“Queensland keep kicking them when they’re down, don’t they realise they’re already dead?”
It was a quip from a NSW fan in civvies to a knot of steer-sized, merchandise-bedecked Queensland fans on the train to Olympic Park last night and everyone laughed, Blues fans and all.
What else could they do? Queensland’s dominance of Origin is, these days, totalitarian in nature and NSW fans had nothing to contribute but self-deprecation – before, in desperation, expanding the boundaries of the banter by leveraging Pauline Hanson into the mix, followed by Jo Bjelke-Petersen, pumpkin scones, brown paper bags, and all.
And so warbled versions of “Don’t you worry about that!” resounded through the carriage much to the amusement of many as we arrived at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.
A few hours later, not surprisingly, the prevailing mood was just as cheery on the return trip to Central. Blues fans were happy while Maroons fans, knowing the result was academic, could afford to be unbothered.
“NSW just did a Queensland on Queensland,” a Maroons fan beside me remarked, referring to Michael Jennings’ last-minute try which saw NSW snatch the game at the death just as the Maroons were on the verge of completing a series whitewash.
Yes, in the current climate, it was an unusual turn of events, as was the brief and unsettling moment of softness I felt towards NSW’s outgoing captain Paul Gallen when he knocked over the final conversion and accepted the affections of his teammates. It was as if a layer of granite had fallen off his merciless visage.
But then, of course, Gallen and his teammates wandered away distractedly during Cameron Smith’s speech. Perhaps they were hunting for Pokémon (it’s all the rage, you know?) Nevertheless, in that moment, Gallen reassumed his villainous status, at least in the eyes of appalled Queenslander, paragons of manners, and all was right with the world again.
Anyone who’s caught enough trains – particularly late at night, particularly when there’s a whiff of alcohol is in the air – will know not to claim there’s any inherent wisdom evident on a train carriage.
But my Queensland seat buddy on the ride back to Central had a go anyway and expressed his pleasure that NSW had won because it would mean the Blues would be more likely to retain coach Laurie Daley and a host of players like Jennings, Robbie Farah, James Tamou, Andrew Fifita and Blake Ferguson. To be clear, he thought this would be a good thing. For Queensland.
Certainly NSW’s great escape raises a few questions now that Origin is pulling down its big top and hauling away its caravan for another year. How much store, for instance, will NSW’s administrators and selectors put in that final 60 seconds of Game 3? Will it influence their judgment when it comes to 2017 and beyond?
Prior to that Jennings try – which was a rare moment of joy for the Eels flyer this year after his many close-but-no-cigar moments – NSW were on the verge of losing a game they had no right to lose.
In the first half, particularly, they enjoyed mountains of possession, partly due to a 9-1 penalty count in their favour. In the old days of Origin such a lopsided penalty count would have seen Queensland push to secede from the federation, or at the very least demand a Royal Commission.
For all the wind in their sails NSW couldn’t make Queensland pay, aside from a lone try scored by Tyson Frizell who has made an exciting entry into the Origin arena. This was, in part, due to Queensland’s resolute defence – which we’ve already seen this series, in Game 1 in particular.
But it was also due to NSW’s lack of clarity in attack and their default plan of trying to run around a Queensland defensive line that slid so efficiently it may as well have been on rails.
In hindsight, the killer blow arrived early in the second half when NSW were awarded a try to Andrew Fifita off a Wade Graham kick through. It was a moment that would have seen Jo coughing up one of Flo’s scones.
Jennings was certainly ahead of Graham when the Blues forward toed ahead and he was making a play for the ball, and thus occupying the attentions of Maroons chasers, in the moments before the try, yet the video referee decided to overlook his involvement.
Doing so allowed NSW to skip away to a 12-4 lead which gave them the platform for the late heroics after Queensland had done their usual thing of coming home strongly.
Queenslanders may beg to differ but insofar as any team deserves anything from a sporting match other than what the scoreboard says they got, NSW deserved some joy in the series. Arguably the better team in Game 1 they lost 6-4, while in Game 2 they may have managed to hold on to win over the final nine minutes had Jennings’ fingernail not propelled the ball forward a moment before Frizell touched down for what would have been a go-ahead try to NSW.
NSW will look back on the series and be pleased with a number of things, not least the injection of a number of players who look like they could hold on to a Blues jersey for years to come and, more to the point, do it proud; players such as Frizell, last night’s debutant James Tedesco, the versatile Jack Bird, and the classy Matt Moylan.
Less pleasing for NSW, however, is their continued inability to translate pressure into points. Despite last night’s dramatic ending that still needs to be addressed.
As for Queensland – and it was easy to forget last night, as Gallen and the Blues showed – they’re the 2016 champions and have the kind of depth that could crush a ten-gallon drum. They’re not done by a long shot. Don’t you worry about that.
