Whoops, forgot my coat. And to link to Joe Gorman’s match report. Enjoy:
Dane Gagai has just been awarded the man of the series; the first time in Origin history a winger has claimed such a prize.
Boyd Cordner takes to the dais to congratulate Qld (“Youse were too good”) and Johnathan Thurston “on a great rep career. You’re a legend of a bloke and a legend of the game.”
Cameron Smith now: “That was pretty special. Thanks to the NSW Blues for a fantastic series. A touch unfortunate you had to come up here and try to knock us off at home...To Kevvy and the coaching staff, thank you ... To the entire squad, I think we used 26-28 players this year which is unprecedented for this team. To pull together and get over the line against a quality team that’s a special effort.”
“I’m supposed to lift the shield now but I’m going to invite my little mate Johnny Thurston up here... It was unfortunate he couldn’t finish [his Qld career] in front if his beloved Queensland fans. I haven’t come across a more passionate Queenslander. Mate, for what you’ve done in this jersey I don’t think anyone can thank you enough. You’re the greatest person who’s ever pulled on a Queensland jersey.”
And together they lift the Origin shield. Job done.
And that’s all from me on a night of nights for Queensland. As per.
Good night and safe travels.
Final thoughts
Queensland have emphatically held off NSW to win their 11th Origin series in 12 years. In doing so they’ve not only maintained the great Maroon dynasty but also given NSW reason to believe that, despite the transition taking place in Queensland’s ranks, things aren’t about to get any easier for NSW. Munster, Holmes, Wallace, Hess et al showed NSW that they’ll have to wrest the Origin shield from their cold dead hands. That said, the difference between the teams tonight, if not attitude, belief and application, was Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater. They were all devastating and led the Maroons to a near faultless performance, the standout performance of the series. What a turn around after NSW dominated game 1.
For NSW, this will be more crushing than any recent series loss. After game 1 they truly believed 2017 would be their year. Perhaps they’d mentally completed their victory lap before getting the job done. What will this mean for the future of Laurie Daley? What about the players? After playing the same 17 all series for the first time since 1996 will NSW need to reinvent themselves all over again?
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Fittler speaks with a gravel-voiced James Maloney who is as dark as a lonely paddock on a moonless night. “As a team to put a performance like that in on an occasion like this is horrible You’ll never win a game of footy playing like that... NSW deserve better. Laurie, the coaching staff, deserve better. We haven’t leaked 22 points all series... We completed just 65%. We need to be better.”
Darren Lockyer collars a jubilant Billy Slater: “It was a pretty big win,” says Slater. “We’ve had so many injuries, not just coming into the series but during the series. That was one helluva game.”
Will he be back? “It’s hard [to walk away].”
Full-time: Queensland 22-6 New South Wales
We’ve seen this before, ladies and gents, Qld whooping it up and group hugging on the field while NSW drop to their haunches and wish the ground swallowed them up.
80 min: Despite taking an age over it —an age during which the crowd danced and cheered in the aisles— Smith misses to the left.
78 min: A penalty to Qld, 30m out. Smith will kick for goal.
76 min: Dugan is busting a gut out on the right but getting little reward. Fifita, who’s been kept in Qld’s pockets tonight, knocks on. Huzzah! says the crowd.
NSW have turned into the Washington Generals. It’s time to stop Origin. It was good while it lasted.
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75 min: NSW make little headway due to Qld’s rush defence. On the last, Maloney tries Cronk’s 50m cross field kick but it sails over the touchline — and straight into the arms of Qld’s water carrier: Alfie Langer! Langer catches it and throws it into the air raising a laugh from the crowd!
74 min: NSW throwing it about now and Morgan almost takes an intercept on Qld’s 40m, but the Qld centre knocks on. NSW on the attack from the scrum...
71 min: NSW awarded a penalty and they start a set of six 20m out. Woods lumbers forward... has he ever broken the line? On the last, Pearce kicks wide, NSW bat it backwards, and Dugan does his best to muscle 5m to the line. But he’s pulled down by Smith.
NSW’s attack has more or less involved a kick and a prayer on the last. Shows what happens when you lose the ruck.
Conversion! Queensland 22-6 NSW (Smith)
Smith adds the extras and the 52,540 in the crowd (barring a smattering of Blues fans) are delirious. And there’s still 10m to go.
Try! Queensland 20-6 NSW (Wallace 67)
And that’s the game! Within NSW’s 20m, Qld stretch NSW right, then left. From centre field Smith finds Munster who angles left before stepping back inside. Cordner wraps him up but Munster lobs an inside pass to Wallace and, without a Blue near him, he runs 3m to the line to score under the posts! Where was the defence?!
