State of Origin 2017 Series

[quote="Pieman"]

Thats the thing with hayne tho. Its all or nothing. Amazing or shite.
For the most part last night he was pretty good./quote]

So he's either amazing or shite or pretty good?

I thought he looked pretty lost on defence but has obviously been working on it.
Clearly outmuscled O'Neill but QLD should've attacked Hayne's deficiencies a lot more.

Chambers misses a week for the high tackle. Anyone saying it was a shoulder charge doesn't know what a shoulder charge is. Morgan only gets 75 points for the lifting tackle on Klemmer that was penalised. I thought that was a bit harsh. I thought if you returned them to a safe position it was just a penalty. Klemmer landed okay.

Really surprised Klemmer didn't get a grade 1 for the hit on Gillett. That hit him flush and would have been a grade 1 or 2 in the NRL. Cordners I think was terrible. Should have been a grade 1. It wasn't even the hand carrying the ball.

klemmer was no worse then a few others dip (mcguire coming in late of fifita was way more reckless for example), i'm not convinced it would have been charged at nrl level either


agree re morgan, the only dangerous throw that was charge worthy was smith but that was after the play and not really caught by the TV so it gave the MRP a solid out to let him go

Moose wrote:The fact we are talking about certain individual players performance and not a certain referee decision is a winner in my book. Off the top of my head I can't think of a better example of an origin game where the refs had minimal or zero impact on the outcome.

If that "strip" was to decide the game, there would have been an uproar.
Personally, I think the call is 100% right. But, in the NRL they call the opposite more often than not.

did guerra bounce it after the strip, could be wrong but i thought it bounced of his hand before grounding it, otherwise it should have been a try and if it wasn't 28-4, there would have been an uproar for sure

No Worries wrote:

hmmmmmmmmmmm your affinity with stats particularly first half stats seems to have deserted you

Blues tries came from well outside the 20m line. At the half, Oates had caught a kick at the end of all but 2 NSW sets, so there can't have been many ends to the set deep in Maroon territory. QLD on the other hand enough time in the NSW 20 that they would have expected to score more then once. NSW had more run metres but they were consistently starting sets from further back.

leaguegod wrote:brilliant performance, first time in a long time (atleast in a non dead rubber) where we won by simply playing the better football, it wasn't a defesnvie. grubby grind where we held on like 2014, it was us being better then them and QLD having no answer for that on the night

First half was amazing from both sides but i had this odd sense of confidence that were gonna deal with that speed better and the space we found from the wade graham inside ball before half time vindicated that

QLD's starting props together had combined less metre's then either fifita or klem lol it was always gonna be a weakness for them but geez we had some success in the middle.

teddy was unreal, our left side was very dangerous

wade graham was awesome off the bench, his ball playing was huge to blowing that game open

peats did everything anyone could have asked for

pearce's short kicking was terrible but thought he was otherwise pretty good

for QLD, i thought your 2 wingers were your best, Oates and especially gagai were immense. bring in slater/holmes for o'neil, wallace for myles, JT for milf and you guys look a whole lot better. series is obviosuly far from over

gotta tell myself to not get ahead of myself because QLD will make changes for game 2 and they will be better but that performance gave me a whole lot of confidence, balance in the team looked spot on, we flowed well with the ball, we were making inroads in the middle all game, it was a performance the blues have not put in for a long time, we actually played footy and came out on top, loved it.

Great summary per usual LG.

Hard to admit this but justifying my pre-game nervousness, NSW were simply too good on the night.

I vividly remember knowing Mal's appointment in 2006 was going to be a turning point and I know it is only one game into this year's series but I have that same feeling about Sterlo.

We can go on about the players but I really think if Sterlo wasn't involved, a vastly different NSW team is selected and the vibe they took into that game is completely different.

Hopefully I am completely wrong.

Pieman wrote:

If that "strip" was to decide the game, there would have been an uproar.
Personally, I think the call is 100% right. But, in the NRL they call the opposite more often than not.

