Summary
Well, dissect that if you can.
Both sides with grounds to be aggrieved - NSW possibly robbed of a fair try for Pearce; but the GI denied a real Origin classic, and for reasons that about seventeen grown men in a commentary box could agree upon as to why!
Tough on Inglis, he was super tonight, for all the talk of him being half-baked in Game I.
Perhaps, in the end it came down to fresh legs. Some of the Blues’ young tyros really standing tall. Aaron Woods with a massive try that had ‘sheer will’ written all over it. But David Klemmer. Who is this crazy-brave cowboy?!
Paul Gallen walking wounded out there. He’s told the camera post-game that Nate Myles got him with a cheap shot in the kidneys/ribs. Won’t that war of words just continue all the way up until Game III in Brisbane.
Whether through accident or excellent design, the veteran Gallen has inspired his troops; maybe a bit more aggro was what the squad needed.
For Queensland, Smith and Slater perhaps a bit quiet tonight, and the absence of Cronk keenly felt. Not a lot shown from Cherry-Evans - big Mal Meninga will need to really run the plays to get a bit more creativity for Game III, otherwise the Dad’s Army cracks will start to reappear.
So Blues home to level the series - more high scoring, and more error-ridden than Game I; but I’ll hazard 90,000+ Victorian will go home and buy their kids Steedens instead of Sherrins tomorrow. A great showing, for a great stadium.
Burrrr! Full-time NSW 26 - QLD 18
And there it is! The Blues are home! We have a series again; and we have a great third game all set in Queensland!
79 min: Klemmer’s got a grin from ear to ear. He’s like the Cheshire Cat - if the Cheshire Cat was batsh*t crazy, about 100+kg and just ready to fight everyone, always.
The Maroons giving it everything they’ve got, but they’re still 20m out. Boyd tries to get round the outside.. But!
77 min: Klemmer with it about 3om out. He and Corey Parker have exchanged swinging punches there. Remarkable. You can’t fight when a fight’s on. And yet when you’re trying to get up off the ground you can smack a man in the chops. Strange business. Great fire from Klemmer, Gus Gould just loves him to.
And here we go - another melee! Everyone’s on it. Klemmer puts down Inglis and Queensland’s not happy. Ref keeps time running, so the Maroons have to hurry to get on with it.
And the recriminations are beginning already - Mike Morris emails in:
Terrible decision on the GI try there. Even if the QLD player touched it he was facing his own posts. Game changer.
Inclined to agree with you Mike, but as it is - it’s NSW by eight with about three minutes to play.
75 min: Good hit up by Tamou. He’s immense this kid. I said JT was the factor behind the Cowboys, but how bout this guy.
All smiles on the NSW bench. They reckon they’re home here.
The Maroons looking for a real special play. Inglis and Slater trading passes, as they bring it out from their own 20m line.
74 min: Qld with it, 5th tackle about 4om out. Thurston with a bomb - it’s gone out of the full! Robbie Farah comes in late on JT, and there’s another melee!
All the players in, as Farah appears to stomp on JT while he’s down. Inglis flies in to tackle Farah, and it’s cuddly-non-fighty-man-pressings again.
NSW now with it.
72 min: QLD try the short kick off, but to no avail. The Blues don’t go too far with it, and as QLD tries to put a bomb up, Thurston is absolutely clattered by I believe Boyd Cordner.
Not late, not dirty, but very, very hard is the decision. Thurston gets up. God this kid’s a cyborg, isn’t he? He’s just been flat out nailed, and like the Terminator (II), he’s reformed, rebuild and back up.
Conversion. NSW 26 - 18 QLD
No mistake - there’s the extras! Never doubted him, always believed. In Hod We Trust!!
TRY! NSW 24 - 18 QLD (Dugan 69')
69 min: After all that Josh Dugan’s found space out wide, and just strolled over. The Blues with a chance to go outside a converted try. Is this enough with just 10 minutes to come?
A lot resting on this kick - it’s not a super-difficult one, but then you never know with Hodkinson Origin big game pressure.
