2013 State Of Origin II - Brisbane

As for the second 40:

53rd minute - The fight. Tate and Hodges both threw punches but neither were worthy of sin binning IMO. There was very little in it. Merrin's was a dog shot. Gallen was right, only he should've been binned.

59th minute - possible shoulder charge by Reynolds but there was nothing in it. Play on.

65th minute -If that wasn't a knock on by Dugan, I'm an astronaut.

74th minute - Reckon Woods tackled Tate before he got the ball, but it was touch and go. Play on.

78th minute - Parker offload was probably forward.

 

So where this great injustice to NSW occurred I do not know. What I do know is that NSW got a much better rub of the green in Sydney. Ours was minimal at best.

 

I thought all three strips, Maloney's then Smith's and later in that same half, Lewis's were all only partial strips. It's quite a common thing in the interpretation that says if a hand is on the ball and it appears to be pulled away then it's a penalty. Very often you'll find players using the ball as a point of leverage or something to grab onto to make a tackle and it ends up being lost.

I agree though, Smith's should've been penalised. And as you say, it's minimal and you have to overcome a bad call like that. NSW lost because we ran over the top of them. Kicked better than them. Tackled better than them. Created better than them. And didn't let up all night. Not because Hoffman didn't get a penalty in the 7th minute.

 

Like you blokes, I saw the loose carry straight away and thought the big dumb cunt had lost it. Hodges does the same thing. Terrible technique.

 

Hodges has lost the ball in Origin a few times purely because of the way he carries it. Thinking of when Gallen slung him 20m from our own line and it came out purely because he had in an outstretched wing.

 

I thought they were but two things I'd say. Firstly, they were pissweak punches. Wouldn't knock the fluff off a cappuccino. And secondly, he was somewhat trying to defend Tate who was copping unprovoked punches. I give him some leeway there.

 

NSW's biggest problem with field position in the opening 20 minutes was QLD's kicking game, and their inability to stop QLD's forward rolling forward. The first came from Cronk putting it up and Dugan getting tackled 5m out. The next was Cronk putting it over the sideline 12m out. Then Smith with a raking kick which Morris was very slow to get back and cover. He got pinned 4m out. The first and third of these were from sets that started from kick-offs by NSW - basically 100m sets. And off the back of the last one, QLD started their next set right on half-way. We got four repeat sets from Woods and Morris both knocking on intercept attempts, Jennings' hit on Thurston kicking and Thaiday putting it in-goal. Those 4 sets lead to Parker being held up and then Boyd scoring 2 plays later. Then after the kick off QLD just rolled up-field with ease getting over half-way in 4 tackles before Fifita got penalised for holding down. QLD threw it over the sideline in the next set. NSW finally got a bit of field position back as a result but Maloney's kick was a dud. QLD started their set 20m out from their own line and again gave it back to NSW 10m out.

You can't allow the opposition to put you in your own 10m from sets that you start by kicking off or from 20m restarts.

By contrast, after NSW got their first penalty, they worked up-field and gave it to QLD 5m out from their own line. And they kept QLD to only a 30m gain. But again, QLD's kicking got them way down field. Cronk put in a monster torpedo from 35m that ended up going dead at the other end.

 

I don't really like punches from a third party though.