I'd have to say gee people whinge. The NSW side has been beaten by 7 points and 4 points so basically one try in each game.
They have not been flogged, but wholesale changes are what people want.
Also our forward pack was not outplayed last match, in fact I would have said they had a slight edge, but it was pretty even. The simple fact is who do we have to bring in, that has displayed better form in club footy than these guys.
Hindmarsh hasn't been barnstorming in origin in attack, but when on the field he has been very strong in defence. And his club form on the weekend was awesome. If he had not been in the first 2 games we would have lost by more, he covers so much stuff up that many people don't notice.
Mason was injured for game 1 and good in game 2. Bailey was better game 2.
Kite and white, well had little time, but been average. Ryles was the man in form but got injured, has O'Meeley really showed much at club level to warrant selection.
Simpson, Ryan have all showed quality in the series. Look to be honest no backrower from either team has been dominant particularly in attack, I don't know why we are looking at the backrow as a problem. Actually I do because its the one place we have heaps of depth.
Our problems lie in the halves and quite simply its a problem we can't fix. The difference between the 2 sides has been the halves in both games. The QLD halves are the world's best, the NSW halves are not. Ask qlders about 5/8ths after lewis, until lockyer, what a roll call they had. Or halfbacks outside of alfie. They only won 3 series post lewis until the last 2 years, drew 2 and lost 9. Well guess what Johns is gone, freddy is gone daley is gone. We have no one in the class of thurston or lockyer. Mullen looks good, but needs another year or so.
The qld outside backs have done very little either, especially their centres. Yes inglis has scored tries, but not through his own brilliance, it has been through the space created by thurston. Tate and Hunt have run the ball strongly, but nothing that creative.
So basically we blue and blue about our problems, but they lie in the one place we can't fix. We can swap as many backrowers as you like, but the club form is no better than the ones in the side.
I do feel personally that king to centre, grothe onto the side in place of lyon would have been good. But while lyon has done very little neither has bell or hodges. King has only come in once when he didn't need to, the others times if he didn't come they would have simply scored in closer.
The key to the series has been 3 men C.smith, thurston and lockyer, the first 2 in particular. Buderus has tried hard, but its much easier to dummy and run, when defenders are worried about thurston and lockyer, not kimmorley and anasta.
So like I said I think a lot of comments are way over the top, we have barely lost both games, and were more dominant in the last game. All our eligible backrowers are playing well, but until one of our halves stands up and does something great, defence is the only thing that will win us games.