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64 min: Qld now working the ball out from their line. On their own 30m Cronk puts Slater into space and he banks left, then right, then left again before finding Cronk —who’s smashed by Pearce. But Cronk plays it quickly and Munster kicks inside for his chasers with NSW looking ragged. It sits up in the NSW in-goal but Pearce cleans up, Drop out.
63 min: It remains 16-6 after Smith misses the conversion from the left touchline. The same score NSW led by in Game 2 before the wheels fell off.
Try! Queensland 16-6 NSW (Holmes)
Queensland race downfield against a tiring defence, getting quick play the balls.
Deep in the count Munster wriggles through three tacklers, including Cordner, before running into open space. With Tedsco ahead of him he floats one out to Holmes who has to reach behind him to claim it. He doesn’t do so cleanly but juggles it in one hand, his outstretched right, dragging it forward with him. He finally gets his hands on it cleanly before he’s hit 1m short. But he’s not held and he gets up to plant the ball for his third try of the night!
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59 min: A near identical set from NSW ends with another bomb, but Hayne is bumped from challenging for the ball by Cronk. No penalty is forthcoming.
58 min: Slater snaffles a Pearce bomb 10m out. NSW try to keep Qld pinned down but a few tough charges get Qld out of the danger zone. Cronk bombs to Tedesco from the NSW 40m.
56 min: 15m out from NSW’s line Gagai is hauled into touch by Morris, Maloney and Hayne. Likes bouncers ejecting a bothersome patron from a nightclub.
54 min: A penalty to Qld offers them relief from some intense NSW pressure. Now they’re on the attack again.
52 min: Qld pinged for offside right in front of their posts. NSW decline the easy two points and run it. A set play nearly gets Ferguson is space on the right wing. NSW spin it left but Qld’s goal-line defence does the trick. Another last tackle bomb. This time it’s Ferguson leaping high but even though NSW come up with it their hot-potato passing winds up in the arms of Cameron Smith.
51 min: NSW with momentum now, buoyed by that try. Graham nearly slips away 35m out. Then a bomb which Slater takes brilliantly above his head. NSW throw the kitchen sink at them and it pays off! NSW force a mistake and they’re 10m out!
Conversion 12-6 NSW (Maloney)
Easy as you like.
Try! Queensland 12-4 NSW (Dugan 47)
Out of nothing NSW give themselves a chance! Having lumbered downfield Pearce kicked on the last, a cross-field bomb to NSW’s right edge. Dugan, on the run, leapt above Holmes, just held on to the ball in his fingertips, and then had the presence of mind to run it around to score under the posts.
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46 min: Qld work the ball out from their own line and, again, they make easy metres, helped by quick play the balls. Slater wraps around Cronk and again tries to find Chambers but NSW snuff out the danger.
44 min: After Papalii offloads, Slater runs like a Stanley knife down a sheet of cardboard. He gets on the outside of Hayne and sidearms a ball to Chambers. If he catches he’ll have a 10m run to the line, cover defence notwithstanding. But he drops it.
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43 min: Another error from NSW. Pearce tries to slip Cordner through a narrow hole 40m out from NSW’s line but Cordner puts it down.
41 min: NSW show a modicum of adventure in attack but are forced to kick from the half. Pearce bombs down Gagai’s throat before Hess crunches him.
Peeeeep!
41 min: Smith restarts the game and Klemmer hits the Maroon line with gusto.
Laurie Daley admits the game should be dead but NSW still have an opportunity as 12-0. “We’ve got to start with plenty of energy and go set to set. If we can do that I’m still confident we can win. But it’s going to take a huge effort.”
Depressing fact for Blues fans: 27 times Qld have led at halftime at Suncorp. They’ve lost one of them.
If Qld go on to win this game, as they are in a good position to do, NSW will forever rue that second half showing in Sydney three weeks ago, and Jarryd Hayne’s failure to pass to an open Brett Morris when NSW led 16-6 will be apportioned even greater impact. NSW were all over Qld at that point. It makes the current situation hard to understand.
Phil Withall has had similar thoughts. “It would appear that the failure of NSW to capitalise on their first half showing in the second game is continuing to haunt them,” he writes. “Combined with the difficulty of facing Queensland at Suncorp things don’t look good. They seem to be lacking in intensity in the tackle and have limited imagination in attack. Could be another 12 months of navel gazing and in-fighting ahead.”
