ANZ Stadium has become a nightmare ground for Maroons halfback Ben Hunt
FIRST a penalty try and then he gave away possession cheaply with the game on the line, big games and ANZ Stadium don’t agree with Ben Hunt, writes Phil Rothfield.
Blues
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There is one part of ANZ Stadium where Ben Hunt would probably like to dig a hole and bury himself.
It’s about six metres from the tryline near the north western corner of the old Olympic Stadium.
Think back to the 2015 grand-final and golden point extra time.
The kick-off he infamously knocked on that allowed Johnathan Thurston to kick the matchwinning field goal for the Cowboys premiership.
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Now fast-forward two and a half seasons. On almost the identical piece of turf.
James Maloney chips the ball through with Boyd Cordner in hot pursuit.
Hunt impedes and knocks the Blues skipper to the ground.
It’s a penalty try. We’ve bagged the bunker all year but this was a great decision.
There’s absolutely no doubt Cordner would have scored.
It was the try that probably turned the match.
The Blues had trailed 10-6 but this sent to them to the sheds with a 12-10 halftime lead.
And QLD had been the better side in the opening 40 minutes.
The great Billy Slater made a huge difference.
He chimed into the backline on both sides of the field to be heavily involved in tries to Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai that gave QLD a 10-nil lead after 19 minutes.
It looked as though the Maroons were going to gatecrash our party yet again.
But the Blues came good once the possession swung their way and James Maloney struck.
Displaying extraordinary confidence considering his intercept pass at the MCG, Maloney cut out both Cordner and Latrell Mitchell to send Josh Addo Carr over.
The turning point in the second-half was a magnificent Jack De Belin tackle that forced his St George-Illawarra teammate Hunt to lose the ball. The Blues got a repeat set from which Mitchell powered over.
Then we got the most dramatic finish. The Blues reduced to 12 players.
Hunt erred again by kicking the ball dead on only the third tackle.
The Blues’ rookie halfback Nathan Cleary had to pull off a magnificent cover tackle on Valentine Holmes. A flashback to Steve Mortimer in his hey day. Or even Ronny Coote.
This was one of the truly great Origin battles.
The Blues kept on lifting and lifting. The crowd of 82,223 became their 13th player while Roberts was off. The home ground advantage meant everything.
Wow what a victory. It will go down as one of our greatest series triumphs.
And from here there is no reason to suggest the Blues can’t dominate for as long as QLD.
This is like the Australian cricket team when Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer retired within 12 months.
The Maroons didn’t have a succession plan because they won for 11 out of 12 years.
It meant Mal Meninga and Kevin Walters couldn’t change winning combinations.
No-one better was banging on the selection door. So when Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk all retired at the same time, it was always going to level the playing field. Next year there will be no Billy Slater.
Without the big three there was no-one to manage the game when they had the Blues down to 12 players.
The new-look Maroons have some exciting players coming through.
Kalyn Ponga could be anything and Cameron Munster is an exceptional talent.
But look at last night’s Blues side.
Nathan Cleary, 20. Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell, both 21. Angus Chrichton and Josh Addo Carr, both 22. Jake Trbojevic and Dave Klemmer, both 24.
We won by 10 in the first game of the series. We showed unbelievable character last night. This is just the start of something special.