilt rich kid in the Queensland family.

 

[Jason Maher]

Good win by NSW for sure. Definitely the better team. Sure there was a bit of luck with the ball hitting Hayne's foot and not the ground but thats the bounce of the ball. Cronk's sin bin was fair enough too.

The only gripe I have is with the commentary. They whinged and moaned about every little thing that didn't go NSW's way in the first game, and I admit there were a couple, but when Jennings knocks the ball out of Tate's hand over the dead ball line (which should have been yet another drop out for NSW) nobody says boo. I saw it as soon as it happened and it was even more obvious on the reply.

Cronk was decent in the second half but his first half wasn't great again. Save for a few kicks QLD's kicking game was pretty ordinary, as was NSW's. I also think Thurston and Cronk have been way below par for the most part.

As for Taylor, he should be on for the last 15 of the first half and first 15 of the second. Not when the game is on the line.

No changes for mine outside of Thaiday coming back in for Parker, although I wouldn't have an issue for then keeping Parker at Gillette's expense.

I was surprised we got a 20m tap from the Jennings one. It was obvious from the front-on angle, which was the angle they showed live. Obviously the ref thought Tate spilled it, and the replay didn't happen quick enough for the video ref to intervene.

On the flipside, in the first half when Stewart was ruled to ground the ball prior to the Dave Taylor comedy effort, Thurston was a mile in front of Cronk, and was part of the line that tried to trap Stewart (and he made the tackle on Hayne after the play was dead). The video ref checked for offside, but missed it completely (as did the commentators).

 

[Walt Flanigan]

It was probably the best Origin match that I've seen since the early 90's. Something very old-school about it and watching both teams dig in for the last 15 minutes was sensational. Can't wait for Game 3!