State of Origin 2018: In Ben Hunt, Queensland have their own Mitchell Pearce, a talented player held against impossible standards
MAROONS halfback Ben Hunt has been roasted by keyboard warriors and greats of the game alike — for what? Because he’s the man that has to follow the greatest to have ever played the game, writes PAUL KENT.
Opinion
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THE harshest statement made after Origin II?
Queensland has found their Mitchell Pearce.
Ouch.
There is no place for tissue skin in Origin. The honour of being an Origin player is all any footballer wants, but it comes at a price.
For Ben Hunt, that price is being felt today.
And for what? A kick that went long and a failure to attack the left edge where Greg Inglis lurked and NSW defended for 10 long minutes a man short.
Such are the standards of Origin, and it might seem terribly unfair but for the fact NSW and particularly Pearce have been skewered by those same standards for a decade.
It wasn’t fair then and it isn’t fair now, but such is the heat of the Origin cauldron.
The criticism of Hunt is being pasted by a generation of Queensland fans grown fat on the flawless decision making of Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston, keyboard warriors who have no idea of the pressure of Origin or the fortune that visited Queensland when Cameron Smith picked up his first Origin jersey.
Somehow, in a decade of humbling NSW, they convinced themselves such excellence was normal.
It is the same thinking used to skewer Pearce, a favourite whipping boy of Maroons fans and, sad to say, too many Blues fans.
Only now is it clear how blessed Queensland has been with the generation just past.
Cameron Smith might well be the greatest to have ever played the game.
Throw in Churchill, Fulton, Raper, Johns, he might have them all covered when it comes to influence over the game.
Smith’s control was immense and close to impossible to shut down given he always got first touch of the ball.
Hunt was less than his best on Sunday. He failed to deliver what Queensland needed when it was needed, an unfamiliar circumstance of this Origin team.
“I’m a little bit dumbfounded by the way the Queenslanders played with 12 (NSW) players on the field,” Thurston said on Channel 9 after the game.
Thurston, now retired from Origin, was in the commentary box sharpening the next phase of his life.
“A centre going off for 10 minutes,” he said, “I don’t think that they targeted that edge much.
“The first set that they had, Ben Hunt kicks it dead — 20m restart. That is a brain explosion — on the third tackle.”
Similar criticism was speared at the Blues last season when Thurston hid on the wing after busting his shoulder and NSW failed to attack down his edge, effectively ignoring what small advantage there was.
Thurston is entitled to his frustration.
The rest of us, somewhat less so.
There is a pressure inherent in Origin that few experience. Pressure leads to poor decisions.
The reason Thurston and Smith and Cooper Cronk and Darren Lockyer before him are so celebrated is because of the quality of their decision-making in the furnace of Origin.
Thurston’s commentary was solid and accurate.
“Full credit to the Blues that they defended well with everything that Queensland threw at them,” he said.
“It was a massive learning curve for the halves and hooker.”
They will get better.
There was a lot to like about Sunday’s game but it was far from the flawless, near perfect performance we have seen over the past dozen years by Queensland and even, at times, by the Blues.
Both sides made decisions that were or could have been game altering.
Latrell Mitchell blindly tapping back a bomb late in the game, with Queenslanders hovering.
David Klemmer’s loose offload in his own red zone minutes before halftime, Queensland straight on the attack.
Will Chambers up-ending James Maloney on tackle four with Queensland on the chase for points. A fresh set for NSW.
A Mitchell offload on tackle zero, on the 20m tap, that put Queensland straight back on the attack.
Blues edge defenders dragging players over the sideline, penalty.
Hunt kicking tackle three, ball dead. Hunt kicking tackle three again.
Chambers kicking tackle four, putting it into the grandstand.
The Maroons only once reached the fifth tackle while Roberts was in the sin bin. This never would have happened under Smith’s stewardship.
It was a high quality game in terms of contest and intensity but not execution. Both teams can improve and will improve.
The good news is both are young will be sparring each other for years to come.
Without Smith and Thurston and even Cooper Cronk in this series Queensland has suddenly become just very good.
There is a lot of confident talk around NSW at the moment. The most absurd claiming a dynasty has begun, in a certain shade of blue.
There is only one certainty when it comes to dynasties.
A dynasty has ended. Queensland is no longer what it was the past dozen years.
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