SOO3 Player Ratings

New South Wales

1. Josh Dugan ~ I don’t mind an old school fullback but this game should be the final nail in the coffin of Dugan’s Origin career. The bombed try at the 20 minute mark will get plenty of attention but that is just one example of his inability to act as a link-man. The best you could hope from Dugan in a number of those shifts down the right was that he would make the correct decision to pass; if you wanted him to hold up a ball perfectly or turn a half-chance into a try with a nice draw-and-pass then you were dreaming. His kick returns and runs were vigorous but he isn’t the player NSW need. In fact, even as an old-school fullback his support play isn’t good enough imo Rating:2

2. Brett Morris ~ didn't have a chance to get into the game. But I thought he did a much better job than in previous games at returning the ball. He usually looks so uncomfortable picking up the bouncing ball and his kick returns are pissweak. Last night he recovered the ball quickly and took a leaf out of Dugan's book with some hard, vigorous runs back at the chasers. Rating: 5

3. Michael Jennings ~ he has become a passable Origin player but I doubt he will ever become much more than that. He did pretty well in defence and he troubled Hodges a bit on the inside shoulder – as he has for the past two years. However, there were two half-chances where he put the ball down and while neither of them were howlers you would expect a player of his ability to make at least one stick. Rating: 4

4. Josh Morris ~ he is pretty much the invisible man. Didn’t get tested in defence because Inglis never got the ball and in attack he never got much of a chance because Dugan was his inside man. His decision to step back inside when Boyd rushed in was poor centre-play imo but he salvaged it to produce a try for McManus. Rating: 4

5. James McManus ~ the knock on from Cronk’s kick will haunt him for a while but apart from that he did a good job. Daley obviously spent a lot of time fixing up the NSW defence, which undoubtedly saved him from Merritt’s fate; however, his decision-making and patience in defence was good in its own right. Apart from an early miscommunication with Dugan he seemed to have a good handle on things. He was a good stopgap and while he shouldn’t make the team ahead of Gordon, his selection in the team for 2014 would not be an issue. Rating: 5

6. James Maloney ~ another ordinary performance from Maloney, particularly early in the piece. Some poor plays out of dummy-half, some weak kicks and a dumb penalty didn’t help the cause early on. He ended up making a few nice passes with Hoffman but he can’t continue to play for NSW.

I ragged on Maloney all the way through the summer, harping on about his lack of creativity and shouting down suggestions of playing for NSW. All of which made me look pretty silly when the Roosters stormed out of the blocks; however, I feel like this series is my vindication. Maloney doesn’t have a creative bone in his body and he is really only an excellent support play who can hit holes and provide a good long kicking game. Unless Daley stacks the NSW backrow with Mateo, Graham and Bird, you cannot continue to play Maloney.Rating: 4

7. Mitchell Pearce ~ absolutely shithouse in every sense of the word. His passing game was deplorable, his running game consists of a right-foot step into the defensive line with no support and his kicking game – both long and short – was awful. He didn’t hit the grass with a kick until the 75^th minute and he couldn’t force a restart if his life depended on it. I believe he has now played more consecutive games than any NSW halfback. That is fucked up. Rating: 1

8. Aaron Woods – came off after his first stint and didn’t return. He wasn’t missed though. Realistically he should fall well down the depth chart for NSW behind Gallen, Tamou, Merrin, Grant and Fifita. Rating: 1

9. Robbie Farah – I struggle with how to rate Robbie Farah. For 80% of the time he was excellent and then for the remainder there was some pretty shoddy work; how you combine that into a single rating is something that I struggle with. In the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes Farah’s decision-making let him down and while he wasn’t entirely at fault, his effort on Thurston for the first try was pretty weak. The flipside of that is that for the rest of the game he was vital for NSW and one of the only things preventing them from turning into an utter rabble. He tackled relentlessly and his darting runs out of dummy-half were quite effective. His long and short kicking game was better than either of the halves and the only time that NSW looked dangerous or organized in attack was when Farah was running his switches behind the ruck or his run around plays. He was easily NSW’s player of the series again and perhaps that is part of the problem: NSW rely on him so heavily that he is asked to do far too much. In fact, I wonder if Cam Smith were asked to take on as much responsibility for Queensland, whether he wouldn’t have dumb errors creeping into his game.