Updated
68 min: Gosh, it’s grim when Gus Gould’s telling you that that’s probably not a fair ruling for Queensland. Meanwhile Sterlo sulks in the back of the commentary box like a petulant child; and Brad ‘Adolf’ Fittler reminds us from sideline that NSW should have had a try earlier, that was ruled out for a perceived forward pass...!
Have we got some talking points!
And now - after all that:
NO TRY! NSW 20 - 18 QLD
You are kidding me! Greg Inglis has scooped a ball up on his own 10m line and sprinted 90m, burned past Dugan, Morris etc - looked for all money a game-winner; and the video ref’s found the most minute of knock ons in the action in which Pearce lost the ball!
That, my furry friends - is a let off of start-to-write-your-conspiracy-theories grade proportions!
66 min: No sooner than that’s happened - GI almost makes a bust. Forces an offload, but the Blues scramble to dive on the loose ball.
This is getting a bit scrappy/wonderful here.
And before you can turn away, or go through any of the replays of anything that’s just happened in a crazy, chaotic few minutes..
Video ref is having a real hard close look here..
Updated
Conversion. NSW 20 - 18 QLD
64 min: Oh here’s something! Mitchell Pearce thinks he’s crossed - a great flowing move here, and the Blues run straight through them, virtually from the kick off; BUT whistleboy’s called a forward pass!
Gus Gould steaming - he reckon’s it a fair pass. Muttered something about dominoes; really didn’t get that reference to be honest. Feel free to help me out, league cogniscenti.
TRY! NSW 18 - 18 QLD (Woods 61')
61 min: Big Aaron Wood has just steamrolled them! We all knew how important Woods and Tamou were in Game I, but here they are again wreaking havoc!
That one’s for you, Kepa! Not a lot going on until Myles gave away that penalty. Nothing fancy there, no steps, no massive wraparounds - just Woods throwing Scott a dummy and then carrying Billy Slater like a backpack over the try line.
Game on!!
Updated
60 min: Soft penalty conceded by Myles. NSW with the ball about 25m out on the 3rd. Hoddy to Hoffman - a bit disorganised, so Tamou takes it up to centre.
And look out - look out!!
Nice little email from PNG. Big league fans there in Kumuls country.
Thanks for the updates. I’m in my office here in PNG and following all the updates. The noise and sound outside with the supporters are crazy but I have a task due tomorrow morning and I have to complete. GO BLUES!!!!
Best of luck to you, Kepa. Although prioritising a ‘task’ over watching State of Origin? Ten in the bin.
Penalty! NSW 14 - 18 QLD
57 min: Thurston adds the extra two. In theory that’s good, but a converted try would see the Blues win it from here. Would have liked to see the Maroons turn the screws there. Get the ‘roaches scrambling.
55 min: Good metres up the guts here by Woods. And now he’s been done for a knock on.
Really amazing how you can drop the ball when you’ve got about three of Nate Myles’ fingers in your eyes, and two more up your nose. Some boos from the crowd, it’s not gone down well, that decision.
And in quick succession, another penalty for QLD. Chance to put NSW under pressure here - but they’ve elected to take the shot at the two. Hmm.
53 min: Just messing with you - JT’s nailed him again! Does he have a Dugan-radar on tonight? Dugan-Sonar? Dug-nar?
QLD survive, two massive plays in the space of five minutes by JT. Remind me why Cowboys are killing it this season? Oh yeah, Thurston.
52 min: Blues spread it wide - it’s Dugan v Thurston.. would you believe it..
50 min: So NSW knocking at the door now. This really is ebb-and-flow (TM) stuff here. Just when you think one side’s in ascension the other comes screaming back, either through good play, or bad errors.
Scrum packs down here - Pearce with a dropped ball backwards, and Lillyman adjudged to have knocked on. Blues with six to make something here.
Conversion NSW 14 - 16 QLD
48 min: No mistake from JT that time, adds the extra two comfortably.
Gus Gould’s calling it a “soft try”. You really hope the Blues lift here, that’s not how you go about saving your skin, with an Origin series on the line.
