2013 State Of Origin III - Sydney

Just watching NSW's first try again. Fuck we were rorted there. First Bird walks off the mark and drops the ball and they get another penalty (after Watmough's up-field). And then Lewis clearly takes out Thurston and it doesn't even get looked at.

 

Over the last 5 series, and presumably before that, NSW have had real difficulty playing from behind. In 15 games they have failed to score first 10 times. Of those 10 they've come back to win only twice and one of those was a dead rubber. QLD on the other hand, have failed to score first 5 times but have come back on three occasions.

On the other hand NSW have dramatically improved as far as scoring first goes; 4 of those 5 have come in the last two series.

 

Had to lol at Aaron Woods taking the ruck from the 20m restart in the 15th minute and getting tackled with a gain of about 7cm.

 

Just so typical to hear the Sydney media (and quite a few NSW fans) bitch and whinge about being on the receiving end of a 5-2 penalty count in the first half in Brisbane; not so much when they receive a 6-2 count in the first 40 back home, of course.

 

They're supposed to express some modicum of impartiality. It's not their job to join the parochialism of the masses and only complain when their mob gets a bad call. They were critical of the referees for supposedly deferring to the intimidating QLD crowd. You can't make a criticism like that and then keep silent when your side gets an even more disparate count at their home ground.

So yes, you identified why they're not complaining (though it was already kind of obvious to the point of absurdity). They aren't complaining because they have no capacity for nor inclination towards, objectivity.

 

The victory still hasn't really sunk in. Every once in a while I'll think about it and just go wow, remembering how steep the hill was after Game I. NSW will not get a better shot next year than what they did in 2013. I acted confident but inside thought we were really up against it. Even with Gallen and Hayne out, I knew (I think we all did) that it would be very tight.

I didn't expect us to have to overcome such a disparity in possession, field position and officiating. That makes it an even more impressive triumph. As does knowing that we can self-inflict selection mistakes, basically cripple our own bench, and still get the job done.

 

I wouldn't go as far as the first sentence but I agree, if errors were equal, then yeah NSW's weight of possession probably would've told on us. The two that spring to mind are Tate's knock on which NSW then turned over 2 tackles later through a horrible pass from Farah which Hodges cleaned up. And then after Inglis knocked on a high ball, Lewis coming back centre-field dropping it on second tackle which was cleaned up by Thaiday.

On the other hand, with all the shots NSW had at our line they could only construct one try and even that should've probably been called back for obstruction.

 

I was so glad that when Smith got pinned on last tackle (after two blatantly offside markers in a row neither of which were penalised) the ball went to Parker and not some other forward cause fuck he kicked the stuffing out of it. We were struggling there and he really got us out of trouble.

 

I'd really love to have another look at Merrin's knock on in the first half. I'm fucked if I know how Gillett made that come out.

 

The penalties just raped us all night. It's a huge reason why NSW were in the match as much as they were. Quite a few of them were justified but for them to only be penalised once in the ruck over the course of 80 minutes is an out and out joke. Particularly when we were penalised repeatedly and in quick succession for the very same thing.

Unlike NSW though, when we actually got one we made good use of it.

8th minute - Bird penalised for holding down - Thurston scores the next set.
12th minute - Maloney shoulder charge - Thurston collects an easy two points.

That was our last penalty for 46 minutes.

58th minute - Morris penalised for offside - Hodges scores the next set.

QLD went 80m in the set off the kick-off. And this was the difference. QLD converted 75% of their 4 penalties into points. NSW scored once off 8.

 

Darius Boyd had a pretty good game IMO. Aside from the fumble in-goal and the missed tackle on Morris he was sensational. Especially from our own end. When our forwards were knackered and we were under the pump, he got in there and just kept charging it up. He made a huge, huge run with 3 to go. Ended up averaging 12m per with 10 runs.

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/n...origin-captaincy/story-fni3fbgt-1226682505065

"Blind Freddy could see Matt Scott was best on the park by the length of the footy field."

I don't believe it. Phil Rothfield actually wrote something of merit.

 

Oh he definitely took a dive IMO.