Yeah great day to be in Queensland. All the rednecks are so happy I can see their tonsills through their missing teeth.
My nextdoor neighbour is a Queenslander, I'm sure his Queensland spirit will at least help me save that side of my house.
Ricky Stuart was right. Pearce definitely outplayed Thurston in the last 20 mins. Just barely to be honest, but he's clearly the best now.
Bit hard when your man is the player wrapping round, if he pushed in then we would of been left short out wide. He got caught flat footed because Lewis didn't slide...
Nah I don't agree. I don't have a problem with him making the initial tackle, but when it was over Gidley still wouldn't let him go. When the referee blows the whistle, you stop. Pretty simple. Gidley knew exactly what he was doing.
It's not the first time it's happened this season though, and it certainly won't be the last. I've been reading calls that he should've been binned for a professional foul. As far as consistency goes, I haven't seen a single player get done for it yet, and I imagine the occurences would be well into double figures.
Regarding the Thaiday try... It's actually quite a strange one mainly due to the fact that it started right side (for NSW) with Smith getting out of acting half, but then shifting left and having a fullback at first receiver. It's a beautiful piece of nuance because in that one minor act, Cameron Smith managed to shift the entire Blues left side defence out of position. And I'm not exaggerating. If you re-watch the vision, Creagh hesitates and moves slightly right because that's the way the play starts. When Smith reverts back to the left, Slater has already managed to get outside Creagh's line as the A defender. Quite incredible how Smith can create a minor overlap like that with such ease. Whilst I agree it wasn't really Pearce's fault, calling for Lewis to slide would've been even worse. Slater would've dummied and strolled through untouched because there's no way Creagh is catching him from here... Pearce was in a 50/50. If he comes in and Slater goes out the back, QLD have an overlap. If he doesn't commit to come in or out, as he did, he's caught in no man's land and Thaiday strolls through. Logically speaking he should've committed to take Thaiday because even if QLD have an overlap, they still have to exploit it. And Hayne was up and could've easily jammed Lockyer. Overall, whilst Pearce and Lewis are culpable, Creagh is the one really at fault for letting the first receiver get outside him so easily.
I don't think Lewis is at fault there at all - he took Slater, which he had to because Creagh had been made irrelevant by Smith, as you said. Pearce took no-one really which was a fault, and Creagh's over-reading caused it all to begin with.
