State of Origin Game 1

Wow. I just saw the daily telegraph when I went out for lunch. They've actually made the Thaiday thing front pages.

Do they not have real news to report on

Pieman wrote:Also, I say this every year about origin - I FUCKING HATE how differently they ref it to regular weekend footy. HATE IT.

The refs didnt really make and howler calls - the calls they made certainly didnt cost NSW the game or gift QLD the game.

1. Its the calls they didnt make that was infurating me. Blokes laying in the ruck, blokes holding on too long, high shots - calling 1 or 2 but no others. If that was a regular club game there would have been a 20-25 penalty count. only fucking 8 penalties in the game my arse. I HATE how they just put the whistle away.
Guys not square at marker, so much offside especially on the try line and last tackles. As someone who watches most games each weekend, I fucking HATE the way they ref it. Its like the refs are told - dont blow many penalties because we want people who dont usually watch League to enjoy the free flowing nature of the game - but by not blowing penalties it slows down the ruck, it lets blokes creep offisde etc and it ends up making it look like a shit wwe submission match.

NSW couldnt BUY a penalty in the last half of the game.
2. Also - what about the Walker playing the ball on cam smith debacle. I mean, yeah, walker obviously did it on purpose - but it doesnt change the fact that Smith was still laying in the fucking ruck. If smith isnt there there is no knock on, thats normally a penalty - with the defender going "Where am I suppose to go?" and the ref saying "sorry but you were still in the ruck". And people think Cam smith has no influence over the refs Lol.

3. Also - with the morris no try - guerra came in and put his foot under the ball to stop the try - who was saying to me the other week that that is illegal - regarding the inglis/farah one???????? Shouldnt it have been a penalty then if you arent allowed to use your foot to stop a try?

Numbered for simplicity

1. I can't agree with this enough. The thing is, if reffed like club game there wouldn't be 20-25 penalties because after half a dozen teams will stop doing it. Both teams got penalties in the first 25 minutes but the whistle went away and by the second half they knew they could get away with anything. The odd penalty in a close match in the second half would have stopped teams risking giving away the 2 points and field territory and would have seen a quicker (and probably more enjoyable) game. Both teams were offside and holding down until next week in the second half. As a biased QLDer, I personally think that would favour us even more as we have the best club players (JT, Smith, Inglis, Cronk etc). If I was a NSW supporter I'd be saying the teams are pretty evenly matched, so even if QLD do have the better players, they certainly aren't 9/10 series better, so an differently reffed game would be to NSW advantage. Unfortunately we'll probably never know. I reckon if games were reffed like club football, then the term "origin type players" would disappear. A good club player should be a good origin player and vice versa imo.

2. I disagree. I reckon those instances are being called knock on more and more often in club games. And here you can't say Smith was in the ruck because Walker reached forward a metre and across half a metre to put it where Smith was. If that's where Smith was he wasn't in the ruck. You're the first person I've spoken to who thinks that the wrong call was made by the refs here.

3. Maybe you're referring to me. You can't kick the ball out of someone's hands (what Farah did), but you can put your foot or leg where you think they will place the ball before they place it there (what Guerra did). They're two completely different things. On that passage of play, Fafita took our marker Thaiday out of play by walking forward a metre in front of Thaiday to play the ball, and this is what gave the room for Morris to go close imo, so he should have been made to play the ball again. Having said that, that call is never made close to the line, so I wasn't expecting any call.

Dip wrote:

Numbered for simplicity

1. I can't agree with this enough. The thing is, if reffed like club game there wouldn't be 20-25 penalties because after half a dozen teams will stop doing it. Both teams got penalties in the first 25 minutes but the whistle went away and by the second half they knew they could get away with anything. The odd penalty in a close match in the second half would have stopped teams risking giving away the 2 points and field territory and would have seen a quicker (and probably more enjoyable) game. Both teams were offside and holding down until next week in the second half. As a biased QLDer, I personally think that would favour us even more as we have the best club players (JT, Smith, Inglis, Cronk etc). If I was a NSW supporter I'd be saying the teams are pretty evenly matched, so even if QLD do have the better players, they certainly aren't 9/10 series better, so an differently reffed game would be to NSW advantage. Unfortunately we'll probably never know. I reckon if games were reffed like club football, then the term "origin type players" would disappear. A good club player should be a good origin player and vice versa imo.

2. I disagree. I reckon those instances are being called knock on more and more often in club games. And here you can't say Smith was in the ruck because Walker reached forward a metre and across half a metre to put it where Smith was. If that's where Smith was he wasn't in the ruck. You're the first person I've spoken to who thinks that the wrong call was made by the refs here.

3. Maybe you're referring to me. You can't kick the ball out of someone's hands (what Farah did), but you can put your foot or leg where you think they will place the ball before they place it there (what Guerra did). They're two completely different things. On that passage of play, Fafita took our marker Thaiday out of play by walking forward a metre in front of Thaiday to play the ball, and this is what gave the room for Morris to go close imo, so he should have been made to play the ball again. Having said that, that call is never made close to the line, so I wasn't expecting any call.