The refs have minimal impact whenever there is a blowout. They had zero impact when QLD won 52-6 in 2015 as well. Someone always has a gripe (right or wrong) whenever the game is close. Of the top of my head these are the calls that would have gone differently in club games (with my QLD bias turned on):

1. Dugan strips Guerra when scoring a try. I hate the rule, but there is no doubt it was a strip rather than a loose carry and by the way they rule every other match, would normally be called play on. Certainly deserving of more than one look. In the end, and I haven't seen more than one replay, Guerra might have bobbled it as he landed on it, so being ruled strip backwards then knocked on by Guerra might be the right result anyway.
2. Teddy passed it well forward to Pearce right on half time which put them 8 in front. Clearly forward and Ceccin was straight in line. This forum went on about the Roberts pass to Nikorima in a 36-0 thrashing for a week, yet that one that was just as bad to go 8 up in origin barely gets a mention.
3. McGuire high shot on Fafita would have been penalised
4. Klemmer high shot on Gillett would have been penalised and gone on report.
5. Chambers high shot on Pearce would have been penalised and gone on report.
6. Not one player in the whole game was told to go back and play the ball after creeping forward. This is one of my pet hates in the game as I think it takes the markers out of play.
7. Immediately before the Fafita try, after Boyd catches the bomb he is tackled, then I think Bird comes in and flops in an attempt to put him in-goal. That is called late man in every day of the week. It also isn't the reason the try was scored.
8. Countless facial massages by both teams which are accepted as okay in Origin only.

Having said that, No 2 & 4 are the only ones I really am disappointed about, and if they were called correctly I still think NSW win comfortably so what's the point complaining. If the game finished 16-12, I probably go off my narna. All credit to Matt Ceccin. I've been a big criticiser of his skills as a ref his whole career, but this year I actually think he's been pretty good.

leaguegod wrote:did guerra bounce it after the strip, could be wrong but i thought it bounced of his hand before grounding it, otherwise it should have been a try and if it wasn't 28-4, there would have been an uproar for sure

Yeah after yelling at the TV I think you're right. Of course I can't be sure as they only showed it quickly once.

Dip wrote:

The refs have minimal impact whenever there is a blowout. They had zero impact when QLD won 52-6 in 2015 as well. Someone always has a gripe (right or wrong) whenever the game is close. Of the top of my head these are the calls that would have gone differently in club games (with my QLD bias turned on):

2. Teddy passed it well forward to Pearce right on half time which put them 8 in front. Clearly forward and Ceccin was straight in line. This forum went on about the Roberts pass to Nikorima in a 36-0 thrashing for a week, yet that one that was just as bad to go 8 up in origin barely gets a mention.

I thought it was slightly forward too, not where near as bad as the Roberts one tho. Not even close.
Those draw and pass on the fullback situations are forward prob 60% of the time IMO, rarely pulled up in NRL games let alone SOO.

Dip wrote:

The refs have minimal impact whenever there is a blowout. They had zero impact when QLD won 52-6 in 2015 as well. Someone always has a gripe (right or wrong) whenever the game is close. Of the top of my head these are the calls that would have gone differently in club games (with my QLD bias turned on):

...

Having said that, No 2 & 4 are the only ones I really am disappointed about, and if they were called correctly I still think NSW win comfortably so what's the point complaining. If the game finished 16-12, I probably go off my narna. All credit to Matt Ceccin. I've been a big criticiser of his skills as a ref his whole career, but this year I actually think he's been pretty good.

One pet hate that seems to be creeping in is not rolling the ball with your foot. Anyone under the age of 30 was a serial offender last night. Was probably the only thing Myles did right all game.

Pieman wrote:
I thought it was slightly forward too, not where near as bad as the Roberts one tho. Not even close.
Those draw and pass on the fullback situations are forward prob 60% of the time IMO, rarely pulled up in NRL games let alone SOO.

That pass the right-to-left one or the left-to-right one?

ryno_ wrote:

That pass the right-to-left one or the left-to-right one?

Qld were the better team for 60% of the game last night

ryno_ wrote:

One pet hate that seems to be creeping in is not rolling the ball with your foot. Anyone under the age of 30 was a serial offender last night. Was probably the only thing Myles did right all game.

The whole effin ruck is a mess these days all built around trying to get quick play the balls. It starts with players either rolling forwards or sideways from where they were actually tackled, then putting the ball on the ground to push themselves up, then not using their foot to play the ball. Meanwhile, after lining up virtually beside each other, the markers split early (unless the front marker is held by the guy playing the ball), or reach around to slap the dummy half's arm.

