Final thoughts
So we head to Brisbane in three weeks for the decider where it will be Thurston’s final Origin game. Queensland would have to be favourites now, given those circumstances. Origin has more twists and turns than a lower intestine.
NSW will be gutted. They had the game in their hands. There were a few contentious referee decisions that went against them but, still, they just seemed to lose composure as the game wore on.
Anyway, I’m cooked. Thanks for your company, and I’ll see you for the decider.
I’ll leave you in Nick Tedeschi’s capable hands:
Updated
Here’s that pressure kick from Thurston:
Was it ever in doubt!#Origin#NRL pic.twitter.com/PR65MEA7Qb
— NRL (@NRL) June 21, 2017
What a thriller! And what a performance from Qld under enormous pressure. At halftime they really looked way off the pace, and not only because they were 10 points behind. They were missing tackles, failing to complete their sets, and NSW just looked the team more likely.
But Qld have just completed a 12-0 second half, winning the game after Gagai’s late try left Thurston with a chance to win it from a kick wide out on the right. You just knew he’d steer it over, it’s what he does. They still weren’t all that convincing tonight but it feels like Qld willed themselves to victory as NSW grew noticeably fatigued as the game wore on.
Full-time: NSW 16-18 Queensland
It’s all over, folks! Queensland have won it and the series is still alive.
80 min: NSW 50m away from the Qld line with 45 seconds to go.
79 min: A short kick-off from NSW and they win the ball back! But on the last Maloney kicks to the left wing and Gagai, who’s been great tonight, catches it.
Conversion! NSW 16-18 Qld (Thurston)
So cool under pressure. From 5m inside the right touchline he guides it over!
Try! NSW 16-16 Qld (Gagai 78m)
It was coming! After a big left to right move Smith finds Slater wrapping around, he feeds Morgan and he cleverly flicks a pass to Gagai coming back on the inside. Over! Thurston with the kick to take Qld ahead.
76 min: NSW knock on a dangerous Qld kick right on their own line! Qld scrum, 10m out.
75 min: Penalty to Qld for a Wade Graham strip on Napa. Qld with six up their sleeve, 50m out. Squeaky bum time!
73 min: Inside NSW’s 20m, Thurston is dragged down by Woods. Trbojevic then wraps up Cronk. Smith attempts a grubber but it rebounds and Gillett is in space five metres out. He’s tackled but spins in the tackle and fires a ball towards his winger...and over the touchline!
72 min: Hayne spills a Pearce pass on the half. This feels ominous. Or is it just my Origin muscle-memory?
70 min: Another strong run by Dugan —who only moments earlier had snuffed out a dangerous Cronk run— gets NSW away from their own line.
Play has stopped so Chambers can be treated. He came in for a big hit on Ferguson and there was a clash of heads. Chambers’ head then was hit from behind by Napa. A double blow. He’s going off and won’t be back.
68 min: A huge run by Dugan pushes NSW out from their own line to the 30m. He was like a runaway bumper car.
On the last a kick which Slater catches a couple of metres out from his line. But he’s so canny he has one leg stretched out to touch the chalk ensuring a 20m restart.
NSW are looking tired.
65 min: After a penalty Qld attack NSW’s line from 30m out. Morris slams Gagai on his back after Boyd crabs from the left touch to the right.
Woods fields a kick, taking a slips catch. He’s held down and wants a penalty but he’s not getting one. He shakes his head. NSW haven’t had a good run with the refs this half.
61 min: Chambers receives the ball on the right wing after Qld spreads it wide. Hayne, fired up by his earlier error, crunches Chambers and rolls him into touch. Players from both sides form a wee set-to, pushing and shoving, and what not.
A few tackles later, Pearce bombs to Valentine Holmes.
60 min: NSW forwards make great metres again. On the last Graham makes another lovely left-foot kick that Slater has to turn and chase. Slater only just gets into the field of play.
