2014 State Of Origin Game I - Brisbane, May 28

Well. Umm. Very disappointing. I hate losing at any time but losing in front of our home crowd when we play like that is really vexing and depressing. Not even sure where to begin.

Firstly, it would be indecent not to praise the Blues right off the bat. They were the better side without a doubt. They won the battle in the middle for the majority of the game. It wasn't until late in the match that QLD actually muscled up in defence. They rolled through us and it was a very good coaching/tactical ploy not to kick early. They were getting up around and over halfway and then kicking. That makes a huge difference. QLD's lack of genuine go-forward was exposed conclusively. We were hitting it up one out and getting chopped down by the markers and A defenders. The only positive I see is perhaps it will wake Meninga up to the need for at least another genuine prop.

Hayne was outstanding. Simply outstanding. I am very tempted to say that both tries he created were a result of poor QLD defence; we held off and over-read and then under-read his play for the first 50 minutes and he looked likely every time he got the ball. But I can't say that really. If I took a position like that I'd have to say it about Johns, Lewis and countless others who play with so much time. You have to credit him for making defenders wary and commit when they shouldn't and not commit when they should. The first try was almost comical like U7's. Thurston isn't supposed to let him get around the outside and certainly Inglis shouldn't. It was almost like give it to the fast kid and he'll run around the outside. But that's what happens when you have a bloke who puts defenders in two or three minds. Aside from that, he was near flawless. Cleaned up superbly, ran hard, threw good passes, pushed others out of the way to kick often from acting half. Very, very impressive. I won't say he was the difference because that would do a disservice a lot of others who played well but man........he really was

I thought Reynolds showed good enthusiasm and ran with the ball well but really, he and Hodkinson barely looked like creating anything. I actually went into half time not all that concerned because to have 60% of possession and only lead by 6 is rather reassuring that when possession and field position evened up, we would strike at will. Unfortunately, our attack looked rushed, disorganised, and the Blues again to their credit, defended their goal line stoutly.

There are three areas where I think QLD lost the game. And they're bread and butter. The first, as I mentioned, was go-forward. That needs to be fixed. The second is our defence. It was at times, really quite deplorable. We didn't put the ball carrier on his back and we allowed schoolboy offloads that should've been thwarted. Second phase killed us. The third is kicking game. I cannot for the life of me understand why Cameron Smith's boot has been put in the cupboard the last four or five games. He is deadly snapping out of acting half and yet he shuffled all night. And the one time he did kick it went straight down Hayne's throat. How you can have a kicker or such precision and importance not turning the opposition around is beyond me. A few other smaller areas of contention or curiosity are: We once again totally misused Inglis. We went short all night and gave it to him in traffic. The few times we did get it to him in space, he did his usual damage. And lastly, Cronk's injury. No doubt it hindered us. All I can say is that regardless of how small a sample size it is, there's no way in the world anyone can say Cherry-Evans should start ahead of Cronk. He looked out of his depth. Honestly didn't seem to know what to do or who to pass to or when to run. His kicking game was very up and down too. Had some really good ones but a few bad ones too.

Thurston played like shit. Aside from one run, McQueen was useless.

So yeah, it's a huge challenge for us to win this series from here. The Blues will only get stronger with Bird due back and Cronk obviously gone for quite a while. NSW should have won this game by more really. Our lack of props will always keep NSW in with a fighting chance, but their lack of real creativity will keep us in it too. Game 2 should be very interesting. The Blues haven't won back to back matches for quite a while.

 

Sorry for the long post. tl;dr version. Hayne was mercurial. QLD sucked balls. NSW the better side. Bring on Game 2.

I might (you know I will ) add a bit more tomorrow after watching a replay.

 

Beau Scott was fucking atrocious.

 

Didn't think Watmough did much either. Merrin was surprisingly shit too.

6 line breaks to 3 in QLD's favour. 83 and 85% completion rates respectively. Virtually all of NSW's wins over the last few years have come with phenomenal completion rates. They'll need to repeat that in Sydney.

 

Was impressed with Gillett's defence. He got up and rattled a few Blues. Thought Tate and Slater played fairly well. And Guerra was very solid.