Its just annoying as fuck when the only penalty that gets blown that leads directly to points is one thats not even a high tackle and the difference in the game is 2 points. Who knows, QLD may go on to score that set, but as far as what actually happened, the Gallen head high penalty shouldnt have been the difference in the game. Especially when NSW had so much ball attacking the line and blokes are offside everywhere and blokes are being held down in the ruck and markers are not square so on and so forth. I mean, NSW did it all night too - but it just frustrates me that they call only one penalty in goal range, and it goes against NSW.

Mate im mostly just shit stirring with the Walker play the ball thing, but would you have been surprised if it was a penalty to NSW?
Smith was technically still in the ruck when Walker put it on him even if he placed it to the side to get it onto smith. I dont think its a clear cut penalty to NSW but it would have been nice to get a penalty for something that could very easily be a penalty to NSW. I do agree that they are sometimes called knock on's in club games but also somtimes not.

As far as farah/inglis - as I said, I dont think farah kicks at the ball at all - he puts his foot there and inglis puts the ball on the foot. Same thing last night. U were saying its a penalty to stop a try being scored with ur foot - guerra did just that - so why wasnt it a penalty? What ever happened before that is irrelevant tho mate im only talking about that specific play.

Also, what about when Gagai fucked up the play the ball and it was just play on? That was a pretty crucial time in the game too but - nope - non call.

I mean, its a miracle, so sides were so technically great and infringed the same exact minimal amount.
The way its reffed really is making it frustrating to watch for someone who loves league (and for someone who supports NSW)

agree with pieman that the incidents and actions by both guerra and farah where similar, tho i agree with neither of those being penalties


i completely diagree with pieman re carty, put him in there and last nights score probably ends up 18-4

leaguegod wrote: agree with pieman that the incidents and actions by both guerra and farah where similar, tho i agree with neither of those being penalties


i completely diagree with pieman re carty, put him in there and last nights score probably ends up 18-4

I dont think Carty should start in the game - but bringing him off the bench - and an offload or what ever could have sparked anything. Would we have won, we will never know, all I know is that we need something different to score more points, and he provides that. Jackson provides better defence, but offers basically nothing in attack. Greg Bird can do the job Jackson does, prob better too.

i thought moylan was gonna provide points ? having a fullback that can ball play was gonna change everything wasn't it ? all it bought was telegraph sweeping plays and errors at the back


unlike Moylan, carty can't hide his terrible D in the front line, even if only for a short stint and him running sideways and making an incredible off load may work sometimes at club level but he won't have the time in origin, the speed of the defensive line would force errors from carty. He's talented but give him time to get the errors and terrible D out of his game

i've obviously a dogs fan so am gonna support jackson but the guy gets bagged by NSW fans a fair bit and end of the day, he was asked to be a defensive backrower on the right hand side and his lines off Reynolds. he ran the lines whenever the ball came to him and his defensive efforts were awesome, there were atleast 3-4 sets where jackson made 3 early set tackles and stopped QLD making any yards, i don't know how other NSW fans don't deem this type of stuff important to the cause when they'll blow their load when ever a halve finds grass with a kick to help field position.

the difference between what jackson did and what gillett did was minimal, i'm not sure either should have got the Dally M points they got but they both still played big roles for their teams last night


but jackson doesn't throw no look passes so....

The difference between Jackson and Gillett - is Gillett looks dangerous when he has the footy in his hands. He has good footwork and worries the defensive line.

Jackson runs a good outside in line - and is a good defender. Thats it. He isnt a bad player - he just offers nothing that eg Beau Scott doesnt. Scott was dropped for Jackson - yet they are basically the same style of player so why bother dropping scott - who is in career best form.

NSW have tried to defend their way to wins and it just doesnt work. Carty, in a stint off the bench, could be shit, but could be an absolute game breaker.

Moylan's game was... mixed. He did what he was asked to do- its just that what he was asked to do was wrong. They should have been playing up the middle, not around the back and outside them. Something like - ball inside to Moylan, who then goes inside to Fergo/Mansour - would have been brilliant.

I hate to say it but we really missed Dugan's hard running up the middle of the field last night. Playing out wide and sideways just didnt suit the conditions against such a good team. Its the reason I want Tedesco in the side next game.

Pieman wrote:
NSW couldnt BUY a penalty in the last half of the game.

Except the penalty count in the second half was 2-0 to NSW. So....

Pieman wrote:
Smith was technically still in the ruck when Walker put it on him even if he placed it to the side to get it onto smith. I dont think its a clear cut penalty to NSW but it would have been nice to get a penalty for something that could very easily be a penalty to NSW. I do agree that they are sometimes called knock on's in club games but also somtimes not.

No he wasnt, if he was in the ruck it would have been a penalty to NSW. Smith was a metre to the right and a foot infront of the ruck. If Walker actually put the ball there to roll it, he would have either been penalised for moving off the mark or given away a changeover because there was no way on Earth the ball was going between his legs from where he was and where he put the ball.

Pieman wrote:
Also, what about when Gagai fucked up the play the ball and it was just play on? That was a pretty crucial time in the game too but - nope - non call.