Half-time: Queensland 12-0 NSW
What a half from Qld, and they’re unlucky not to be ahead by more. They have dominated every facet of this game. Smith and Cronk have been magnificent. It’s not over but boy do NSW need something special to win it from here.
Tim Griffiths, in Swindon, speaks for all NSW fans when he writes: “It’s not the despair, the despair I can cope with... It’s the hope that kills you...”
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40 min: As the hooter sounds, Cronk attempts a 40m drop-out that falls short.
39 min: NSW almost find a way to salvage something from the half but Dugan drops the ball as he’s hit by two defenders 5m out. Qld counter ...
37 min: What the heck?! Chaos! Pearce passes into Gillett’s face on the half. NSW stop, thinking it was a knock on. Glasby picks it up and has clear space ahead of him, 40m to the line. Galloping like a giraffe he sets off. Maloney chases him then pulls him down just short. Qld had numbers on the left but Smith ducked inside when he should have kept the movement going. He tried to do so once he was tackled but his pass to Holmes was called forward just as Holmes crashed over the line!
36 min: Cronk finds touch now, close to the NSW line. Up in the coaches box Daley has his head in a hand as he jots something down on a piece of paper. SOS?
34 min: Qld’s defence is swarming NSW and NSW look a little directionless. On the fourth, Maloney waits for a Tedesco run but it’s telegraphed and Tedesco is wrapped up easily. Then Hayne has the ball with nothing on and his attempt to grubber ahead on the last comes to naught.
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33 min: NSW again working the ball out from their own line. This will help. A penalty for Qld holding the tackled player down. They restart play from the 50m.
32 min: Pearce bombs to Holmes from the 50m. Pearce has rarely found the grass with his kicks so far this series.
31 min: NSW are so deep in defence, letting Qld run at them. Why? Fatigue from all the defence they’ve been doing? Whatever the reason it’s allowing Qld to maintain momentum. Smith has the ball, and the game, on a string.
29 min: On the attack once again Qld bomb - but Ferguson takes it safely 15m out. NSW cannot afford to concede again this half or this could get ugly.
Conversion! Queensland 12-0 NSW (Smith)
He’s not exactly a dead-eye, Smith, but he lands another from the left wing.
Try! Queensland 10-0 NSW (Holmes 27)
That really was an amazing try and a snapshot of why Qld have been so good for so long no matter what NSW throw at them. They’ve got Smith, Slater and Cronk (not to mention JT, Inglis etc).
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26 min: Qld, on the half, keeping the ball alive with some slick passing. Slater flings one back to McGuire. He’s tackled then Smith goes straight through! He finds Papalii in acres but he’s brought down 10m out by Tedesco. From the play the ball Cronk, at first receiver, hooks a low trajectory 50m kick into the arms of an unmarked Holmes on the left wing! What a kick! What a try!
23 min: Valerie Robbins emails from France to say bonjour. And “Go QLD!” Your Maroons are certainly playing well. Valerie.
But here’s NSW, charging into Qld territory. Frizell runs like a rhino before slipping a ball to a flying Dugan. He does well to take but on impact with the ground it jolts out of his grasp.
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22 min: Smith slips under a loose Pearce tackle. Munster then finds touch 10m out from NSW’s line, which neither team will mind given it affords an opportunity for a well-earned breather.
20 min: Tedesco takes a towering bomb and skips inside the first tackle. NSW are under siege, Qld’s defence giving them nothing. Pearce is forced to kick from the NSW 30m.
18 min: No try! Lucky for NSW, they look super shaky right now.
Smith it was who created that near try, slipping past Woods at marker before finding Slater on his shoulder. With only Tedesco to beat Slater passed inside to Cronk who had 15m to reach the line. Seeing the approaching cover of Morris Cronk dived for the line early but, as we saw on replay, Morris’ hand dislodged the ball as Cronk was in the process of landing! A massive moment, and what a try saver!
18 min: Qld could be in again! Cronk this time, diving over!
Conversion! Queensland 6-0 NSW (Smith)
From the left touchline, Smith makes no mistake. A deserved lead for Qld however you might quibble over the putdown.
Try! Queensland 4-0 NSW (Holmes 4)
Queensland start from in front! It began with an inside ball from Cronk to Slater who zigged and zagged before a nice offload to Morgan. Angling towards the sideline he found Holmes back on the inside. From 5m out Holmes held off Pearce and absorbed the tackle of Tedesco to reach out and —just, perhaps, maybe— touch down without losing control of the ball.
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15 min: I swear I wrote that before this happened! Holmes may have just scored in the left corner! Oh, I think it fell from his fingers.
