Queensland Maroons vs New South Wales Blues – Wednesday night – Suncorp Stadium
Maroons
- Greg Inglis (South Sydney Rabbitohs)
- Darius Boyd (Brisbane Broncos)
- Will Chambers (Melbourne Storm)
- Justin Hodges (Brisbane Broncos)
- Dane Gagai (Newcastle Knights)
- Jonathan Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys)
- Cooper Cronk (Melbourne Storm)
- Matt Scott (North Queensland Cowboys)
- Cameron Smith (c) (Melbourne Storm)
- Nate Myles (Gold Coast Titans)
- Aidan Guerra (Sydney Roosters)
- Sam Thaiday (Brisbane Broncos)
- Corey Parker (Brisbane Broncos)
- Michael Morgan (North Queensland Cowboys)
- Josh Papalii (Canberra Raiders)
- Matt Gillett (Brisbane Broncos)
- Jacob Lillyman (New Zealand Warriors)
Blues
- Josh Dugan (St George Illawarra Dragons)
- Will Hopoate (Parramatta Eels)
- Michael Jennings (Sydney Roosters)
- Josh Morris (Canterbury Bulldogs)
- Brett Morris (Canterbury Bulldogs)
- Mitchell Pearce (Sydney Roosters)
- Trent Hodkinson (Canterbury Bulldogs)
- Aaron Woods (Wests Tigers)
- Michael Ennis (Cronulla Sharks)
- James Tamou (North Queensland Cowboys)
- Beau Scott (Newcastle Knights)
- Ryan Hoffman (New Zealand Warriors)
- Paul Gallen (c) Cronulla Sharks
- Trent Merrin (St George Illawarra Dragons)
- Boyd Cordner (Sydney Roosters)
- David Klemmer (Canterbury Bulldogs)
- Josh Jackson (Canterbury Bulldogs)
Note: team line-ups are subject to change. Rosters will be updated as amendments filter through.
I've been running the slide rule over recent State of Origin encounters, and something jumped out at me. I wanted to look at games played at this venue, but I also wanted to put a line through some of those games. I excluded games at Suncorp for two reasons:
- If it was Game One of the series (which is almost always low-scoring and tight); and
- If the game was a dead rubber
So, in a nutshell, my sample group is games where the series is alive and its either Game Two or Game Three....just like this game on Wednesday. That left me with a sample size of seven games during the last ten years, and in those seven games Queensland won them all. More often than not the victories were convincing - the Maroons racked up 208 points in those seven games while conceding only 90. They scored 30 points or more on five occasions, and on four occasions restricted their opponents to six points or less. Now some will say I've chosen this group of games to give me the result I wanted to get...and they may be right, but the numbers don't lie. NSW have won just two games at Suncorp since 2006, and both were dead rubber contests. This venue means something to Queensland footballers, and when the game also means something the combination is hard to beat. The Blues have a genuine advantage in the forwards, and a significant size advantage on the bench. The Queensland pack needs to lift, but I'm banking on the home crowd doing just that - it's bigger than the Blues bench. Inglis shifts to fullback for Billy Slater, where (potentially) a performance for the ages awaits us. If this game opens up and he finds his mojo he'll run for 200+ metres on Wednesday. Cronk returns from injury and Queensland will be better for it. Cameron Smith will be keen to put a difficult week behind him - luckily for him he'll be playing in front of a friendly audience. Clearly the gap between the two sides has narrowed, but there are quite a number of players I'd be happy to tag as champions pulling on boots on Wednesday night...and they're all playing for the home side.
Verdict : QLD 25 - NSW 18
First try scorer: Greg Inglis
Man of the Match: Greg Inglis
Comments
Submitted by Coach Potato on
History. A great pointer to the future but not always. Rains for a week, so should the next day automatically be rain too? Or will it be sunshine? Last year the sun broke through, even though history said it should have rained forever.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Origin games at Lang Park stats seem to hide the influence of The Grasshopper Barry Gomersall. A reason to check referee's bank accounts if ever there was one. Through history has been the single most influential person to take the field.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Pack your bags Kyrgios!! Won't be too hard, you don't have any racquets left.