58 min: NSW punch dents in Qld’s defence then spin it left, creating an extra man. Tedesco passes to Hayne who attempts a kind of tunnel-ball pass to Morris, succeeding only in propelling the ball into touch. A miracle play with no miracle.
56 min: Pearce finally gets a kick over the head of Gagai who has to turn and chase. Hayne then tackles him in the Qld in-goal. Great kick and chase, NSW.
55 min: Well, that’s made things interesting, hasn’t it? Qld weren’t really looking all that dangerous but all of a sudden they’re right back in it.
Conversion! NSW 16-12 Qld (Thurston)
From 10m inside the right touchline Thurston makes no mistake.
Try! NSW 16-10 Qld (Gagai 53m)
What a try from Qld! From nothing, McGuire spins out of a tackle in his own half. That gets him over the halfway line where he finds Cronk on his outside. Cronk runs an angle and turns the ball back inside to Chambers. Chambers then runs an angle himself and turns it back inside to Gagai. From 20m out, Gagai has enough toe to hold off the chasers!
52 min: Pearce bombs to... you guessed it... Gagai. Was Hayne bumped out of the way? NSW think so, but play goes on.
49 min: Qld try to stretch NSW left then right but they can’t get through. Gagai is then tackled near the touch line then driven over it by Morris and friends. High fives all round in the Blues’ camp.
47 mins: Gillett, coming out of the line, rings Maloney’s bell, taking momentum out of a NSW charge.
A cross-field kick towards Dugan ends up in Slater’s arms, after Dugan was surely forcibly prevented from making a leap at it. Nope, says the ref, and Holmes takes the 20m restart.
46 min: Pearce finds Graham on the short side deep in Qld’s half. Graham kicks forward for Morris and he measures it well, the ball sitting up in the in-goal. Slater fields it but Morris forces him into touch in-goal. Drop out.
44 min: NSW making the easier metres in attack at the moment.
Slater fields a kick beautifully, picking it up at pace. I didn’t see who tackled him there but it was a good one, stopping the Qld flyer when there was broken field ahead of him.
42 mins: Dugan offloads to Cordner and NSW charge into Qld territory.
Pearce bombs, Slater leaps to take it, but the ball pops out to Wade Graham. He has no time to react and and bounces off him to Jarryd Hayne who is about to stroll over the Qld tryline when the whistle goes. Yep, he was offside.
Peeeeeeeeeep!
41 min: NSW kick us off and, if they can maintain the rage, they’ll be 2017 Origin champions in 40 minutes times.
NSW in “good spirits” says Peter Sterling, who’s been loitering in the Blues’ dressing sheds.
Anyway, enough filler...
Qld coach Kev Walters is interviewed by Darren Lockyer as the teams head out. “We’re positive,” he says. “We didn’t do a whole lot wrong.”
Yep, that certainly is taking a positive approach to things. Obviously he hasn’t seen the stats we’ve just seen.
Second half coming up. NSW have all the momentum (thanks, in part, to those two try-saving tackles in the shadows of half-time) so Qld will need to overturn that early doors.
Here are the first half stats. Special mention to missed tackles and completion rate:
The tale of the tape a HT!#Origin #NRLFantasy pic.twitter.com/RuTqdsYcKP
— NRL Fantasy (@NRLFantasy) June 21, 2017
Half-time: NSW 16-6 Qld
Phew, that was tough, fast-paced, hectic and thrilling. That’s Origin for you. If you’re just joining us, where have you been?
Qld scored the opening try but it’s been NSW ever since. Take a breather. I’ll be back in a tick.
40 min: Blimey! What a finish! First Trbojevic pulls Cronk down when he seems certain to score. Trbojevic wrestles him back from the line and folds him in half like an envelope on which you’ve jotted down your shopping list.
Cronk then plays the ball as the siren sounds. Qld go left, Thurston hits Gavin Cooper who is flipped on to his back, by Dugan, as he’s about to crash over, and Cooper cannot get the ball down! Two try-savers in two tackles!