13 min: A poor NSW play the ball on the halfway line gifts Qld a scrum. So far, NSW are making more errors and giving up more ball. It feels like Qld are about to make them pay.
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11 min: A moment after Qld get away with a forward pass on NSW’s 20m, Cronk chips for his wingers. Tedesco catches it but then knocks it on. With Maroon jerseys lurking Maloney dives on it from an offside position. He knew it but reasoned it was the safest option.
Qld take the tap but great defence from the Blues holds them out.
9 min: Cliche alert! This is end-to-end stuff, Qld in particular looking sharp and willing. On the last, Slater kicks across field but Morris rises highest to catch it over his head under enormous pressure.
8 min: Six to go to NSW on the halfway line after a touch from Qld. Tedesco makes some inroads, now Fifita carries three players to a few metres out. Oh dear, Cordner overruns the pass from Peats and spills the ball, wasting a great opportunity.
6 min: Deep in attack, Qld grubber in behind but Tedesco, sliding along the deck like a baseballer heading to home plate, takes it beautifully. And now a penalty to NSW.
5 min: Penalty to Qld 10m out from their own line and from the restart Qld put it through their hands, Slater swinging around the back of Munster. They then fling it wide right, showing an early indication they plan to play expansively.
4 min: On the last a bomb is aimed towards Qld’s right wing and Morris goes down dramatically as he chases it. Was he shielded illegally from contesting the ball? No says the ref.
2 min: Strong defence by Qld forces Maloney to kick on the last right on the half. But it’s charged down and Maloney gets it back. The crowd don’t like it, they think it wasn’t played at. A chant goes up: “Bullpitt!” I think it is, in tribute to the central character of Kingswood Country.
Peeeeep!
1 min: Here we go, NSW kick off, high and deep. Debutant Munster takes it cleanly and sends Napa for an early hit-up.
After a group cuddle in the sheds the Blues emerge onto the arena, greeted as warmly as head lice in a primary school classroom.
Qld keep them waiting —allowing NSW’s nerves to stew— before joining them. A mighty roar goes up, and the Maroons dash about, stare into the sky, rotate their heads on necks like wheels of cheese, and take in the air.
The teams line up for Advance Australia Fair and mouth the words as they think about the opportunities given to them by this ah, sunburnt country.
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You want random facts? You’ve come to the right place:
- The Blues’ record in Game 3 deciders in Brisbane is two wins, seven losses and a draw.
- Qld have recovered from a 1-0 deficit to win the series on five occasions.
- Qld have won the past six Game 3 deciders.
What about this one... the last game 3 decider in Queensland was in 2015. This happened (NSW fans, grab your blankies and hold them tight):
Breaking news from the Blues’ dressing room, courtesy of Brad ‘Scoop’ Fittler. “Andrew Fifita has barely said a word. Jarryd Hayne is the same. He’s talking when he has to but he has his mind on the job. They are ready to go.”
Outside Queensland’s dressing room Paul Vautin, looking more grey than ginger these days, reports that Thurston is handing out towels. That’s Queensland spirit for you, punishing a man for getting injured.
There are numerous subplots swirling about the game tonight. One of them is the suggestion that the losing coach will be sacked. Considering he’s had his chances to steer NSW into the promised land it would hard to argue against Laurie Daley being stood down for someone new... but surely giving the boot to Kevin Walters in just his second series would be rough (after he won last year and now inherits a team undergoing transition). Of course there may be nothing to it but grist for the Origin Hyper-bolometer.
I’m not into betting but will mention that NSW are fairly heavily favoured tonight. Queensland wouldn’t have it any other way. If you’re following this from afar, teams in Australia (and our various national teams as well) love nothing better than being deemed underdogs. And if it’s not a title bestowed on them by others they’ll do it themselves. Impressively, Queensland found a way to paint themselves as underdogs seemingly every year of their Origin streak; creating a backs against the wall mentality that they thrived under.
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That would have to be the first time at Suncorp Stadium that Thurston hasn't been hit without the ball #StateOfOrigin #Origin
— Josh Mock (@JoshMock54) July 12, 2017
Johnathan Thurston, arm in a sling, is now on stage in the middle of Lang Park being honoured for his stellar Origin career. We’d just seen a montage obviously pre-recorded in anticipation of him playing tonight. Having gone to trouble of recording that Nine couldn’t well leave it in the tin.
We can all wonder what sort of effect this will have on the Queensland players tonight. They hardly need it as motivation; so might it be a distraction? NSW can only hope.