NSW with a kick to the corner, and a real error here! Chambers under pressure from Morris has fumbled the ball across the line about 2m out from his own line! Great kick Farah, great chase Morris, great balls up Chambers!
TRY! NSW 14 - 14 QLD (Gillett 46')
46 min: No he hasn’t - because it was Gillett! QLD cross there, under the sticks.
45 min: 5th tackle - but a penalty for QLD. “Markers not square” is the call.
Parker about 2m out on the 1st. Cherry-Evans with a pirouette-go-nowhere-spin. QLD reset and try again. DCE does better here - has he put Guerra through??
44 min: Great dummy from Thurston, but Klemmer’s got him. The Blues youngster’s been impressive so far. But it’s still the Maroons with it.
They spread wide, and GI is wrapped up by Josh Jackson. 10m out here on the 3rd.
43 min: Great work from QLD - they’ve kicked early in the count, and Thurston has absolutely clattered Dugan. Runs 50m to smash the Blues fullback, gets him about 3m into field and just slams him into the in-goal. NSW with a restart, Chance here for the Maroons.
Pffft! Second Half
40 min: And we’re underway again. QLD to receive. It’s a pretty regulation set of six there.
NSW grind out a few runs. Gallen, and also Hoffman, right back in the thick of it. The latter seems to have dusted that head injury. If that’s every really possible.
Okay, arm coated in Clinacanthus. Great stuff this. Burns like nobody’s business - any grade cricketers out there looking for something to pop in your mate’s box just before he heads out? This is your stuff.
Channel 9 starting to take the p*%& with these interviews aren’t they? Laurie Daley quizzed just moments before the teams retake the field. What’s the guy going to say? Nothing revealing, surely.
What did you make of that first half? Drop me a line, shoot me a tweet.
Meanwhile I’m off to find my RSI cream - my left arm is going about as well as Paul Gallen’s ribs and Robbie Farah’s shoulder, rolled into one.
Burrrrrr! Half-time
I really don’t known how to write the noise a siren makes, and that one really has a touch of the ship’s horn about it.. But there you have it - burrrrr.
It’s 14-10 to the Blues, and on balance of play that’s probably a fair reflection. Nobody’s bossed that half, and it’s certainly not as open/closed as Game I was in patches.
Signs of GI in full flight will be the most promising take-home for Maroons supporters. Some worries down the right-side defence for the Blues, but otherwise Laurie Daley will be reasonably happy.
Penalty! NSW 14 - 10 QLD (Hodkinson)
We’ll he’s been dubbed ‘much maligned’ but he’s always first in my heart, is our Trent. Plays in a stadium I can see from my window, didn’t you know.
38 min: Another penalty to the Blues. QLD inside the 10, and with just a few minutes to go they throw the kicking tee to the H-factor. Hodnaldo doesn’t miss these. Meat and drink for a kicker of his skills.
35 min: Gus Gould slamming the Blues’ right-sided defence - “staggered, not in a line” apparently. Meanwhile Thurston with an absolute dog of a kick. No conversion - that’s about 10m wide.
A replay of the Hoffman concussion - very nasty swinging arm, Hodges has just clattered him fair across the noggin. How was that not picked up?
Meanwhile, Hodges is accused of a strip and NSW get a pressure-relieving penalty. Hasn’t our Justin been a busy (and very naughty boy) in the last few minutes?
TRY! NSW 12 - 10 QLD (Inglis 32')
32 min: Well, that was about as predictable as sun following rain. GI! Starts the move getting outside a Slater ‘round-the-tackler’ pass - a few more hands and then a ball thrown back inside; who grabs it.. You bloody guessed it!
All time leading tryscorer in Origin - 16 tries, surpasses teammate Darius Boyd.
Updated
30 min: A bunch of people saying GI wasn’t the full quota in Game I, but he’s making amends early on. A great burst on NSW’s right side - and the man from NSW’s north coast is pulled down just metres short!
Another minor melee with Hodges last to get up. Meanwhile Hoffman appears concussed in back play. It’s certainly a bit nasty out there, that’s for sure.
Conversion. NSW 12 - 6 QLD
28 min: The Hod-meister with the extra two.