39 min: Tedesco grabs a Thurston grubber in the NSW in goal. Can NSW hold their 10-point lead with half-time nigh?
37 min: Thurston grubbers from a long way out, which catches no-one by surprise. NSW pick up inside their own 10m line. A few tackles later Pearce kicks to Gagai again. It’s like he’s trying to kick to him.
Here’s that ‘bombed’ try that may come back to haunt Hayne and NSW:
wwos: #Sports "If he gives it, they score." - Fatty on Hayne. #Origin #9WWOS pic.twitter.com/sdcZmbJKFI
— JISA Sports (@JISA_Sports) June 21, 2017
34 min: Penalty to NSW after Cooper is pinged for knocking the ball from Klemmer’s hands as the Blue was playing the ball near the halfway line.
Phil Withall, as reliable as a Swiss watch with an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, writes in:
As he ages Laurie Daley seems to be turning into Kenn Dodd. @PFConnolly pic.twitter.com/mNlm8j9om4
— phil withall (@phil_withall) June 21, 2017
32 min: NSW blow a chance to really put on gap on Qld. Driving left inside Qld’s 20m Hayne is in space with Morris outside him. Hayne draws Gagai but doesn’t pass to Morris who has a clear run to the line, though Slater is coming across in cover. Gagai hangs on and drives Hayne into touch. Would Morris have scored? I think so.
30 min: NSW right on top, I hardly need to say. Qld have been missing tackles and NSW have a head of steam.
Slater appears to be carrying his left arm. That’s to say, its dangling limply by his side. He carries on, however, and soon kicks into touch on the full. Don’t see that often.
Conversion! NSW 16-6 Qld (Maloney)
Maloney, who’s been excellent, converts from almost in front.
Try! NSW 14-6 Qld (Pearce 26m)
NSW in again! A big charge from Trbojevic early in the set. He then gets his hands on the ball a tackle or so later and, on the halfway line, finds Tedesco backing up on his inside. Tedesco is clear and has the presence of mind to draw Slater before finding Pearce backing up. Pearce under the posts!
Updated
Try! NSW 10-6 Qld (Morris 24m)
After receiving the ball back from a kick, NSW gets over the halfway line. Maloney takes possession with plenty of defence in front of him, but he wriggles past a slipping Tim Glasby and is in open space! He then finds Morris on his left and he holds off Gagai to score in the left corner.
23 min: That isn’t good from Frizell! On the second tackle, he charges into a half gap 20m out but his attempt at a flick pass is snaffled by the Maroons.
22 min: Maloney grubbers into the in-goal. Slater cleans up but he has no choice but to run it over the dead-ball line. Drop out.
20 min: Qld put it though the hands in their own half but Holmes runs himself into a cul-de-sac and Ferguson, tackling, forces the turnover as Holmes desperately tried to stay in the field of play.
19 min: Pearce bombs to Gagai again, and Gagai catches just inside the sideline under a fair bit of pressure.
17 min: Cronk goes for touch when he could have put up a bomb. The commentators are scratching their heads. Cronk at least gave the players time for a breather.
15 min: A high kickoff bounces and is caught by Hayne. He is smashed like a Gold Coast ‘toolie’, Gagai then coming in for some afters. Hayne is groggy but he’ll be fine. Borderline stuff from Gagai, but no penalty.
Conversion! NSW 6-6 Qld (Maloney)
Beautiful kick from the left touchline levels the scores.
Try! NSW 4-6 Qld (Hayne 12m)
NSW hit straight back! A try to Hayne on the left wing after NSW put it though the hands; Pearce to Maloney, Maloney to a chiming-in Tedesco. Gagai comes in on Tedesco but he gets the ball out to Hayne who holds off Cronk to score inside the left corner.
13 min: Back-to-back penalties to NSW. The Blues are 10m out, six up their sleeve. Oh, Frizell goes oh so close!
