State of Origin 2017: NSW and QLD player ratings for game two

PLAYER RATINGS: Neither team had consistency in game two which made for a tight race and a mixed bag of player ratings. See who flew and who flopped.

Daily Telegraph player ratings for Origin II.

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• PLAYER RATINGS: Who flew, who flopped on Origin II

• GALLERY: Origin game II in pictures

• JOEY’S BLAST: Andrew Johns scathing of NSW

• BUZZ ROTHFIELD: Blues better but don’t write-off champs

NSW’S brilliant first half performance contrasted sharply with their poor showing after the break.

As a result we saw a ‘rocks or diamonds’ performance as Queensland tied up the 2017 State of Origin series.

These are the player ratings for game two:

James Tedesco 7.5 Hampered by an ankle injury but still dangerous and showed his class.	FULLBACK	Billy Slater 7 Safe at the back and always looked threatening without ever cutting loose.
Brett Morris 7 Fairly solid effort but had his hands full with Gagai prominent.	WING	Valentine Holmes 5.5 Scored opening try but came up with mistakes and limited chances.
Josh Dugan 7.5 Made a couple of crucial tackles and put his side on front foot in attack.	CENTRE	Will Chambers 8 Suffered a late head-knock but will want to remember this one. Very strong.
Jarryd Hayne 6 Rocks and diamonds. A try, some strong defence but some really dumb errors and a bombed try.	CENTRE	Darius Boyd 6 In an unaccustomed position but did his job without showing out.
Blake Ferguson 7 Carried the ball strongly and didn’t put a foot wrong all game.	WING	Dane Gagai 8.5 He must love Origin time. Two tries and again one of the Maroons’ best.
James Maloney 7.5 A big contributor. Huge influence in the first half with two try assists.	5/8	Johnathan Thurston 7.5 Battled with crook shoulder but was still the man for the big moment.
Mitchell Pearce 7 Outstanding for 55 minutes but came up with some average second half options.	H/BACK	Cooper Cronk 7 Solid without being a dominant figure in the game.
Aaron Woods 7.5 Great first stint to put the Blues in a strong position to win the game.	PROP	Dylan Napa 7.5 Was one of the Maroon forwards who led the way in the second half.
Nathan Peats 7 Nothing wrong with his halftime service and made over 50 tackles.	HOOKER	Cameron Smith 7 Came into his own late but has been far more influential previously.
Andrew Fifita 5.5 Heavily marked and came back to earth with a thud after Game 1 performance.	PROP	Jarrod Wallace 5 Average first up stint and didn’t get back on.
Boyd Cordner 7.5 Plenty of effort as usual with and without the footy.	2ND ROW	Gavin Cooper 7 Was well contained in attack but got through a power of defence.
Josh Jackson 8 Again showed why he is one of the first Blues players picked. Outstanding early.	2ND ROW	Matt Gillett 8 Wasn’t a standout but produced three or four bone-rattlers in defence.
Tyson Frizell 6.5 Not 100 per cent fit but had his moments in attack.	LOCK	Josh McGuire 8.5 Close to the best on ground. Led the Maroons second half revival.
David Klemmer 8.5 Huge impact off the bench with 16 carries for 163 metres.	I/CHANGE	Michael Morgan 7 Produced a great inside ball for the try that won it for the Maroons
Wade Graham 5 Crucial miss tackle on Maguire led to a try and gave Maroons a sniff.	I/CHANGE	Josh Papalii 6 Over-shadowed by Blues bench. Expected a lot more impact.
Jake Trbojevic 8.5 Wow. His first half stint was as good as it gets from a bench forward.	I/CHANGE	Coen Hess 4 Got a small taste of Origin footy and now knows what to expect.
Jack Bird 3 Thrown in with 20 minutes to go with next to no impact.	I/CHANGE	Tim Glasby 6 Shaky start to Origin debut. Came up with a couple of crucial defensive errors.
116.5	TOTAL	115.5