State of Origin 2017: NSW prop Andrew Fifita failed to match the hype
HE whinged about sledging but couldn’t aim up. He complained about a lack of ball but didn’t stand up. Andrew Fifita went missing for NSW at Suncorp Stadium.
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IF you are going to whinge about an opponent’s sledging, it’s a good thing if you aim up the next you play him.
If you are silly enough to complain about not getting enough ball from your teammates after a loss, you have to be a leader next time.
For Andrew Fifita, who effectively won a grand final with one run and utterly dominated Queensland six weeks earlier, to go missing in such a fashion as Wednesday night confirmed one of Origin’s great maxims.
It remains this: NSW players are prone to be overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Suncorp Stadium when the Maroons have their state really move behind them.
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Talked up outrageously by the more hysterical sections of the Sydney media after their 28-4 win in Game One, NSW will now feel the scorn of many of those very pundits which treat each Queensland series win as a personal affront.
Fifita made it known that he was incensed by what Josh McGuire said to him after full-time in Sydney after Game Two, but neither the Sharks prop nor his Blues mates delivered retribution to McGuire.
Fifita criticised the amount of ball he received in Origin II, but returned only 66m from 10 runs, 73m fewer than he did in his matchwinning hand in Origin I.
Booed with almost every touch, he was guilty of something Queensland Origin forwards have rarely stand accused of in Jarrod Wallace’s try which iced the game at 22-6.
On Channel 9, commentator Darren Lockyer noticed that Fifita and Aaron Woods did not hustle across in cover to anticipate a hurled offload from Queensland’s debutant Cameron Munster to Wallace.
“NSW stopped competing. They thought it was going to be a kick for the corner (by Munster),’’ Lockyer said.
On the restart, Fifita senselessly grappled with Munster in a tackle from which referee Matt Cecchin found no penalty and full-time came four minutes early for the joyous Brisbane crowd when he knocked on a pass from an incensed Mitchell Pearce.
Pearce, who won his first Origin match in Brisbane six weeks earlier, has now been in seven losing series and predecessor Andrew Johns said on Nine that alternative Nathan Cleary may be two years away from being Origin-ready.
Fox Sports Stats had Pearce running just three times for 12m. By a different set of criteria evidently, Nine had the Roosters No.7 making 10 runs for 52m gained.
It was condemning for playmakers Pearce and James Maloney that the only NSW line break assist recognised by Fox Sports Stats was by winger Blake Ferguson.
“To put a performance like that one on an occasion like this, it’s horrible,’’ Maloney said. “It was like playing reserve grade.’
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