You mean when Gagai got up to play the ball and some Blue idiot tried to push him back down but only got 1 hand to him, so he spun him around? You're right, should have been a penalty to QLD.

I thought Jackson was pretty good last night, and has been getting better as an origin player. With Gillett I think where he has really stepped his game up a notch is that he is now doing more tackles that actually hurt ball carriers and making good,agressive first contact. He's always been a good ball runner.

Realistically, I reckon everyone on the field except Walker deserve their spot in origin 2. Dugan probably deserves a spot in the team since he was selected there in the first place, but I'd be leaving the forwards alone. Tinker with the starting line up if you want but that's about it.

When QLD win in Brisbane NSW can experiment a little in game 3 in Sydney. Tedesco would have to be a big chance, and that's probably the opportunity to throw in Cartwright as well.

To be fair I must say that even though I don't like him as a rep player, and he didn't get many minutes, Woods has played pretty well in recent origin games. He clearly is ready to play the low impact, high volume role Gallen has the last few years when Gallen retires.

i think we'd be much better for either klem/fifi starting and woods coming off the bench


woods and gal both do a good job, but i feel we'd be better splitting them up and basically playing one when the other is off

ryno_ wrote:

Except the penalty count in the second half was 2-0 to NSW. So....

Ok sorry mate, NSW couldnt Buy a penalty when they were attacking the QLD line - which they did for fucking ages.

ryno_ wrote:

No he wasnt, if he was in the ruck it would have been a penalty to NSW. Smith was a metre to the right and a foot infront of the ruck. If Walker actually put the ball there to roll it, he would have either been penalised for moving off the mark or given away a changeover because there was no way on Earth the ball was going between his legs from where he was and where he put the ball.



You mean when Gagai got up to play the ball and some Blue idiot tried to push him back down but only got 1 hand to him, so he spun him around? You're right, should have been a penalty to QLD.

Well he wasnt a metre away, he was close enough for Walker to be able to just reach out and put it on him. Hes most certainly still in the ruck.
And I would like to see the gagai one again. Def didnt play it correctly.
There were heaps of calls that went against each team, it goes both ways.

Pieman wrote:

Well he wasnt a metre away, he was close enough for Walker to be able to just reach out and put it on him. Hes most certainly still in the ruck.
And I would like to see the gagai one again. Def didnt play it correctly.
There were heaps of calls that went against each team, it goes both ways.

Walker "just reaching out". He's clearly to the side of the ruck.:




Bird interfering with Gagai when attempting to play the ball (in chronological order) - Bird was lucky not to give away the penalty:

leaguegod wrote:


Welshy, do you think either Jackson or cordner were poor enough to be dropped ??


because i thought they both had specific roles and both played them very well, i get the feeling you were gonna call for frizz regardless of how they played

To start I am incredibly biased towards Tyson Frizell

But 100% correct I would of called for Friz, Jackson didn't have a bad game by any stretch, didn't have a great one either but just because he didn't have a fucking stinker doesn't mean he shouldn't be there in the first instance, he offers little in terms of attack, and most edge forwards can do the same defensive job he did, Frizell offers a far and away better running game than Jackson and is always looking for the ball

I just don't see what Daley does in the edge forwards that keeps gets them picked over the likes of Friz, Graham

I don't mind Cordner, his defense can be a little suspect at times but he offers enough going forward to keep himself there

There can be no justification for the brain explosion of Walker and his attempt to milk a penalty, it was woeful and unbecoming an origin player of either state. He moved forward of the mark and reach to the side clear as day.

Also clear as day in the photos above is Smiths legs in the ruck area, and his arms an torso out to the side, but regardless, walker could've and should've placed the ball in front of himself and he would have got a good clean play the ball away with Smith on the deck and out of action.

Damn Dip, that was brutal, can't argue much after seeing those pics.

Dip wrote:

Walker "just reaching out". He's clearly to the side of the ruck.:




Bird interfering with Gagai when attempting to play the ball (in chronological order) - Bird was lucky not to give away the penalty:

Meh, Smiths feet and lower body are directly in front of Walker. He is laying in the ruck. Walker would have been better off putting the ball in front of smiths legs and trying to get a penalty that way - but he is still laying CLEARLY in the ruck. Yes walker reaches to the side and puts it on smiths hand - smiths upper body is not in the ruck, but his upper body is attached to his lower body, and therefore, because his lower body is laying in the ruck - Smith is laying in the ruck.

Walker could have been penalised for playing the ball off the mark
Smith could have been penalised for laying in the ruck
The call was play on, therefore a knock on. If smiths hand isnt there there is no knock on.
I even remember at one stage in the game the refs screaming at someone to move to the side to play the ball, because someone was laying in the ruck.
Either way, the refs were told to keep the ruck slow, which meant players could lay in it all day. Walker tried to milk a penalty - and it didnt work. The call could have gone either way tho.

The gagai one, he was trying to play the ball too quick. The tackle was barely completed - thats why it was play on - but it shouldnt have been because he didnt play it properly. Again, its another victim of the slow rucks the Refs were told to allow.

If you want to go by still photos - should we bring out the "hayne foot on the line" one?

So you think in the top photo Gagai is barely tackled?