12 min: NSW win a penalty and they’ll restart play on the Qld 20m.
Seems they love their Origin in Santiago...
@PFConnolly Following origin in baking hot Santiago, Spain. I think the young Maroons will give a good account but the bad guys will win.
— Brendan Bolton (@ProjectCamino) June 21, 2017
Conversion! NSW 0-6 Qld (Thurston)
From the left touchline Thurston aims way right and bends it back. He makes that look easy.
Try! NSW 0-4 Qld (Holmes 10m)
It was close, but not conclusive, so a try is given! How important was that penalty won by Slater? Very, is the answer.
Updated
Possible try to Qld!
Valentine Holmes ‘Superman’s’ over in the left corner after a sweeping right to left Maroons move. But did his boot find the touchline?
8 min: NSW get through a fast set before Pearce kicks high to Gagai, who catches under little pressure 10m out from his own line.
Penalty to Qld, Slater tackled off the ball. Maloney gave him a wee shove and Slater fell like a giant redwood after a run in with an axe.
7 min: Solid NSW defence forces Thurston to kick on the fifth on the halfway line. Tedesco fields the ball and has his first gallop of the night.
5 min: Qld inside NSW’s 30, Thurston and Slater combining on the left. Then they go right, Cronk finding Chambers, but Hayne scythes him down like a sheaf of wheat and drags him into touch.
3 min: The Blues’ forwards keep poking their heads through the tackle but there’s little organisation, and on the last Frizell is tackled by Gavin Cooper.
Early penalty to Qld.
Peeeeeeeeeeeep!
1 min: NSW with the early carries, Pearce with the first kick of the night. Down Gagai’s throat. Valentine Holmes is then smashed by Woods and he loses the ball on his own 30m. Looked like a knock back, but they don’t seem to exist any more.
The players are out of the park and everyone is standing —upstanding, no less— for the anthem. The Australian one. The Blues look focused and, if I read their body language correctly, rather relaxed. The Maroons have more of a grimace to their collective visage.
There’s your man, Thurston. Cool as a cucumber that’s been sitting in the fridge crisper for an hour.
Queensland to kick off...
Picking a winner tonight is tough, which seems crazy when you saw how dominant NSW were in Game 1, and how tired Qld looked. Not tired-on-the-night tired, either, but the kind of bone weary tiredness you get as a parent after, say, 10 years. My first daughter, apropos of that, was born in 2006, the year Qld’s era of dominance began. Little did I know the effect her arrival would have on the Origin arena. The butterfly effect at work, innit?
Where was I? Ah, yes, picking a winner. I’ll say Queensland, but with no confidence. Thurston and Slater will be primed and give them a lift. It may just be enough. Then again, if NSW can weather the early storm they may run away with it again. See, I’ve got no idea. That’s what’s so great about Origin.
Speaking of ‘bants’; if Queensland lose tonight this could be tomorrow’s Centrelink waiting room:
One last word from the coach!#Origin#NRL pic.twitter.com/TKYCsUTubr
— NRL (@NRL) June 21, 2017
There’s been a lot of banter before this game, as usual.
Best part of #StateOfOrigin is the newspaper sledging #mediawatch pic.twitter.com/VqkbyoV1Uf
— Media Watch (@ABCmediawatch) June 21, 2017
First email of the night from my brother, Niall, who’s in Darwin. “Cheers from the Hotel Darwin,” he says. “I’m resplendent in my Blues jersey. Have just had the $17 steak, chips and mushroom sauce special, but eschewed the extra $4 for salad because it just didn’t seem right.”
When you’re having steak and chips and presumably a few beers, you’re not fooling anybody by having a salad so that’s the right call.
I bet that word, eschewed, doesn’t get overused in Darwin.
The Olympic Stadium is sold out for tonight, which is great news. You should be able to scoop the atmosphere with a soup ladle and baste yourself in it. Clearly the good people of Sydney want to be in attendance for a potential series-winning game.
