State of Origin 2010

AdeT

Squads announced today:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27135392-5018993,00.html

It's my favourite series of the year. They really smash into each other. In my opinion it's probably the ultimate in competitive rugby matches in either code.

Alot of people I know are calling it a Queensland series now, without too much stress. I'm not sure...Cam Smith is semi-injured and if he pulls out that's huge.

Hayne will play fb for a while in the first test. Gidley will go to 9 and Idris will come onto the wing. That could be a crucial period for the Blues - Hayne is their most exciting player and probably a better fb than Gidley. The main worry for the blues must be the halves. Lyon & Kimmorley v Lockyer & Thurston. Granted there is no other half back combo in the world that is near those two, I'd worry about this area for the NSW. Brett Kimmorley has been going great this season though and maybe Thurston is carrying an injury? I know he's been rested by the Cowboys. That's probably why Cronk is benching rather than another hooker. With Smith fighting to make it and Thurston just back from injury, there's a scenario where both have to come off injured...

I think i'd like NSW to win the first test...Queensland have a huge amount of talent but i'd like to see them go one behind in the series

toomevara

Jesus, that Queensland squad looks astonishingly strong. Cannot wait for these games.

old gregg

yep, looking forward to this in a big way. I can't imagine a more exciting sporting event ....... :pof any description:p

Stev_o

AdeT wrote: »

Squads announced today:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27135392-5018993,00.html

It's my favourite series of the year. They really smash into each other. In my opinion it's probably the ultimate in competitive rugby matches in either code.

Alot of people I know are calling it a Queensland series now, without too much stress. I'm not sure...Cam Smith is semi-injured and if he pulls out that's huge.

Hayne will play fb for a while in the first test. Gidley will go to 9 and Idris will come onto the wing. That could be a crucial period for the Blues - Hayne is their most exciting player and probably a better fb than Gidley. The main worry for the blues must be the halves. Lyon & Kimmorley v Lockyer & Thurston. Granted there is no other half back combo in the world that is near those two, I'd worry about this area for the NSW. Brett Kimmorley has been going great this season though and maybe Thurston is carrying an injury? I know he's been rested by the Cowboys. That's probably why Cronk is benching rather than another hooker. With Smith fighting to make it and Thurston just back from injury, there's a scenario where both have to come off injured...

I think i'd like NSW to win the first test...Queensland have a huge amount of talent but i'd like to see them go one behind in the series

Well Gidley's Captain so he's playing regardless it's more of a question of where and if it ends up being at FB ill cry.

Maroons pack is by far the better of the two and the gulf in quaility in the Half Backs is hilarious.

Where's Soward or Bird for NSW? Hell even Rogers would of been worth a stab.

The fact that Jamie Lyon is at FE is one of the funniest things you ll ever see.

mountain

Hi all,

dont forget, first state of origin on tomorrow (weds),
just to remind of all where the last one finished, this is a good read,
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/it-was-mayhem--there-was-a-feeling-the-whole-stadium-was-going-to-erupt-20100524-w84v.html

toomevara

Interesting that Carney's fronting Sky's coverage of this..must have big plans for him...

Stev_o

Blues go 4 up after a stupid mistake from a bomb after Thurston while being offside kicks it into his in goal area for Hayne to simply touch down. Weather's pretty bad and the pitch is looking cut up already so i wouldn't expect too much wide play which if anything plays to NSW strengths.

Stev_o

Thurston with a basketball offload in a two man tackle puts Boyd in for the try.

old gregg

reasonable stream up on http://www.justin.tv/scottsport#r=KV2zRfo~ for folks who don't have the tv channel

Stev_o

Miracle try by Slater, Thurston with one of the best kicks you ll ever see puts Slater in.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

Miracle try by Slater, Thurston with one of the best kicks you ll ever see puts Slater in.

Lovely, lovely try. cagey thus far. QLD maybe just getting on top a little.

