Okay well first things first. Congratulations to NSW. I don't know if they were the better side tonight as it was probably one of the most evenly matched games I've seen in a long time. They were definitely the better side in Game 1 though and they grafted away tonight and showed real resilience to get the chocolates. It's hard to argue that QLD should've won as we didn't create a single try. But I do think for quite long periods of the game, particularly in the first half, we were the better of the two sides. The main concern I had at half time was that we'd only made 1 error and were completing at 95%. As we know it's pretty hard to keep up that sort of efficiency and low and behold we couldn't manage it. A 5-1 error count in our favour ended up 12-11 in NSW's favour. We just dropped too much ball in key areas on the field. 95% in the first half and 53% in the second. As for specifics, I thought neither side really showed any quality attacking creativity. QLD's defence did a superb job on Hayne. And it ended up 1 line break each. Hayne's tackle on Thaiday was a real turning point. Tremendous save. From 10-0 down I don't think NSW come back from that. Gould's line about saved tries being just as good as scoring one is dead on. Gallen was superb. Hoffman was excellent at times. He really picked out Cherry-Evans and worked him over. Matty Scott was non-existent. I don't know if he was injured but boy he was below par. Tamou was the same. I thought Lillyman was very solid. Taylor was strong with his carries but he's just too stupid to play rep football. That no-look pass cost us dearly. Hodges was good in some of the things he did. Was glad to see Smith running and kicking a lot more. It made a big difference. Thurston was garbage. Gillett poked his nose through and made some good runs. Bird the same, although he was taking dives all over the place. QLD again played away from the left too much. It had to be the 77th minute when we finally gave Inglis some early ball and what a surprise he nearly created something. As for the officiating, I thought it was terrible. Zero control from Hayne and Cummins was always going to lead to trouble. The ruck was a joke from both sides. Just a shame only one side was being marginally penalised for it. 1 maybe 2 ruck penalties to QLD in 80 minutes is beyond laughable. It was always going to be tough going tonight but I thought overall we did ourselves credit. We defended a lot better, and only ended up losing by a conversion. That's Origin though. Always a 50/50 and this year we just weren't good enough.
Hoffman really won me over tonight. Tamous a lazy cunt. So happy Pearce didn't get to be a part of that
Correction. Actually ended up 2-1 line breaks to QLD. So we created more line breaks in both games and still lost. Some of the scramble defence from NSW this series was very good.
Haha I had him for LTS only, and I only had $5 on it. Having someone for first and last in a game where they score the only try is basically the holy grail of jammy rugby league betting though, so congrats.
Congrats Cribb. Enjoy it while you can. Unlike 85 there won't be an 86 this time cunt. What'd you think of NSW's halves over 160 minutes?
In general they've offered very little. It's absolutely not what we should be settling for by any stretch of the imagination. In saying that they were better than Pearce by at least (largely) not being a net loss to the side.
hahaha, yeah it was bullshit. I only had $10 and $5. The only reason I only put 5 on the second one was because I decided to have a schooner before I went home and I only had $20 cash haha. Still that $15 won me over $500, and I won $180 on the 9-1 for nil all after 9 minutes as well.
Yeah outside of Hayne NSW showed very little by way of genuine creativity, I thought. You can bet your bottom dollar that they'll be there next year though. Reynolds looked okay when running the ball but you've surely got to offer more than that to play Origin. And as others have said if that's the role Daley has in mind there are better options. Hodkinson didn't do much either but he did something when it counted and as you said, that's more than Pearce (or his apologists) can say.
I haven't been too upset with Hodkinson. I don't expect him to create too much. Just needs to kick well and keep them honest. Reynolds is just a bit too herp derpy for me to ever love him.
Yeah, Hodkinson's been okay at his role, but I think if such a role is to exist he really needs to take greater ownership over sets of six. There's way too much of players like Gallen, Bird and Watmough getting the ball at first receiver in the opposition 20. I don't mind Hodkinson not creating that much but if he's going to be a specialist organiser, he needs to do that specialist job a bit better, and he needs someone with more class alongside him than Reynolds.
Daily Tele Ratings - NSW total 110.5. QLD - 111.5. I certainly don't agree with the ratings per player but I think the totals are quite reflective of the game.