NSW with some good metres, but an angry QLD pack picks up and drives Farah into touch. A few cheapies as the wounded hooker lies on the ground. Neither side looking to miss the opportunity for a ‘grubby’ little misdemeanor.
Queensland back with it 30 out.
TRY! NSW 10 - 6 QLD (Morris [Josh] 26')
26 min: Computer says yes!
Dodgy, possibly. Hard to tell if he got ‘downward pressure’ on that ball. Great scramble from GI to attempt to spoil that; unlucky to be given, if I’m attempting to be fair.
Updated
24 min: A grubber might have been the option, not the outside-of-the-boot-inside-out-banana (TM) attempt from Morris.
Not to worry, Chambers has been bundled over the sideline and it’s NSW back with the ball.
They spread wide again and Jennings’ eyes light up. The Blues switch to the other side - the bomb is put up here - Can Josh Morris and Hopoate out-jump Thurston??
NSW are claiming a try - but it’s gone to the video referee! Have Thurston and GI done enough to spoil it??
Updated
22 min: So back to the actual footy.. Jennings defuses a bomb on his 10m line. A late hit on the QLD kicker there, there’s certainly some small niggle out there, make no mistakes.
Ohh, you’re kidding me. New South Wales with a great bust - Merrin I think through the guts. It gets thrown wide to Morris but his improvised kick inside is easily intercepted. A real chance there, NSW will be disappointed.
21 min: NSW knocking at the door here. Within five, but they spread it wide, and Tamou has the ball stripped..
Yeesssss.. There it is! Scaled down, biff! Tamou with a push in the face to Slater, Slater with a ball to the face, and it’s an all in melee!
It really is amazing what the ‘you can’t throw punches any more’ ruling has done to Origin. That was a remarkable slow-motion face-scratching and hair-pulling. Some inventive aggro there!
“It’s a far cry from what we used to see..” is the understatement of the evening thus far from Fatty. Ahh, yore..
Updated
19 min: First interchange, Gallen has come off - Trent Merrin on, and he’s heading straight down the tunnel into the sheds. Real worrying sign, that. Something amiss in the state of Victoria? (Apologies to the bard, that’s a stretch..) Rumours of a rib problem? A big fat needle for Gallen (hopefully not a green one) and then send him back out there?
Between Slater, Farah, GI etc there’s some walking wounded out there..
17 min: Queensland on the attack here, about 30m out. First close up of Blues forwards sucking in deep breathes..
Ooh! GI steamrolls through a few bodies - and big bodies at that! Gets the crowd excited, but the set finishes with an improvised kick which Dugan takes in goal.
Troy from Queensland has written in to say he wasn’t too impressed with the Ron Clarke minute’s silence:
I really wish I was as cool as those slobs yelling support for their team during the minute’s silence. What garbage.
Yep, wasn’t pretty. A bit like Paul Gallen, I guess.
Conversion. NSW 6 - 6 QLD
13 min: No mistake for the extras. And it’s ‘anything you can do, we can do better’.
A steady set of six from the Maroons. NSW to bring out from their own 10m. Pretty standard one-out up-the-guts metres here. Why not with Tamou, Woods and Gallen on the field. Those first two were absolutely brilliant in Game II. Imagine if they could have them out there for 80?
TRY! NSW 6 - 4 QLD (Scott 11')
11 min: And Scott’s over! Who had that for opening scorer for QLD? Thurston with the half-break, and the big front rower gets over.
Updated
10 min: Another penalty against the Blues. Penalised for inside the ten. Wasn’t Gallen, was it? The skipper will be filthed if it’s him giving away two silly penalties so early on.
First look at Thurston - he stretches it wide, get’s the Blues scrambling. Corey Parker with some good work off a Smith pass - look out, look out..
8 min: Disaster! Such a promising chance there. Cherry-Evans with a seemingly easy ball out to Hodges, who slips and turns it over.
NSW register the first completed six of the game - first high ball of the evening; Hopoate beats Slater to it, but is well held. Turn over.
Conversion. NSW 6 - 0 Queensland
6 min: No mistake from Hodkinson there. Easy points.