Stev_o

toomevara wrote: »

Lovely, lovely try. cagey thus far. QLD maybe just getting on top a little.

What do you expect when you have a fatty in the shape of Jamie Lyon at FE for NSW madness really Soward should of at least been on the bench to offer a attacking threat, and ffs take Gidley off put Hayne to FB let him go FE now and again and bring on Idris in on the Wing. And make a note to drop Cooper for the next test.

toomevara

Great try saver....

mountain

toomevara wrote: »

Interesting that Carney's fronting Sky's coverage of this..must have big plans for him...

Did you see the head of hair on him????

toomevara

mountain wrote: »

Did you see the head of hair on him????

Dude, thats after a trim.....:D

AdeT

toomevara wrote: »

Dude, thats after a trim.....:D

It's like lego hair.

Stev_o

Carney taking the prize for being the most scruffy looking Presenter in League history Fair play to him he's doing a good job despite being pretty damn nervous.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

bring on Idris in on the Wing. .

He's on....

Stev_o

toomevara wrote: »

He's on....

And surely that was a knock on in contact? But anyway they are going to need more then a wrecking ball to get them back in this game.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

And surely that was a knock on in contact? But anyway they are going to need more then a wrecking ball to get them back in this game.

Evened up with that penalty call on Watmough...

old gregg

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

toomevara

old gregg wrote: »

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

Nicely worked try from QLD, but nothing special...think they may be in for a rough half hour here, starting to struggle.

old gregg

old gregg wrote: »

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

well, maybe they can

toomevara

Nice try NSW , at last a bit of creativity from the halves...game back on...

toomevara

Surely never a one on one? or maybe....?

Try, well thats the end of that I reckon....

AdeT

http://www.nrl.com/livescoreboard/home.aspx

Some of the stats are incredible. 44 tackles for Ennis and 189 meters gained by Kurt Gidley. 118 meters for Civ is huge for a prop; NSW must be ready for him to retire (and Lockyer too)

6 missed tackles by Thurston ain't great though - he's gotta be carrying an injury! 13 made so he's missed a third of his attempts. NSW will target that next time out i'm sure. He's always looked a strong defender to me

toomevara

AdeT wrote: »

http://www.nrl.com/livescoreboard/home.aspx

Some of the stats are incredible. 44 tackles for Ennis and 189 meters gained by Kurt Gidley. 118 meters for Civ is huge for a prop; NSW must be ready for him to retire (and Lockyer too)

6 missed tackles by Thurston ain't great though - he's gotta be carrying an injury! 13 made so he's missed a third of his attempts. NSW will target that next time out i'm sure. He's always looked a strong defender to me

Thanks for that Ade, fascinating. was going to post on how the scoreline was very flattering to NSW, but when you see stats like Ennis' you see the massive defensive effort they put in. Strange game, the Maroons clearly in a class above the blues, in terms of creativity and attacking potential/penetration but, total credit to NSW, they scrapped for everything and refused to accept what appeared to be the inevitable. Hard to see beyond the 5-in-a-row though after that....

amacachi

Not surprised at Thurston missing 6 tackles, had a 'mare start to the match.
Thought the Thurston steal was fair enough, but NSW have to be wondering what if Hayne hadn't thrown the ball away.
That said, QLD did look like they had answers for any anything NSW were going to try.

Fair play to Carney as well. Was obviously nervous but did a decent job.

Also I think it was QLD's first try that really annoyed me. I know it's easy to say while sitting on your arse watching on TV, but all wingers should get a kicking when they're kids if they come more than 5 metres from the sideline while defending, might get the message across then.

Limerick Dude

I was at this game last night, i'll try and post up some pictures soon!

AdeT

Limerick Dude wrote: »

I was at this game last night, i'll try and post up some pictures soon!

Lucky git!

toomevara

AdeT wrote: »

Lucky git!

+1....one of the few outstanding boxes I need to tick on my "sporting events to attend before I pop me clogs" list....