Sydney FOH - State of Origin Game 3 - The Decider

[Ken Gargett]

5 hours ago, soutso said:

Ken, 

It truly feels like it (Qld dominance) will never end. If you think of the first three halves of the series, the turnaround is even more amazing. 

It's easy to see in hindsight, of course going up to Qld for a decider is a near impossible task. That said, I thought our team which on paper appeared better than Qld's, could do it.

From our point of view, Daley is to blame. He must go. I cannot see someone like Bellamy losing this series for the Blues. When Bellamy was losing SOS he faced the best ever Qld team (my opinion). 

Our lot were clueless. I won't say that it's apathy. Qld took Origin far more seriously in the early days than NSW did but now the desire is equal. Saying that it means more to Qld only serves to diminish their achievements. Your state is just better at footy.

(That said, your Broncs underachieve lol)

it was pretty much the first half of the 2nd half of game 2 as well. the nsw got scared as it realised how close it was and choked massively.

there seemed to be no game plan or if there was, and impossible to believe that there wasn't, then who implemented it on the field? that is not daley.

nsw has a major problem. they have an excellent squad, i think better than ours, but they have absolutely no one who can control a game. that cost them the series. to be honest, they should have gone with farrah, not that i could ever imagine i'd say that. pearce is a good club player, especially in a good team. he is not an origin player in anyone's wildest imagination.

best thing for us from this series, aside from crushing yet another generation of evil, is that we blooded so many players. it has been a major concern. now we have wallace, napa, milford, munster, holmes, gagai, oates, morgan, hunt, etc all with experience.

the broncs are a different debate. they made the GF and missed winning it by a whisker first year wayne returned. pretty amazing achievement. last year, origin knocked them out when they were looking good. this year? but i would not call that underachieving, although by qld standards, we do expect to win everything, every time.

[JohnS]

New South Wales lacked leadership under pressure throughout this series. This was the difference between the two sides. When Queensland needed direction they turned to Thurston, Smith and Cronk. Apart from Cordner in game 1, who did New South Wales have in comparison? Boyd Cordner playing with an injury in the 3rd game was always going to come back to bite, which it did. I thought the critical part of the game was when NSW elected to tap from 10 metres out early in the second half, instead of taking an easy penalty to get within 4 points and get the ball back. From there they could have settled the play and worked their way back into the game. Instead. QLD held out and scored soon after. From here momentum was lost, and the game was effectively over.

The questions in the media today regarding Mitchell Pearce and Laurie Daley need to be answered in the affirmative. They both need to step down and let others develop a NSW culture of leadership, like Queensland have with their great players in the last 10 to 15 years. Players like Jarryd Hayne need to be jettisoned permanently too (like Greg Bird, is anyone missing him?)...in fact, any player who doesn't fit into a team culture. NSW have such players and they showed what they could do in the first half of this series. 

[Ken Gargett]

Just now, JohnS said:

New South Wales lacked leadership under pressure throughout this series. This was the difference between the two sides. When Queensland needed direction they turned to Thurston, Smith and Cronk. Apart from Cordner in game 1, who did New South Wales have in comparison? Boyd Cordner playing with an injury in the 3rd game was always going to come back to bite, which it did. I thought the critical part of the game was when NSW elected to tap from 10 metres out early in the second half, instead of taking an easy penalty to get within 4 points and get the ball back. From there they could have settled the play and worked their way back into the game. Instead. QLD held out and scored soon after. From here momentum was lost, and the game was effectively over.

The questions in the media today regarding Mitchell Pearce and Laurie Daley need to be answered in the affirmative. They both need to step down and let others develop a NSW culture of leadership, like Queensland have with their great players in the last 10 to 15 years. Players like Jarryd Hayne need to be jettisoned permanently too (like Greg Bird, is anyone missing him?)...in fact, any player who doesn't fit into a team culture. NSW have such players and they showed what they could do in the first half of this series. 

john, i like cordner - and a fine effort in  the post match address by him in tough circumstances - a wonderful player (he and gillett are a stonking combo for australia in the world cup backrow) but while he is captain, he is not expected to control the game, to manage it. that is the halves, plus hooker and perhaps fullback to a lesser degree. that is nsw's problem. no decent half or fly half since johns and daley. no one to control the game. they did not have a clue. understand re the culture but you need the players to do it. gus was right in one thing - who replaces him?

[Ken Gargett]

whilst i doubt anyone from nsw was still watching, the night's highlight had to be the interview with cameron munster - looked the camera in the eye and when asked what he thought of origin, a big grin and said that he was just happy to come away with the two points.

[JohnS]

5 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

john, i like cordner - and a fine effort in  the post match address by him in tough circumstances - a wonderful player (he and gillett are a stonking combo for australia in the world cup backrow) but while he is captain, he is not expected to control the game, to manage it. that is the halves, plus hooker and perhaps fullback to a lesser degree. that is nsw's problem. no decent half or fly half since johns and daley. no one to control the game. they did not have a clue. understand re the culture but you need the players to do it. gus was right in one thing - who replaces him?

Well that's true. The only time NSW won in recent memory was when Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds were able to combine at halfback and five-eighth. I like James Maloney at five-eighth, NSW need another halfback who can combine effectively with him, in my opinion, next year for game 1.