Qld used to have a woeful record here where they’ve won just 8/24. But recently they’ve done rather well, winning three of the past five, and seven of the past 12.
Certainly old-hands like Smith, Cronk, Thurston and Slater won’t be intimidated. But perhaps some of the new boys will get the Willie Masons.
So, who is Coen Hess? Ask Mitchell Moses:
Yeah, I don't think Coen Hess is ready for #Origin either. Said nobody. Ever. #NRLEelsCowboys pic.twitter.com/NzL9hhUcHu
— Daniel Watson Hayes™ (@dwatsonhayes) June 10, 2017
New South Wales have an unchanged line-up for the first time in 20 years! If that doesn’t tell a story I don’t know what does. So Laurie Daley will be expecting more of the same from his forwards who dominated the Maroons in game 1, not least Andrew Fifita, who was Beetson-like in his brilliance.
For Queensland, the self-proclaimed pickers and stickers, the broom went through after that first-up loss. Gone are Nate Myles, Sam Thaiday, Aidan Guerra, Jacob Lillyman, Justin O’Neill, Corey Oates and Anthony Milford (injured). In comes Thurston, Slater (pushing Boyd to the wing), Valentine Holmes, Gavin Cooper, Jarrod Wallace, Coen Hess and Tim Glasby, the latter three making their debuts. No pressure, fellas.
Hess hasn’t played a minute but he’s fast becoming a cult figure. Twitter, however, has yet to settle on who he most resembles:
There's one man for the job #StateOfOrigin #game2 #coenhess @nthqldcowboys @QLDmaroons pic.twitter.com/xxtx3JZJaD
— Luke Campbell (@LEcampbell2) June 20, 2017
If that ain't Ivan Drago about to run out for Queensland i'm a Dutch astronaut #Origin pic.twitter.com/NY2Wprlfv7
— Harry Ramage (@harryramage) June 21, 2017
Teams:
Final teams are IN! #Origin pic.twitter.com/tYsOb8I4WW
— NRL (@NRL) June 21, 2017
Preamble
Good evening, sportsfans!
As you’ll recall, three weeks ago in Origin I, NSW tore through Queensland like a southerly buster after a long, hot, oppressive spell.
That 28-4 hiding was NSW’s biggest ever win in Queensland during the Origin era and in running away with the game NSW looked young, bold and confident, a future unsullied by the past.
Queensland, by contrast, appeared suddenly old and weary. All those years of rubbing their boot heels into the foreheads of NSW, of wielding the whip, had finally, it seemed, caught up with them. And so we learned that it’s not that easy being an oppressor for so long. It takes work and effort —your calves ache, you lose feeling in your whip hand, and your back starts to seize up— and sooner or later it all catches up with you.
NSW’s streak-breaking series win in 2014 might have represented the first fissure in the Maroon’s mighty edifice, but Origin I saw cracks spiderweb their way from the foundations to the turrets. Tonight could be the night the whole joint comes down.
Or not.
There were, of course, extenuating circumstances to Queensland’s loss at Lang Park three weeks ago. The Maroons’ brilliant five-eighth, Johnathan Thurston, was injured, missing his first Origin game after a run of 36 straight. Like Queensland’s other era-defining players —Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk— he’s not getting any younger, but he was a massive loss nonetheless. Not only due to his ability but the confidence his very presence gives his team.
Slater also missed that game, overlooked by Queensland coach Kevin Walters. Both are back this week to join Cameron Smith (Inglis won’t return until next year) giving the Maroons a massive boost. You wouldn’t bet against them delaying NSW’s coronation for at least another three weeks. Or even another year.
It’s a fascinating scenario and it should be a compelling game.
Kick-off: 8.12pm-ish
Paul will be here shortly, which should give you just enough time to read this piece from Joe Gorman, on why State of Origin is just so important to Queenslanders:
Updated