Unfortunately I don't know what the solution is without blowing 50 penalties a match. I think having to use your foot is the obvious one, as it'll slow down the play the ball if players have to be more careful to ensure they don't knock on. Unlike the AFL pre-season, the NRL doesn't really have anywhere to trial rule changes at the top level to see if they would actually work. If there was some way to trial them at NRL level I'd like to see them try something, such as the following (though I think most of these won't work). All of them would require the players to be standing up and use their feet in the play the ball to work:
a) Defensive line can't move until the dummy half touches the ball. Any play the ball within say 2 metres of the line would have to be taken back to prevent dive overs, which lets face it, no-one wants to see.
b) Markers can stand anywhere, including beside each other, but cannot go in front of the line of the ruck anytime in that play
c) The person playing the ball must use 2 hands to place the ball on the ground in order to slow down the play the ball.

If you slow down the play the ball, you reduce the importance of wrestling. If you reduce line speed in the defensive line, I think you get more actual football than hit ups. Ruck Infringements should only result in a scrum/changeover, or a tap penalty rather than a kick for the sideline or goal as well. That's too much of a penalty IMO, and is the reason why refs are reluctant to blow penalties.

The guy who does the nrl.com ratings has no idea. Hayne a 9, Oates a 6.5 must have got mixed up. Gillett and Frizell 5.5, were well underated, along with some general under-rating of plenty of players

What a win.

Who's the peanut that said QLD were the better side for most of the game? Where you watching past series highlights? Wasn't the game we were watching.

It's so good seeing QLD turn on each other already - they've got an impressive side they just couldn't match us in any facet of the game last night.

I honestly think the game was won when Myles was resorting to head high tackles straight away, we didn't react to the fight and niggle we just put points on the board. Clearly the better side.

Will be there again live when we win the shield in NSW.

Also Tedesco and Fifita, my god. What games.

Dip wrote:The guy who does the nrl.com ratings has no idea. Hayne a 9, Oates a 6.5 must have got mixed up. Gillett and Frizell 5.5, were well underated, along with some general under-rating of plenty of players

ratings are always difficult, you're never gonna agree on them

if i was to make a 17 out of last nights 34, i'd go this way

Fullback: Teddy: he was amazing last night, boyd did nothing wrong, alot of this may be because of how dominant the blues pack was
Wingers: Gagai & Oates - 2 of QLD's best, bmoz was pretty good too but not as good as them
Centres: Hayne & Chambers, Dugan was meh, o'neil was dreadful
Halves: Cronk & Maloney - all 4 halves were neither good or bad imo
Props: Klem & Fifita - Fifita was massive but also probably klem's best game in a blue jersey in terms of just constantly bending the line
Hooker: Peats - solid game and smith had a rare off night
Second rowers: cordner & papali
Lock: Mcguire - i don't know what would have happened to QLD's middle if he wasn't there

Disregarding positions, i'd probably have the next 4 players being Graham, woods, bmoz & jake T

Honeysett wrote:What a win.

Who's the peanut that said QLD were the better side for most of the game? Where you watching past series highlights? Wasn't the game we were watching.

It's so good seeing QLD turn on each other already - they've got an impressive side they just couldn't match us in any facet of the game last night.

I honestly think the game was won when Myles was resorting to head high tackles straight away, we didn't react to the fight and niggle we just put points on the board. Clearly the better side.

Will be there again live when we win the shield in NSW.

The niggle and grubbery went both ways but QLD did seem to start it off.
NSW were the better side but QLD only seemed to play the first half.
Cronk and Smith looked like they were dialling it in. Not sure what that was about.
QLD have been too used to winning and seemed to expect it and when NSW came out firing they really didn't seem to know what to do and whatever was said at HT clearly didn't work.

QLD had no answer to how Fifita played but did anyone expect him to play that well?

Would NSW have won if Fifi wasn't there?
Would QLD have won if Thurston, Scott, Inglis were there?

One of the things that really annoyed me the most about QLD is that we were dying with the ball on the fifth, or a forward was kicking the ball (Gillett wtf).
Cronk should've been taking more control.
A couple of repeat sets for QLD could've turned the game around.

It's origin, one or two plays and it's a different result.

Bring on Game 2.

Gillett's kick wasn't actually that bad to be honest, i couldn't believe he gave that penalty away tho, all he had to was wait there for a second and then wrap up teddy.

it was a dumb gift that is something we have done to many times in the past