WITH only two games played in the 2016 State of Origin, the series has already been won and lost.
The Maroons have again proved their dominance and further bolstered their legacy of success.
First time Maroons coach, Kevvie Walters, has pinched his maiden Origin win. Queensland now hold a staggering record of 10 series’ wins from 11 years.
On the other hand, New South Wales has been left to lick its brutal and festering wounds.
The general public south of the border are baying for blood. 10 losses in 11 years is unacceptable by anyone’s standards. In any other team heads would roll. Names like Paul Gallen, Robbie Farah, Greg Bird, Michael Jennings and Dylan Walker would be tarred and feathered before being pushed into the ocean on rudderless boats and shot at with flaming arrows from the shore.
But that’s not going to happen while Laurie Daley is coach. Which is fair enough given that Daley is the Blues’ most successful coach in recent history. A sad fact given he has only won series from four attempts.
So where did it all go wrong for the Blues? We will have a look at the spectacular train wreck that was Game 2 and look forward to the Game 3 dead rubber at ANZ stadium
Michael Jennings: unco or Queensland sleeper agent?
Michael Jennings has been a loyal Blue since 2009. For the vast majority of that time his integrity and passion for his state could not be questioned.
That was until Game 2, 2016.
Dangerous theories of Jennings being a double agent for the Maroons began to emerge after Game 2. It was Jennings who lost the pill, resulting in Gagai’s first, tearaway try. It was Jennings who shot out of his own line, leaving a gaping hole in the Blues’ defence that Gagai eventually scored his third try from.
Then Jennings was shown to have knocked on seconds before Tyson Frizell barreled over to slam the ball down, which would have leveled the game for the Blues.
Then again in the dying minutes of the game, Jennings was shown to have knocked on in an aerial contest before James Maloney collected the crumbs to score a try that was disallowed.
After the dust settled, Jennings had gifted Queensland two tries and denied the Blues two tries. If only he were wearing a Maroons jersey, he would have surely been awarded man of the match.
Any blue-blooded New South Welshman could excuse maybe one or even two of these “slip-ups”, but all four?
One or two could be a wild coincidence: all four in the one game would hint at something more sinister to the more paranoid-minded Blues supporters.
Keep the rot or blood the youth?
One of the biggest talking points since the Blues 26-16 loss to the Maroons has been whether or not the Blues’ hierarchy should keep Gallen and co. on for Game 3 and give Gallen the send off “he deserves” or whether he and his associates (Farah, Greg Bird, Michael Jennings) should be cut like a cancerous melanoma so younger players can get a taste for Origin in a game that doesn’t really matter.
Some in the community argue that Gallen should be an automatic selection given his 10 years of service to the Blues.
Others, however, are suspicious that Gallen’s Origin career coincidences directly with the beginning of the Maroons’ juggernaut. Gallen has proven to have one of the most successful losing careers the NRL has ever seen. It would take a tremendous effort indeed to lose as regularly as Gallen has. So should his history of losing be honored in one last game or should Gallen and co. be brushed aside like yesterday’s trash?
Kids like Bryce Cartwright, Tom Trbojevic, Ryan James, James Tedesco, James Roberts, Joey Leilua and Nathan Peats all need a look in if the Blues want to compete against the Maroons next year and in the future.
A dead rubber is the perfect time introduce these names to the Origin arena: it is Origin minus the pressure of a series on the line.
The Maroons
Every year critics of Queensland claim its players are pushing the pension age. They claim that several of them have seniors cards and claim discounts on a great range of products. They say that the vast majority of Queensland players are over the hill and that they can’t continue their dominance of Origin any longer.
With each passing year now, that theory gets killed off like an important character in Game of Thrones.
Young guns like Dane Gagai, Justin O’Neil, Corey Oates, Josh McGuire, Michael Morgan and Josh Papalii have stood up to the plate. They have all proven to be game changers for the Maroons at one point or another.
That’s not to mention the wealth of talent Queensland hasn’t even blooded in Origin yet: Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt, Moses Mbye, Andrew McCullough, Jake Friend, Dylan Napa, Jarrod Wallace, Cameron Munster and Valentine Holmes just to name a few.
With a shopping list as impressive as that, it’s easy to conceive that the Maroons could chalk up 10 straight series wins in the future.
Game three
Game three, the dead rubber, kicks off on July 13 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
Despite Queensland stitching up the series in two games already, most of the popular bookies around the country have the Blues as favorites ahead of Game three.
SportsBet.com.au, CrownBet.com.au and LuxBet.com.au all have the Blues @ $1.80 and the Maroons @ $2. The only point of difference when it comes to the odds is WilliamHill.com.au, which has the Blues @ $1.81 and the Maroons @ $2.
Given the Maroons dominance this year, snaffling up Queensland at $2 seems to be very good odds indeed. Sure, Game three is down in enemy territory, but the game is a dead rubber. That means the Blues supporters will be too defeated and down trodden to even show up, so the crowd won’t be behind the Blues.
