What direction will the Blues take for Game 2?

With the announcement of NSW's Origin Side for Game 2 only a few days away, there is rampant debate coming from keyboard warriors (such as myself) on who should be picked by the Blues for Game 2. As a Queenslander and fan in general, I can't wait to see what Sticky decides and no doubt in some peoples eyes, the Origin series will be won or lost on the basis of that.

Personally, there are only 2 players that need to go immediately - Young and King. Stuart made a shocker of a call in starting Ennis off the bench in lieu of Young and you could see the difference between the two when Ennis came on the field. While he did make one of the funnier errors in recent memory, he actually steered the team around and did more the ball than Mitchell Pearce. King was shocking, he was absolutely dominated by the Maroons pack and justified the throng of people calling him the worst selection in Origin since Anthony Quinn in 2008. Okay, that might be me saying Quinn was awful but King is out of form, out of shape and why he is picked is a mystery to everyone but Sticky.

Old mates FoxSports have named their side and they have included 4 changes. Hayne in for Morris, Luke Lewis in for King, Watmough in for Snowden and Gidley in for Young. Now, assuming that Snowden and King are ruled out with injury, I agree with the inclusion of Lewis and Choc. Morris didn't have that bad of a game as far as I'm concerned, he had one howler against Yow Yeh but otherwise he, along with the rest of the team, were soundly nullified. If you don't get quality ball, you can't perform at your best, it's that simple. The thing about Gidley though - everyone says that he's the almighty saviour year after year but tell me this - what has he actually done consistently well through his Origin career? Not a whole lot. For those that want to argue against that - google Gidley chokes for a fantastic list of reading material. Who would I bring in for Young? Give Tom Learoyd-Lahrs a go, even though Canberra can't beat an egg at the moment, TLL is a promising player and only 25 years of age.

Last year, Hayne, Idris and Learoyd-Lahrs were earmarked as the saviours of NSW and as yet they can't get a run this year. Until players like this are selected and tested under the fire of Origin, I can foresee a bit more pain on the Blues horizon.

Queensland weave some late magic to hold off the Blues

Picture courtesy of News.com.au

What a game, what a game. I was lucky enough to find an online stream for the match and I'm so happy that I was able to see it. For the first time in a while, it was a competitive, gritty war between the old foes. QLD obviously takes the lead 1-0 in the series and some changes need to made for NSW if they are to have a shot at winning Game 2. With Inglis and Hodges potentially returning, NSW will be up against it to seal a victory in Sydney.

Even though last night was a victory, there were a few worrying signs. Firstly, our attack was only really successful when we kicked in behind the line. The winning try was caused by effective shifting of the ball and a fantastic line by Slater but to be honest, that was the only play that worked when we ran at the line and it took 73 minutes of fatigue in the Blues for it to happen. Part of this can be attributed to missing two of the best centres in the game but I think it can put down to other two things - admirable defence from the Blues and also a lack of creativity from Tonga and Neilsen. Tonga was injured so he's excused and Neilsen on debut performed well in defence but in attack he simply did not work his opposition well enough and create space for his winger.

The other was the much-maligned QLD right side defence. Neilsen and Boyd actually did quite well I thought but the Jennings try was caused by Lockyer being out of position. While that was his only mistake for the game, it was still unnecessary and caused a few headaches for Maroon supporters

The only other question mark is relating to our attack again - in the second half we had numerous consecutive sets of six and couldn't convert that into any points. One of the hallmarks of this Queensland reign was the ability to seal the deal when we had possession - last night we couldn't do that. Having 58% of possession should equate to more points than what it did.

On to the good elements of last night - Matt Scott is a monster, plain and simple. 15 runs, 24 tackles, 2 offloads and 6 tackle breaks pretty much sum it all up. The reason QLD won can be attributed to the forward pack - King, Mannah, Merrin and Young just were not up to it at all. Snowden had an off night and even though Ennis made a few highlight reel blunders, he was actually one of the few NSW forwards who could hold their head high. QLD's forward pack was led magnificently by Petero and Scott - with workmanlike efforts from Ash Harrison, Nate Myles and Ben Hannant that set the platform for the backs to do their thing.

The other big plus was Darius Boyd - for mine, he had an absolute blinder. His defence was fantastic, you only need to watch the two driving tackles he put on Gaz for evidence of that. He was also great under the high ball and while I don't normally advocate wingers rushing off their post to defend, he did it with style last night and made sure he left no room for the Blues to capitalise.

I could go on forever about QLD last night but I think you get the picture - while the Blues fought admirably, you just couldn't stop QLD last night. Go Maroons!

Position by Position Analysis of Game 1

As promised, I decided to take a look at how the teams stack up tomorrow from a positional viewpoint. We'll start with the backs:

Fullback

Billy Slater vs. Josh Dugan

Verdict: Billy Slater. He isn't known as the best fullback (and possibly player) for no reason. Dugan is no slouch but he doesn't quite have the results of Slater just yet.

Wings


Darius Boyd vs. Michael Jennings
Jharal Yow Yeh vs. Akuila Uate

Verdict - Darius Boyd and a draw. Darius has got this one in the bag on form as Jennings isn't running that hot and will also be playing out of position. I couldn't split Yow Yeh and Uate - Yow Yeh has the toughness for Origin but Uate has the raw power.

Centres


Dane Nielsen vs. Brett Morris
Willie Tonga vs. Mark Gasnier

Verdict - Morris and Gasnier. The Blues win this round due to the experience of Gaz and the lightening speed of Morris. Nielsen will have his hands full tomorrow night on debut and Tonga will have a tough job of keeping Gasnier in check.