Submitted by Johnny Ray on
Awesome. State Of Origin. Queensland Vs New South Wales. Or as we in New Zealand like to say over here Cellblock A Vs Cellblock B ! Hahahaha ... you're all bunch of convicts ! Seriously though I know I shouldn't mock it as we all know in short history of our sport, State Of Origin has produced some of best moments in the game. To me seeing things like great Arthur Beetson giving his teammate Michael Cronin his beats in first ever game of series to Jarryd Hayne last year running out football in last seconds of game and into waiting arms of his adoring fans sitting there in stands are the sort of things that I will never forget and this origin game will be no different. As a decider I feel this game will definitely give us something memorable to watch and that what we are about to witness on Wednesday is history in the making. NSW will win on Wednesday and will win their first back to back Origin series in ten years. That I am confident of. In fact I am so confident that NSW will win this year origin series that I am willing to bet my own place on this site scoreboard on it ! Yep that's right ! So confident am I that NSW Blues will win this week origin decider that if they don't I will permanently log off from this site and never post another tip on scoreboard again ! That's just how convinced I am that the Blues will win. NSW by ten points. Man of Match - Brett Morris. Go Blues !!! ;-D
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Nice to have confidence, but enough to play Thinker Russian Roulette? .. after such a horrible tipping round which you thought was a piece of cake.
Will you be posting live during the game so we can make bets on whether your last post requires playing of the Last Post ?
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Just glad to not have the grub called Cameron Smith on my team. Although he does play for Australia, so anytime he plays a Test match in future, I will be cheering for the other country.
#WillNeverSupportThatGrubAgain
Submitted by a on
QLD will win hands down
Submitted by Baggy_Gee on
I shall be making and serving pizza's all night long. If you feel the need, the need for a feed, hit your local Pizza Capers up and get a decent pizza into you. So sorry Coach I shall not be online. On Cameron Smith, He isn't a grub like Adam Renyolds and Sam Thursday, He's like a defence lawyer, if there is a technical line he can take he abuses it ad nausium.
Submitted by tigerholic on
Morning Folks
This state of origin decider will be as close as they can be. NSW will teach Qld that they should have retired a few of the old blokes before now.
NSW 19-QLD 18
Go the "BLUES"
Submitted by a on
NSW will not win they are losers
Submitted by Islander on
NSW will win! Why? Because half the Maroons team should be watching the game on telly from a senior citizens home.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
I'd say you represent less than 1% of the Rugby League community with your defence of Smith, Baggy.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
.. In regard to the the on-field goings on immediately after the tackle on McKinnon. I'm sorry I honestly can't think of another word to describe this excuse of a man
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Bryce Cartwright. Easily gets an Origin jumper next year. Due to cause Qld havoc for many a year. Injury free makes the four nations squad at the end of 2016 season. Might even be in the starting 13.
Hey Mal, I heard a rumour that since there's a town of Penrith north west of Longreach, and a Penrith Island off the coast of Mackay, that maybe you could claim Bryce and Matty Moylan? Nice try.
Submitted by Baggy_Gee on
You have forgotten my previous comments about smith being king grub. The others are accused of over competitiveness, he has made it an abuse the rules at all costs grub. He might be a good bloke but what he does on the field means I shall always barrack for the people against him.
Submitted by Steel Panther on
Coming from the other side of the ditch I don't wear an eye patch. I'd like to think I have an impartial view and I can't for the life of me see why any player in the NRL would knowingly ignore the plight of another player. This isn't a defence of Smith but how was he to know the extent of Alex McKinnon's injury at the time of the tackle. Surely he was doing what most captains would do (I note Gallen is famous for this), expecting McKinnon to just brush himself off and carry on or at least be taken off on a medicab and be fine afterwards as is the case with 99.9% of players.
Surely had he known how serious the situation was he would have acted differently. Things happen in the heat of the battle (take James Graham's actions v Bunnies earlier this year) and hindsight is a great thing. Just my thoughts.....
Submitted by mark ashford on
Hey Coach and Baggy Gee what's with the attack on the "voyeur"?
Last time I looked this is a public site with all welcome to their say.
I too was a bit interested in your singling out myself and others for not picking Penrith....not your normal style Coach.
And as for your attack on Cam Smith, I'm speechless. It's just your origin banter right?
Now that I got that off my chest I'm going Maroons by 3 Mom JT
Submitted by Steel Panther on
Mark I'm going to support you here mate. Saying those who didn't pick Penrith don't know as much about the game as they think they do was a bit rich in my opinion. Penrith have been playing like cr#p, had two of their best in Moylan & Segiaro out plus no Idris. Making it worse Mansor pulls out late. Souths heading into the game without only Inglis and better form why would you not pick them? Everyone who follows this game knows the season is riddled with "I never saw that coming" results. For Penrith to pull off the win under the circumstances is awesome and I'm sure Tailspin's comment was in no way intended to distract from their victory.