Teams
Queensland:
1. Billy Slater, 2. Valentine Holmes, 3. Will Chambers, 4. Michael Morgan, 5. Dane Gagai, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Dylan Napa, 9. Cameron Smith, 10. Jarrod Wallace, 11. Gavin Cooper, 12. Matt Gillett, 13. Josh McGuire, 14. Ben Hunt, 15. Josh Papalii, 16. Coen Hess, 17. Tim Glasby. Coach: Kevin Walters
New South Wales:
1. James Tedesco, 2. Brett Morris, 3. Josh Dugan, 4. Jarryd Hayne, 5. Blake Ferguson, 6. James Maloney, 7. Mitchell Pearce, 8. Aaron Woods, 9. Nathan Peats, 10. Andrew Fifita, 11. Boyd Cordner (c), 12. Josh Jackson, 13. Tyson Frizell, 14. David Klemmer, 15. Wade Graham, 16. Jake Trbojevic, 17. Jack Bird. Coach: Laurie Daley
For the first time since 1996, NSW —despite injury concerns over Cordner, Frizell and Dugan this week — will play the same 17 in all three games.
Queensland, meantime, have their third different 17 this series. Thurston being out means the Storm’s Cameron Munster, five-eighth, makes his debut tonight alongside (sort of) his club mate Cooper Cronk. Michael Morgan will play in the centres with Dane Gagai, while Ben Hunt comes onto the bench (ahead of Daly Cherry-Evans, a fact that has sparked much debate this week).
There are six Melbourne Storm players in the Maroons’ squad tonight. Could their combination help get Qld over the line?
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Preamble
Good evening, folks, and welcome. Let’s start with the obvious. After NSW flogged Queensland in Brisbane with a verve that seemed to herald regime change, Queensland then Queenslanded* their way to victory in Sydney three weeks later to level the tie. Tonight the combatants are in Brisbane for the decider.
Now consider the context. Queensland have won 10 of the past 11 series. Time, however, has caught up with them, as it has the rest of us. I don’t know about you but I walk about feeling youthfully vigorous, the handsomest bugger Zeus ever breathed life into —until I catch my reflection. Yikes. Fortunately, a kind of amnesia later sets in and the delusion continues. It helps me get out of bed, I suppose.
But where was I? Ah yes... The nucleus of Queensland’s dynastic team has been denuded by age, injury and the selectors’ axe. Absent tonight are stalwarts Matt Scott, Sam Thaiday, Greg Inglis, Darius Boyd and Jonathan Thurston (who, you’ll recall, missed Origin I before returning in Origin II to boot the game-winning conversion from the right touchline):
Johnathan Thurston's average heart rate during #Origin 2 - 168bpm.
— NRL (@NRL) July 9, 2017
When he strikes the match winner - 161bpm. 😱#NRL pic.twitter.com/m9Ifwpo2Hy
As he’s missing again tonight, Thurston has played his last Origin (meaning that Qld will be looking to ‘Win it for JT’). Cooper Cronk is about to do the same (meaning that Qld will be looking to send him off on a high), and Cameron Smith and Billy Slater can’t have many more left in them either (meaning Qld will try to win it for Cam and Billy, too, just in case they makes the unexpected decision to retire from rep football to prolong their NRL careers).
All this is to explain why Thurston’s name will be mention a few hundred times on Channel Nine tonight, why the Maroon Empire is said to be on its last legs, and why we may be about to return to a state of dynasty-less equality in the Origin arena. The way it used to be, relatively speaking, before Mal’s Maroons began the run in 2006.
That said, how could anyone confidently bet on Queensland losing tonight? NSW may have been the better side for three of the four halves of Origin football played so far this year, and they certainly have the most settled side, but Queensland have a far superior record in Origin deciders, they are playing at home, and belief flows through the team and the crowd like XXXX through a Bundaberg brickie.
By contract, NSW will not only need to shake off the Maroons but a decade of failing Origin’s decisive moments. Can they keep the yips at bay tonight and, by winning their second series in four years, officially put an end to the Maroon Empire?
We’re about to find out!
KICK-OFF: 8:13.08pm.
* Winning defiantly by emerging from a grave, moments after the last sod was tossed upon it, to then grasp a spade left lying about and use it to thwack the opposition over the head while screaming “Queenslander! Queenslander! Queenslander!”
Paul will be here shortly. In the meantime, have a read of Matt Cleary’s preview of tonight’s big game at Suncorp, which on nights like this “heaves like they’d filmed the climactic scenes from Big Trouble at Little China at the rum factory in Bundaberg”.
And here’s Nick Tedeschi on the pressure both Kevin Walters and Laurie Daley face.