Some of Farah’s plays will see him bagged relentless but overall I think he was pretty close to Cam Smith over the course of the series. In fact, if you took out the last 15 minutes of Game 1 and part of Game 3, I would argue that Farah definitely comfortably outplayed Smith this year. Rating: 6.5

10. James Tamou ~ he didn’t play badly but he wasn’t that imposing. He needed to demand the ball with the same urgency that Fifita did all game. His runs were decent but he needs to take more of them. The miss on Thurston was extremely sloppy. Rating: 4

11. Luke Lewis ~ this was a very poor showing for Lewis. He came off with a calf injury but his absence wasn’t that costly. In defence he missed a few tackles and in attack Thurston was all over him. In Game 1 he whalloped Thurston and last night JT got his revenge Rating: 3

12. Ryan Hoffman ~ actually did quite well. Hammered a few Queenslanders in defence and did a much better job of protecting Maloney. Actually started hitting some holes down the left and exposed Cronk defensively. But he had to score that try and his other good break in the second half didn’t result in anything. Rating: 5

13. Greg Bird ~ if you could give a rating for effort then Bird would get a 10. After a shaky first carry Bird did everything in his power to win the game for NSW. He took dozens of runs, looked to offload, got involved wider of the ruck and put in some huge shots in defence. It was just unfortunate that for all the effort he put in, he couldn’t produce any of those half-breaks he is usually responsible for. He played with so much fire and aggression that it wins him a lot of grudging admiration from me. Rating: 7

14. Andrew Fifita ~ I think MF put it best prior to the game when he described Fifita as Steve Menzies on the edges and Dallas Johnson in the middle. He was very good for NSW and generated a lot of opportunities but his game does not resemble that of a prop. He looks best when taking angled runs around the ruck or moving out wider. Hit-ups, which should be his bread-and-butter are actually a weak part of his game. The number of times he gets dominated is quite embarrassing. He stayed far more disciplined last night until he tried to David Klemmer himself late in the game. Rating: 6

15. Trent Merrin ~ Merrin still isn’t managing to twist in the tackle and get his offloads going. His running metres look horrible because a lot of the hit-ups were when he was being used as a battering ram close to the line; however, he was still really ordinary. That try wins him some respectability though. Rating: 5

16. Boyd Cordner ~ apart from having a Pearce pass cannon into his shoulder I don’t remember him having much involvement. Rating: 2

17. Anthony Watmough ~ he was exceptional in attack. I’ve spent a lot of time criticizing him over the last few years but Watmough was the catalyst in NSW fighting back in the first half. He looked twice as fast as every other player on the field and was punching holes all around the ruck. His knock-on was the kind of sloppy shit you have to expect from him but overall his play was so valuable. Rating: 8

 

Queensland

1. Billy Slater ~ I’ll admit that I didn’t pay much attention to Slater’s game. He always looked good positionally under the high ball and he made that one break late in the game. He didn’t get many opportunities to be involved in the game but NSW dominance for much of the game was responsible for that. Once again his passing left-to-right proved a weak point … Rating: 5

2. Darius Boyd ~ he was excellent in Game 2 and almost non-existent last night. Managed to save the day with his fingertip and managed one big kick return off a disorganized NSW chase. His other contributions were negligible … unless you count the comedic value of that crazy, speculating leap for the ball in the first half, which McManus reeled in easily Rating: 3

3. Greg Inglis ~ had no real involvement. Part of that is his fault but even if he comes into dummy-half, it doesn’t solve Queensland’s complete inability or unwillingness to spread the ball wide to the left. Rating: 2

4. Justin Hodges ~ capped off an excellent series where he wasn’t the best player but was certainly better than the supposed “man of the series”. Made two great try saving tackles and showed a lot of desperation to get to the loose ball. In attack he still managed some good DH runs, as he has all series. More impressively, he played like a conventional centre for much of the game: he hit the ball with pace and took it close to the line on more than a few occasions. This was his best series since 2007 and he should have booked his ticket to the World Cup with that display. Rating: 8

5. Brent Tate ~ was deserving of the hardest worker award. The effort he makes on kick returns and how quickly he gets back to help out Slater are often underappreciated facets of his game. Made a meal of one bomb but as the saying goes, we all get one mistake.
Rating: 6.5

6. Johnathan Thurston ~ I liked the fact that Thurston was consistently switching behind the ruck to get into second receiver; however, his overall impact was negligible imo. NSW obviously worked overtime on their defence out wide and the result was that on both the right and left sides, Thurston looked completely covered. You still have to give him credit for pulling that one try out of his arse but for most of the game, I never honestly felt like Thurston was a danger to NSW like he has been for the past 8 years. Overall, by his high standards, this was a poor series from Thurston. He was a monster in defence though. Rating: 5

7. Cooper Cronk ~ his kicking game has been off the boil all series but the rest of his game was in tune. He opened up NSW a few times with his runs and put the ball on a platter for Justin Hodges. For all the wraps he gets as a tough defensive half though, his defence in Origin over the last two years has been very poor. It isn’t what he is selected for but he gets sucked out of position far too easily. Rating: 6

