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State of Origin 1 - 2024

Messages
4,420
Despite being a man down the Blues dominated possession 52%/48% but did not play smart by turning round the Maroons with long kicks and into the in goal for repeat sets. There was also little effort to keep the ball alive , create second phase play to try to cover for the lost man. In short the Blues brains trust had no Plan B.
 
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Messages
4,420
This picking the same side to make amends is horseshit. Still one man down probably saves their hides. Lose the next then bring out the axe as the Blues need their best on the paddock to restore some pride in the third one and give them their only chance to have a fair contingent in the Kangaroo side. Am sick of having Canies dominate our national side year after year, decade after decade.
 
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kit66

Bench
Messages
4,026
At what position? When has Ben played halfback for qld or Australia like a champion?

Watch the game again, Hunt played more like an extra 5/8 than a Hooker, he spent a lot of time combining with DCE and only made 16 tackles. Put him in a good team surrounded by quality players and he could play half, 5/8 or Hooker equally well. He's our half, has been for 6 years, get over it. The fans don't pick the side, the coach does.
I'd be happy to have him at hooker, that'd be great but he does a good job at 7, just needs some better quality players to work with.
People saying but he's a well payed star, why aren't we winning games ? FMD, wake up !!!!
 

hook hook

Juniors
Messages
226
& have your Captain play 20 mins….
Certainly Billy Slater is proving a true great Origin Coach.
I thought the NSW spine & lack of connection was a glaring weakness. Teddys best & speed are behind him.
Having Jake only play 20mins was actually good coaching. Jake is as slow as Lawrie. Not what you want when you have to cover a few extra metres either side due to having 12 men. I guarantee you he would have played more minutes if it was 13 on 13
 

True_Believer

Juniors
Messages
1,840
The overall domination by QLD in SOO games (70 QLD to 58 NSW) and series (QLD 24, NSW 16 with 2 drawn) is making the concept one way traffic particularly in the past 2 decades (QLD 15, NSW 8 series wins). It is no wonder a lot of the NSW followers are feeling deflated. On the other hand if you were a QLD follower, you would be inflated.

But I get the angst being a NSW supporter since the inception of the concept.

In these games now, all I want to see (well foremost NSW winning) is for our players no matter what State they represent, play well and not get injured.
Agreed mate. All I want to see is a return to a time when you really had no idea who was going to win from game to game. It's just too predictable today. I haven't watched the game from last night (apart from the first 8 minutes) and I won't be watching the rest of the series. I will however watch the girls tonight and the 3rd girls game. I think it's a better spectacle than the mens and much more competitive.
 

kit66

Bench
Messages
4,026
Awesome. And how has that worked out for us these past 5 miserable years?

Question 1 ; If not Ben Hunt, which other player from the last 6 years, in the same StGI teams, same coaches, same squads that Hunt had would have given us a substantially better outcome ? It's a team sport, stop trying to scapegoat individual players for our woes.
Question 2 ; Who, from available recruits / juniors are you replacing him with ?
 
Messages
653
They're ours for 2024, what's the difference if I call them our guys or The Dragons' players ?
Mate, nearly everything that's happened since 2012 has made it hard to feel loyalty but either you're with us or against us, what are you gunna do ? Every team has players coming and going and some have a grumble occasionally, some do stupid things like have BBQ's or miss training, so, life goes on. Hunt still plays his heart out, Lomax too and at least they didn't do a Gordon fkn Tallis.
I won’t argue that those two don’t put in every week because they do. Still sooks though.
 

Coffs dragon

Bench
Messages
4,400
Having Jake only play 20mins was actually good coaching. Jake is as slow as Lawrie. Not what you want when you have to cover a few extra metres either side due to having 12 men. I guarantee you he would have played more minutes if it was 13 on 13
Except Jake rarely drops the ball & rarely misses a tackle! Anyway, I thought he would be an inspirational Captain & was disappointed in his output & contribution.
 

Slippery Morris

First Grade
Messages
7,888
Your post means that coaches would develop a way to dispense with an opposition play maker late in a close club game let alone a semi or GF.