So, we restart again, and after a few tackles, it’s Hoddy (sure, we can run with that) coughing up the pill. Strong tackle there, and finally the Maroons have the ball in hand.
Gallen penalised for slowing the ball there. Queensland 11m out with five to play.
TRY! NSW 4 - 0 (Jennings 4')
4 min: Low-scoring be damned! The Blues have walked straight through there!
Great offload from Tamou, a bit of a scramble but quick hands get it out to Hopoate, and Jennings unstoppable from inside 10m. That’s quietened the Victorian crowd.
Updated
2 min: Blues run it wide on the 4th - Hodkinson throws the dummy and almost gets through! Now we’ve got a scrum - Smith knocks the ball from Farah’s hands and NSW get another six.
Pffft!! Kick off
1 min: Queensland kick off, Tamou with the first, and Gallen with his first hit up. What?? No instant blood? No rending of flesh? Boo to that.
An early penalty. An infringement on Woods. Blues on the 30m here working it in short one-out bursts.
Queensland to kick off - 8.16pm mein a*$%. Gosh they’ve stretched that.. And...
And that’s the national anthem. Not the worst, not the best, this woman. Couldn’t tell you who it was though - certainly not because I was taking a whizz during the anthems. Certainly not that.
A nice moment’s silence observed for long-distance runner Ron Clarke, who passed away today. 90,000+ and you couldn’t hear a pin drop. Well, actually, after about 15 secs there was a small stream of constant interjections from the crowd. That’s pretty shabby, to be honest. Vale, Ron.
And, the players have entered the stadium - great cheer for the Queenslanders as they run out amid more pyrotechnics.
Camera cuts to the Blues in a huddle inside the dressing room. Good play this - keep ‘em waiting. Make their hamstrings cool down. 1-0 Blues. Well played.
If we called it now, NSW has probably won this. Can we do this? Sure we can!
And here they come - and the boos are warming up before they’ve even touched turf underfoot. Say what you like about Paul Gallen - he’s really got people talking this week.
Yep, a definite QLD crowd, but perhaps to be expected.
Speak of the devil, here’s Paul Connolly:
There was something akin to a good old-fashioned cheer-off at the conclusion of the fireworks show and my Guardian-issue Cheer-o-meter indicated Queensland are vastly more favoured; by the order of 2 to 1, going off the data.
Our hunches confirmed. Surprised to hear at least a third of the stadium’s going for the Blues - will it be enough to get them home? Who can say.
For anyone wondering about kickoff - no; I haven’t just been talking gaff during the first ten minutes. The 8pm advertised kickoff is, as suspected, going to be a probably 8.16pm kick off. Not sure how they got those numbers, but there you go.
In case that sounded dangerously like useful information, don’t fear - I filched that from our man Paul Connolly down in Melbourne. He’s at the ground and will be lending his razor wit and keen observational powers to the match report - but if we’re lucky he might throw us some crumbs during the game too.
Meanwhile north-north of the border(s) this guy’s still showing his colours:
Go @QLDmaroons! Time for 2-0 tonight. Show no mercy! K #Origin #QLDER pic.twitter.com/173xoaWlDy
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) June 17, 2015
Ahh, Kevin. Two hours airtime on your ABC - and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s ready to make another comeback.. Howard was famously ‘Lazarus with a triple bypass’, but surely KRudd would have to be Glen Lazarus x 1000 to make it back to the top again?
Wait - Glen Lazarus getting into politics has really ruined that joke. And some would argue, the country too.
It’s a good question, how will an expected 90,000+ Vicwegens packed into the MCG react to the two sides tonight? Money says ancient hatred of NSW, coupled with several of QLD’s superstars all playing for the Melbourne Storm, should see the northern-northern neighbours heavily backed rather than the northern neighbours.
