Irrepressible Tangent

Congratulations Queensland, a victory thoroughly deserved.  To the Qld coaching staff and selectors, well done. To the players, enjoy it because such a sustained run of success is rare. To win 4 series in a row would be unprecedented. It is amazing to think that Qld could achieve something so remarkable given that prior to their run of victories, New South Wales had won 3 consecutive series (2003-05).

Both teams came to play what turned out to be a classic State of Origin battle. The game itself couldn’t go down as a classic, but in the aggression, fights, injuries and spectacular tries it is everything we love about Origin. In many ways the first two games have been described as boring (if you had an allegiance for the losing side), but this game certainly was not. Both sets of fans would have felt they had chances to win, both sides may even claim they had the better of the match – and who could argue.

NSW looked great early with the addition of Kurt Gidley to the starting team. They were sharp in attack and looked to be testing the decision making of the Qld defence. Qld too looked strong. With Johnathan Thurston and Scott Prince controlling the game, they played with confidence and composure. Sadly Scott Prince suffered a broken arm which seemed to really disjoint Qld. Karmichael Hunt was forced into the 5/8th role and he struggled to ask any questions of NSW which forced the pressure back onto Thurston and Cameron Smith. Fortunately Billy Slater had possibly his best game for Qld and his work from fullback kept Qld on the front foot when NSW were trying to play field position and tire out the Qld forwards.

As always, it was the forwards who were the difference. NSW has been unable to match the tireless efforts of the outstanding Petero Civoniceva, Steve Price and Nate Myles (not that there was a bad player in the pack). It could have been a gamble upsetting a winning formula (ie. Myles starting from the bench in games 1 and 2), but such is his seemingly endless energy, Myles was able to sustain an outstanding level of impact with his every contribution. Interestingly this game really showed the challenge of managing with 10 interchanges. Having both starting props on the bench at certain times did make Qld look vulnerable – this just made their influence all the more obvious when they were out there. This really is the only issue facing Qld for next year – how long can the veteran props keep going? They also will need a replacement for Michael Crocker who will be in England next year (Carl Webb anyone?). Just to think Darren Lockyer wasn’t even required this series, Justin Hodges only played one game, and the relative youth in the entire team and there is, barring injuries, no reason Qld can’t win 4 in a row.

Where are NSW at? Until they can find some forwards that can make a real impact I feel they will struggle. Brett White is yet to make a real impact at this level, Ben Cross did but he is 30 and may look overseas when his deal with Newcastle ends. Unfortunately while loosing the past 3 series NSW has used different halves combinations everytime. This will be a key for them next year, which of the halves that have played for them recently will they select. The simple fact is that at this point in the balance of Origin Qld is holding all the aces, NSW must just keep persevering and giving different players opportunities. The exposure to football at this level will improve the players and make them stronger when it is their turn to be on top.

My one hope for Origin 2009 is that Qld believe in themselves that they can truly impose themselves on history. There is no reason they can’t win 4 or more. It is one of the most exciting things about rugby league watching a team in full attacking flight, and given the players Qld has at its disposal it truly has just scratched the surface of what it could achieve. That being said things don’t last forever and given the number of players at its disposal it would be amazing to think NSW can’t stop the rot – but 2 games in Qld that makes it even tougher.

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Tags: Origin, soo, SOO3 Blues v Maroons Review, State of Origin 2008

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.