8. Matthew Scott ~ ran like a man possessed for the entire evening. He was regularly taking runs early in the count and whereas Fifita was still getting put on his arse, Scott always managed to find his front. Looked unstoppable with a few runs late in the game; you could tell he desperately wanted that series-sealing try. He was the best on the field and arguably the man of the series. Rating: 8.5

9. Cameron Smith ~ I’m conflicted over Smith’s series. On one hand I’m happy to see him win some accolades because I fear that without the recognition, a lot of people will not appreciate how spectacular he was when he retires. However, on the other hand there is no fucking way he deserves the Wally Lewis Medal or the MOTM award from Game 2. He was average in Game 1, good in Game 2 and only good again in Game 3 imo. He tackled hard all game but he didn’t kick enough and he mostly just shoveled the ball in attack. In fact, until his really good run late in the game I had been criticizing him for playing far too passively. The awards he has won are just a testament to the fact that there was no real standout player in most of the games, so the judges felt it was easiest to simply choose the highest profile player who didn’t fuck up. Rating: 7

10. Nate Myles ~ played mistake-free football but this wasn’t his usual standard of play. His work rate was much lower than usual. Rating: 6

11. Chris McQueen ~ played really solidly and his tackle on McManus was vital. I still think his place in the team should come under reconsideration though. His presence on the edge limits the effectiveness of the left side attack because he is only there as a running threat. When Thurston got the ball he only ever had the option of McQueen steaming onto the short pass or Inglis for the long pass. He didn’t put a foot wrong but I feel like his place in the team made the left side attack too predictable and easy to contain for the improved NSW backline defence. Rating: 6

12. Sam Thaiday ~ he ran with conviction but didn’t contribute much on the edge. I think his days as a second rower for Queensland are over. Rating: 3

13. Corey Parker ~ the first two games of the series were marked by some quality offloads but Game 3 was just about working like a dog. A lot of his hit-ups came later in the count after Scott and the outside backs had laid the platform but his work was still relentless. He topped the tackle count in the first half too. The miss on Merrin was abysmal and certainly tarnishes his performance but it shouldn’t detract from the superb level of play he exhibited over the course of the series. He went from a bench player to a legitimate contender for player of the series. If Wally Lewis had awarded the medal to Scott or Parker I would have been content. Rating: 7

14. Daly Cherry-Evans ~ he didn’t do anything wrong but I don’t think Meninga has found the best way to utilize DCE yet. Rating: 3

15. Ben Te'o ~ his runs are really hard and he didn’t get exposed in defence. In fact, I think that has been my summary of Te’o for every game this series. Meninga’s plan for a more mobile team has worked because players like Te’o have entered the frame and done their job adequately. Rating: 4

16. Matt Gillett ~ worked overtime in defence and while some of his penalties were a tad unfair, he still lacked discipline. As with Te’o, he filled his role in the team and while I wouldn’t say he cemented his place in Origin, he certainly didn’t let anyone down. Rating: 3

17. Josh Papalii ~ built like a freight train but handles like a Volkswagen. He wasn’t on for long but in his limited time he showed a lot of promise. Queenslanders should be very excited about blooding a player of his potential this year, while NSW were busy blooding guys like Reynolds and Cordner … Rating: 4

 

I think you maybe underrate Thurston in this match; I'd probably give him a 6 or a 7. His try, a few quality passes, a repeat set early on, and his much improved defence warrant more than a 5 IMO.

Other than that though, I think these are pretty spot on.

 

Yeah, Thurston made 20 tackles, 2 misses with 6 one-on-ones. That's fucking phenomenal for a halfback.

 

There is a distinct possibility that I have underrated him. In fact, comparing him to the other players who I rated above him, 5 does seem unreasonably harsh. It is always difficult to judge a player without factoring in your expectations of them. There are probably other players who have benefited in reverse because I expected them to play like flogs, such as Jennings or Morris or Te'o .

I was pretty annoyed at Thurston's refusal to shift the ball wide though; I think that is a major concern for Queensland coming out of this series. The only time they really shifted the ball well out to Inglis during the series was when the entire team was on a roll and punching through the middle. You shouldn't have to wait until everything is going your way before you utilise your most potent attacking play.

 

Yeah. Expectation always plays a part.

Fucking tell me about it.

Well, when they shifted wide to Inglis in the first two minutes and he did his usual rampage run drawing in three and making 15m, I thought the penny had finally dropped. Unfortunately we didn't do it again all bloody night. All the cunt needs is some good early ball. Why is that so hard? Meninga should've been sending messages out that every time we got inside NSW's half, 70% of the time all we should be doing is setting up for the left side shift. Charge through the middle, run some angles on the right, compress the defence and then isolate Morris in a man-on-man situation with Inglis.

 

Well, maybe they deliberately played away from him. It certainly seemed like it. I mean we just kept going right. Then again, Inglis did come in-field in the last 10 a few times and ran full pelt into the defence.