Submitted by Eugene on
I had penrith last weekend but 1-12, why oh why did they have to kick a penalty field goal in the 78 min, stuffed my multi :( I do recon souths are over rated, they have been playing really av this year.
On a side note Go Queensland!!!!
Submitted by The Thinker on
Coach clearly knows and loves the game, but he has the blinkers on when it comes to the Panthers and NSW. It's passion, and sometimes it's a little over the top. I don't mind, but I can understand why it rubs some people the wrong way. Tonight it will be much worse...you've been warned.
As for tipping the Panthers win over the Rabbits - prior to that game the only teams the Panthers have beaten this season are currently in 8th, 9th, 12th, 14th and 16th (twice). The teams they beat in 8th and 12th were in the first two rounds when they were looking pretty darn slick. Since then they've played those two teams again, and were soundly beaten on both occasions.
The win over the Tigers was good...but it was the Tigers. Beating the Bunnies wasn't a huge surprise, but on exposed form they were still hard to tip. A few people did though, so bravo to them.
I'll be here tonight during the game. Coach is fighting from the blue corner - I'll be in the red. We want a good clean fight...touch gloves.
Submitted by The Thinker on
I suppose I should update my team list - Freddie Fittler with his poker face on:
http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/video-news/video-qld-news/farah-wont-p...
Submitted by a on
NSW will only win if the refs help them
Submitted by christine on
it's maroons for me
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Mark, please read my comment again. I never attacked anyone. I was taken down for gloating about getting a couple right, and merely said if that didn't suit him, then don't bother. He/she is as welcome as anyone else. I find it curious though, that the first post you've saved up for two years (even though I've only been here for 4 months) is to take someone down.
Other people said stronger stuff, but I merely said to the effect "if you dont like whats on the TV, just change the channel"
Submitted by Coach Potato on
..and others really need to put their dummy back in.
What a bunch of sooks??
Submitted by The Thinker on
Farah out...
Ennis in...
Confirmed
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Keep the box of tissues out for the game ya bunch of Wally's. Pardon the ironic punmoh Immortal one.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
*pun oh ...
Submitted by tonibet on
watched T5 Genisys last night, (homage, homage...)
and to quote Arnie... "old... but not obsolete!
Maroons for the win!! haha!
Submitted by a on
Go QLD
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Not aiming for it, but if NSW lose, I expect to cop it from all sides, but I know I'll stick my chin out and cop it sweet. Jaw's not made of glass. Each to their own I guess. It's a free country. Sook if you want.
Submitted by a on
QLD to win 19-10 tonight
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Oh Roll Call !!
Whether your a regular, or just out for a one-night-post, let's hear who's here ...
Coach Potato ..... Present
Submitted by The Thinker on
Good evening Coach....I'm present and looking forward to the near future
Submitted by Footy chick on
Hello Boys. Play nicely.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Testosterone levels abnormally high now :/
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Anyone from Tenterfield NSW out there want to give us a big "QUEENSLANDER!!!"?
How bout you Billy Moore?
Submitted by a on
Everyone knows QLD will win
Submitted by The Thinker on
At least Tenterfield is near the border. James Tamou was born on the North Island of New Zealand.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
OK, that sounds like 3 against 1. I'll play all 13 positions. Thinker, your halfback, 'a' you can be 5/8th. Chick? ... No. no time for innuendo now. Games starting.
Submitted by The Thinker on
Hmmmm
Submitted by Coach Potato on
C'mon refs. Let us win on our own. 'A' is gonna prove himself right about you guys
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Tit for tat penalty. What a joke you two. Nil all is the same isn't it you idiots?
Submitted by Johnny Ray on
Yeah I'm here Coach ! Come on Blues ! ;-D
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Bad timing jr
Submitted by Johnny Ray on
Come on Blues :-(
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Cut out pass, off NSW. Straight to Gagai. Over in the corner.
Geez its tough doing the barracking for the silent mob too
Submitted by Rick on
Hi Coach and all Rick is present.
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Fair dinkum carve up. Noone wants to win like this you idiots
Submitted by Coach Potato on
Your blue right Rick?
Pages