Halves

Darren Lockyer vs, Jamie Soward
Jonathon Thurston vs. Mitchell Pearce

Verdict - Locky and JT. By a country mile. Soward's kicking game will provide the outside backs with some options however the experience of Locky will shine through yet again. JT and Pearce is a no-contest - the world's best halfback against a misfiring Roosters halfback, give me a break.

Front Row


Matt Scott vs. Jason King
Cameron Smith vs. Michael Ennis
Petero Civoniceva vs. Kade Snowden

Verdict: Scott, Smith and Snowden. Some will argue that I'm wrong in picking Snowden over Petero but in all honesty, Snowden has the fire in him to produce something special for the Blues on Wednesday. I'm not saying Petero shouldn't be there and that he won't play as well as he always does but Snowden will be a handful. Smith was an easy choice and Scott has been the form front-rower for QLD as far as I'm concerned and should dominate King.

Back Row


Sam Thaiday vs. Beau Scott
Nate Myles vs. Greg Bird
Ash Harrison vs. Paul Gallen

Verdict: Thaiday, Draw and Gallen. Sammy is the easy choice for me, he has much more impact than Scott. Bird and Myles is a split - Bird doesn't have the runs on the board in terms of Origin football but has a bit more club form compared to Myles. Myles traditionally steps up for these games though. To the dismay of QLD fans, Gallen takes Harrison in a canter as he has been the shining light out of Cronulla this season, and for their past few seasons as well.

Bench

Cooper Cronk vs. Dean Young
Corey Parker vs. Trent Merrin
Jacob Lillyman vs. Ben Creagh
Ben Hannant vs. Tim Mannah

Verdict: Young, Parker, Creagh and Hannant. QLD and NSW split it down the line here. I had to pick Young over Cooper (just) due to versatility. Not necessarily Young's versatility, but he fits into NSW better than Cronk does for QLD. Cronk can cover no. 7 and Hooker in a pinch - NSW have Bird and Beau Scott to give NSW the edge there in coverage. Parker has been the form backrower for Brisbane over the last few years and deserves his call-up, easily taking Trent Merrin. Creagh gets the better of Lillyman, who can consider himself lucky to be selected. I would have picked Dallas Johnson personally. Hannant takes Mannah in a canter as well.

So that works out to 9 for QLD, 2 draws and 6 for NSW. I think the match will be a little closer than everyone thinks but QLD should win fairly comfortably. It won't be 40-0, but more along the lines of 24-10.

QUEENSLANDER!

It's that time again - Origin!

The blogs have been a bit sparse as I'm working offshore currently. I cannot express how much I am missing watching NRL here but thankfully the Internet allows me to keep up with things. My latest mission is to try and find a venue to watch Game 1 of the Origin series - easier said than done but we'll see what happens.

Origin is by far the best time of year for any Rugby League fan. I've said it in the past and I'll say it again - Origin is the premier representative level when it comes to League, even compared to Tests are far as I'm concerned. Queensland is shooting for an unprecedented 6th consecutive series while the Blues try and buck the trend of mighty Maroon dominance.

The Queensland team is pretty much as expected - the spine of Thurston, Slater, Lockyer and Smith will gear up again to wreak havoc on NSW. The only surprise for me was the omission of Dallas Johnson. For a bloke who is averaging just over 46 tackles a game, I find it hard to believe that they can't find a spot for the defensive workhorse. The other attribute he has is heart - you only need to remember back to 2007 to see Dallas knocked out cold in the opening minutes of Game 3 only to come back on the field to continue playing amidst a wave of injuries to the QLD team. Of course, as you know, we went on to win that game along with many more ;).

Big Mal has warned the team that if they do not perform they will be dropped and this should go a long way to eliminating any complacency that exists in the camp at the moment. Prediction? A solid victory for QLD, 24-10.

Come back tomorrow to see my analysis of each position to see how QLD and NSW stack up before Wednesday nights game.

The return of the Baby Broncos

Since the early 90's, there has been a name thrown around for the Broncos around Origin time. Most years the sides have contained a number of Broncos, as few as 3 and as many as 13, which leaves the team severely depleted for the club game that follows it. The name Baby Broncos was given to the team who usually contains a number of rookies and is missing key players. The Baby Broncos unfortunately have an awful record of 1-5 over since 2008 - prior to 2008 we had marginally better success.

This weekends match is another Baby Broncos affair - we are missing potentially 6 (5 Aussies, 1 Kiwi with Beale an outside shot at the side) players for the Test this weekend and are facing a red-hot Storm side who is also parting with 3 players, although those players are the spine of Melbourne - Slater, Smith and Cronk. This shapes up to be an interesting match, I don't hesitate in saying that if the three from Mexico back up we're going to be in for a long night. I'm a bit devastated that I won't be able to watch it as I'm overseas at the moment, I might get lucky enough to catch the Test.

Speaking of which, Tests against New "Zulland" are no longer a stroll in the park. The reigning World Cup champions still play like they are the underdogs and in all honesty, albeit incorrectly as far as I'm concerned. The Kiwi's are a force in the Rugby League world and while that's a bitter pill for many Aussies to swallow, it's the truth. I'm predicting a tight game with the Aussies coming out on top, my pride for this country will always sway my opinion. Bias aside, we are stronger across the park and provided we snuff out the firecracker that is Benji Marshall, we should bring this home.

Tesh will be doing a review of the Melbourne game so tune back in for that on the weekend!