2013 State Of Origin II - Brisbane

Pearce can throw a decent pass. I just thought he did it at the wrong times. Most of it was inside his own half or at times when the cut-out wasn't on. Quite a lot of them went to his centres who were easily marked and under pressure.

He ran for 70m which would is abnormally high for him. Some of it was really effective. And some of it was detrimental.

Another point I'd make having watched the game again is Watmough's defence. I know I harp on about it but it was really shit IMO. Three times he was easily knocked off and run past in the second half alone. 21 tackles and 3 misses isn't statistically too bad but it's not what I would be looking for to promote into starting. Mind you, Bird wasn't much better. I think it should be Gallen playing at lock with Watmough doing a cameo.

 

Having watched the game again I'm not going to change my mind about Fifita. The one good run he made was from second phase through an offload by Merrin and it was well wide. He ran through Thurston and it was a good run but he's not a second rower. He's a middle-third prop forward and in his main department, hit-ups, he was completely ineffectual. Look at his charges. 7 hit-ups for 45m at 6.42m per run and 1 ruck run for 6m). The other 50m came from that break on the right and the drop-out he brought back. The same was true in Game I. He made one good early run from the kick off and the rest were meh. His metres from ruck runs so far are 28 and 51 at 5.64m per run. That's garbage for a bench prop. Merrin is averaging 8.73.

Put shit on Woods for only making 35m but he had to do it in the opening 20. I doubt if he made one good break out on the fringe for 25m we'd be saying he played well. Have a look at how Fifita went starting the second half. He wouldn't have done any better. He got driven backwards twice and three times in total. His metres per ruck run are the lowest of any middle third player in Origin this year, and by quite some distance. He's last with the aforementioned 5.64m, which is way, way down from what he does at club level. That's Dallas Johnson type shit. The next is Shillington with 6.5m and he was fucking terrible in Game I. Every other middle third player is above 7m.

Maybe NSW should use him wider and utilise his offloading ability or just run him at Thurston. So far, he's not an Origin prop's arsehole. He can tackle for sure. But so can Tolman and as I seem to recall, Wilson, you didn't want Tolman because he doesn't make good metres per run and would be stifled if put in Origin.

 

Yes but we made 8 errors to 5 don't forget. And which players exactly are you talking about when you say they made more metres?

Talking purely about all forwards, NSW did outrun ours by 50m in the second 40. We still won 12-6. And in Game I our forwards out-ran NSW's by 16m despite a 4-1 penalty count against us, although NSW did make 9 errors to our 4. We won the second forty 6-0.

 

The thing that would worry me if I were a NSWmen is that in 120 minutes of footy, they've created one try from a kick. Over the last 5 games by try assists:

Carney - 1
Pearce - 1 - by a kick.
Maloney - 0

Farah - 3 - All by kicks.

Better hope Farah doesn't do an ankle

 

As long as we have Parker starting, with Myles and Scott fit, I'm not too worried about our middle third. I'd definitely like to have another prop though. If NSW lose Gallen, they're in all sorts because Tamou and Woods were both terrible in their respective hit-outs. They will need to find two props who are starting quality. Tamou is one if he actually plays well but he hasn't been in good form for a long time. He needs to recapture what he was doing last year.

 

Hodges getting an 8 is a bit of a joke. Boyd was better.

 

My player ratings would be:

QLD
1.Slater - 5. Too many errors.
2.Boyd - 6.5. Great display of wing play for the most part.
3.Inglis - 6. Quiet by his standards. Not his fault. Made a lot of statements in defence.
4.Hodges - 6. Some good, some bad. He's having a much better series.
5.Tate - 5. Ran across field all night. Did one or two good runs.
6.Thurston - 7.5. Masterclass on the left. Tackled like pus.
7.Cronk - 7.5 Kicked well. Threw some great passes. Just needed to run a bit more.
8.Scott - 9. Tie with Parker as best on field. Only one poor offload marred a superb night.
9.Smith - 7. Tackled much better. Made some great in-roads. Didn't kick enough.
10.Myles - 8. As expected handled the move with ease. Textbook low tackling clinic.
11.McQueen - 5. Played better than most thought. Ran some good lines but lacks punch.
12.Thaiday - 6. Bulldozed Maloney. Should've stayed there; did very little after moving.
13.Parker - 9. Ran superbly. Tackled well. Produced offloads. Should've been there all along.

14.Cherry-Evans - 5.5. Had few chances. Tackled superbly with 26 in 23 minutes. Nice grubber too.
15.Gillett - 6. Really troubled NSW with footwork.
16.Te'o - 5.5. Okay. Why he played 55 minutes and Papalii only got 11 is beyond me.
17.Papalii - 5.5. Charge and barge. 40m from 4 runs in 11 minutes. Nice cameo.


NSW

1.Dugan - 5. Stifled the backline. He's better than what he showed.
2.Morris - 5. Did he actually play? Aside from the try he did nothing. Ran for 20m.
3.Jennings - 5. Tackled well. Had no chance.
4.Morris - 4. Didn't help Merritt's cause either in attack or defence. Should've been dropped by now.
5.Merritt - 2.5. Deplorable. Daley to take a lot of blame for telling him to race in though.
6.Maloney - 5. Made a few good runs. Defended terribly. Offered little in attack.
7.Pearce - 6. Excellent running game. Terrible kicking. Has no idea what he's doing in the opp. 20.
8.Gallen - 7.5. In a badly beaten pack he was very good. Never stopped. Tackled and ran well.
9.Farah - 6.5. Set up the only try. Didn't run effectively. Put in some bizarre kicks.
10.Woods - 3. Completely monstered.
11.Lewis - 6.5. One of the few who really troubled our line consistently.
12.Hoffman - 5. Played okay. Ran hard. Tackled well. Shouldn't be in Origin.
13.Bird - 5.5. Worst Origin from him in a long time.

14.Reynolds - 3. Terrible. Gidley MkII?
15.Merrin - 7. Never took a backward step. Ran hard and went forward in a beaten pack. Let his team down with a stupid dogshot.
16.Fifita - 5.5. Made a great run. Tackled well. Didn't go-forward though.
17.Watmough - 5.5. Didn't offer his usual leg speed. Hampered by injury I think.

 

Yep. Thaiday was holding him by the scruff of the jersey. Pearce tried to hit him but didn't have the reach. .

 

Someone told me Thurston ended up defending at centre, didn't really see but did he end up defending there?