Belllamy would love to find a new way to rort the rules like the wrestle, the chicken wing, the crusher, the hip drop etc.
Love this post as it is so true. Teams like the Dogs (Lamb on the Pearl) and Storm will be in their element with a rule change like this. Bellamy will be bringing out a new wrestling more a month.

The good thing that came out of Origin is the 3 players from Saints played really well. If only Hunt plays hooker for his club. Watching him at the ground last night the guy is probably the best hooker in the comp by far. He stood out ahead of Reece and Harry. He changed the game as NSW were doing ok beginning of second half and showing a lot of spirit. Then Hunt came on and it was all over. His try lifted them big time.

Reece and McInness also had strong games for NSW.
 

Dragon David

First Grade
Messages
9,296
Agreed mate. All I want to see is a return to a time when you really had no idea who was going to win from game to game. It's just too predictable today. I haven't watched the game from last night (apart from the first 8 minutes) and I won't be watching the rest of the series. I will however watch the girls tonight and the 3rd girls game. I think it's a better spectacle than the mens and much more competitive.
Agreed with you True on the girls matches. They definitely are not that predictable and therefore worthy of watching. Of course, I would love us to win tonight and make a clean sweep by winning the 3rd game. This won't please the QLD supporters but for a change NSW needs a clean sweep in one of these contests.

Sometimes by not watching the mens games, you can just check the score after the game and if NSW wins, you can watch the highlights (or a shortened replay) and if they lose, then you don't bother. QLD fans on here, which I am sure there are a number, will have their say as well and that's good.
 

Titanic

First Grade
Messages
5,938
The rot as a spectacle started with the pathetic excuse for a "national anthem" ... first person sacked should be the event manager who obviously was that numbnutz' partner. If it was an acoustic rendition they wanted and someone who could at least hold a tune then Dale Finucan please.
 

Reflector

Bench
Messages
2,540
The overall domination by QLD in SOO games (70 QLD to 58 NSW) and series (QLD 24, NSW 16 with 2 drawn) is making the concept one way traffic particularly in the past 2 decades (QLD 15, NSW 8 series wins). It is no wonder a lot of the NSW followers are feeling deflated. On the other hand if you were a QLD follower, you would be inflated.

But I get the angst being a NSW supporter since the inception of the concept.

In these games now, all I want to see (well foremost NSW winning) is for our players no matter what State they represent, play well and not get injured.
Dragons won 11 in a row and then (as we all know) have just 1 in the last 40 years.

Souths dominated immediately following the Dragons 11-streak with 4 in 5 years, but have just 2 GF appearances in the last half a century.

In their first 18 years the Broncos won 5 Premierships (6 if you include Sewerleague). Yet they've remained trophy- less for the following 18 years to date.

Before they won the 2007 series, Qld hadn't won back to back series since 1989.

For the first 25 years, at any time NSW could call on Raudonikis, Hastings, Mortimer, Sterling then Alexander, Stuart or Taylor then Johns or Kimmorley to wear the #7....then were stuck for nearly a decade with Mitchell Pearce...

As Mario once said - the wheel turns. Of course there's plenty of Maroons fans who think they're entitled to winning Origin forever because #passion and #spirit and #wegetorigin etc etc etc, but if you look at the last 20 years and the players they've had access to, it's no surprise they've been so successful.

But nobody plays forever. If I'm right, DCE is the last of the players still active from their 8 year streak and this could be his last series. They lose DCE and they lose that experience in crunch moments. NSW are winning the 17's and 19's and you'd imagine a few of those guys are going to become star players in their own right at NRL level. Star players who grew up hating Qld and seeing them win (like Bradman Best) and will want to avenge their childhood misery, the same way Lewis, Meaning, Miles, Vautin, Close etc wanted to avenge NSW in the 80's for all those interstate floggings they watched growing up...

Hence why clearing out the dead-wood in the NSW coaching/ admin ranks is key right now so if (when) NSW have that generational streak of players coming through like Qld had in the 80's and again from the mid 2000's, we capitalise on it and milk that honey for every last drop. And when our cousins up north complain about how unfair it is because they've lost more than 3 series in a row, they can suck it up. We lost for 8 years in a row and kept showing up, I'm sure they can endure not having an immortal spine to close out games for them for a decade or so...
 
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