This is however Melbourne we’re talking about, so the following seems a pretty fair summation too:
In Victoria, when someone says they're interested in State of Origin they're usually wondering where their coffee came from.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) June 17, 2015
Okay - team details:
NSW:
Josh Dugan, Brett Morris, Josh Morris, Michael Jennings, Will Hopoate, Mitchell Pearce, Trent Hodkinson, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, James Tamou, Beau Scott, Ryan Hoffman, Paul Gallen (c)
QLD:
Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Will Chambers, Jonathan Thurston, Daly Cherry-Evans, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith (c), Nate Myles, Aidan Guerra, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker
The new faces are, Brett Morris and Gallen for NSW, with Daly Cherry-Evans coming in for the injured Cooper Cronk.
Great news for Blues fans there. Not sure how many more Cronk drop goals the true believers could handle to be honest. That said, watch Cherry-Evans have a blinder. After all, with a Melbourne crowd looking on, significantly fewer people will boo him, right?
As always, feel free to join the conversation - shoot me an email or send a tweet @rrjparkin or richard.parkin.casual@theguardian.com
For the record the casual bit isn’t a reference to my employment status, it’s to do with my lax approach to typos.
If you, like me, are attempting a Socceroos-Matildas-NBA finals-Origin quadruple, then power to you. It’s like four Christmas’s in one day; and Paul Gallen hasn’t even faced his first hit up yet!
Let me know where you’re watching from - always nice to hear from our international audiences.
Hi all.
Richard Parkin here, live from Guardian Aus HQ*, and I’ll be taking you through all the thrills, spills and lost teeth over the next few hours.
Don’t know about you but I’m really geared for this one. Maybe it’s Paul Gallen’s comments midweek; maybe it’s the prospect of some good old-fashioned biff; maybe it’s because New South Wales have to win it, and do so in the home of the old enemy. No - not Lang Park. It’s the MCG, and the first time in yonks.
I’ll have the teams for you shortly, so settle in - put the kids to bed, fire off all your tinder messages, slip your greyhounds some whisky in their mash so you’ll get a bit of peace and quiet - because by jimminy. If it isn’t Origin Game II, and don’t you deserve it.
*Not some guy sitting at home in his dressing gown, eating dim sims. Promise.
Eighteen years since the State of Origin last graced Melbourne’s hallowed sporting arena, the MCG. Scary to think there are small children masquerading as adults out there - possibly even drinking in bars - and yet never having witnessed such an event.
Richard Parkin will be your man in the chair - join him for live minute-by-minute coverage of the match; and if Game I is anything to go by, about thirty minutes of absolute dross tacked onto the front of it too. Surely, there won’t be a repeat of Noll-gate, but you just never know when it comes to pre-game ‘entertainment’.
In the interim, here’s some questions ahead of Game II raised by our NRL aficionado / general ne’er-do-well, Matt Cleary:
How fit is Billy Slater, for one. Greg Inglis was a hollowed-out old emu in Game One. But they still chucked him in, glassy-eyed and twitching, dry-retching. He wasn’t that crook. But even that crook the man’s very presence is dangerous. The very possibilities of him, what he might do. That’s a dangerous man who frightens defenders just by being there. And given his club form’s been progressively hotter since, you’d be surprised if the great man doesn’t torch the Blues out wide at some stage Wednesday night. His combination with Thurston inside and Boyd on the wing, that, people, is rugby league best practice. That combination can ruin you, particularly with Slater screaming around out the back. But Billy’s got a bung wing. And here we are.
Now, Slater will play. Like Inglis you’d still have him out there, just for fear factor. And he’s a hard-arse, Billy. Maggot hard. But so is Beau Scott. And so is Josh Jackson. And so is old man river Paul Gallen. And these three hard-shouldered hombres, these terror units, are going to “test” Slater’s shoulder by doing to him what Hodges did to Farah in Game One: double-man jiu-jitsu shoulder-slam, baby.
It’s a fair point - and with the returning Paul Gallen raising the temperature with some colourful pre-game accusations, there’s a pretty good chance tonight might see a ‘stink’. Not a proper one, obviously - they got rid of that a few years back. But at least some ‘stinky handbags’. At least.
While we wait, treat yourself and read the rest of Matt’s preview: here. Otherwise, chuck the kettle on and bust out the uggs, because tonight should be a treat.
