State of Origin 2020: How Wayne Bennett conjured a miracle in Adelaide
At halftime NSW was cruising to Origin victory. Then Wayne Bennett conjured some magic that turned the game on its head. How did he do it?
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There is no use Brad Fittler going out and making drastic changes for State of Origin II after slumping to one of the great Origin upsets.
What Freddy and the Blues brains trust really need to do is sit the players down and take a really close look at what it was that beat them in Adelaide.
Because it wasn’t ability and it wasn’t necessarily spirit or a lack of effort.
It was belief.
And a simple fact that they just got beaten by a team that wanted it that little bit more on the night.
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Wayne Bennett take a bow.
Bennett turns 71 on New Year's Day.
What a coach.
You can say what you want about him, and most people do.
Just don’t say the game of rugby league has passed him by.
Bennett hadn’t coached Origin for 17 years leading into Wednesday night’s series opener.
But he showed some things never change.
And he did it a halftime, in the heat of battle when his team was trailing 10-0 and looked to be going nowhere fast.
His critics wrote Bennett off years ago, saying his game plans had passed their use-by date.
But what Bennett has shown once again is that the brilliance of the football his teams play has always been in the simplicity of it.
He is the oldest coach our game has ever had at the elite level.
And still he continues to come up with new ways to astound us.
He teaches teams to believe in themselves and their teammates.
And whatever Bennett said at halftime saved this Origin series from being the lopsided flop we feared it might be.
Up until that point NSW looked to be cruising to victory.
Despite Queensland having the majority of first-half possession, the Blues took that two try lead to the sheds and looked to be doing it easy.
James Tedesco was racking up the metres.
Damien Cook was looking more dangerous as the match wore on.
The entire NSW pack were on their game.
Then Bennett got the Maroons into the rooms and sprinkled his magic dust on them.
The first half was a completely different contest.
Daly Cherry-Evans’ last tackle options in the first half left a lot to be desired and he was really shown up in the first half by young Nathan Cleary.
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Whereas Cleary played smart and safe, Cherry-Evans was really disappointing with some of his last play efforts that just weren’t giving his team any chance of mounting the pressure they had earned.
But it was on the back of the Blues’ outstanding tryline defence that turned the match early.
After repelling the Queenslanders for multiple sets, the Blues went the length of the field before Cook’s try.
At that point Queensland had an enormous 63-37 per cent split of possession but they just couldn’t capitalise on it.
The entire NSW pack worked tirelessly with the starting middles of Daniel Saifiti (63m) Junior Paulo (46m) and Jake Trbojevic (46m) all superb in the opening 40 minutes.
Tedesco was also tremendous, chalking up 131m by the break.
At 10-0 down, it was always going to be a long way back.
But then Bennett did what he did, and what Queensland produced after the break was all about Origin.
Cherry-Evans and Cameron Munster were outstanding.
So too Dane Gagai and Kurt Capewell.
Across the park they just lifted as one and they fought they way to one of the greatest Origin victories.
Not since Fatty’s mob way back in 1995 has there been a greater shock at Origin.
The truth be known, Bennett always fancied his chances going into this game.
It’s just no one outside of Queensland believed it was possible.