State of Origin 2021: Why NSW staff were smiling after NRL chose Townsville for Origin
Unbeknown to the Maroons, the NSW coaching staff were privately cheering when the NRL chose Townsville over Canberra to launch the State of Origin series. Here’s why.
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The Queensland Government is facing an $8 million fail with NSW captain James Tedesco claiming the decision to host State of Origin in Townsville has played directly into the Blues hands.
Unbeknown to the Maroons, the NSW coaching staff were privately cheering when the NRL chose Townsville over Canberra to launch the State of Origin series.
“Playing in Townsville suits me and a lot of our fast guys,” Tedesco said.
“We’re used to a slippery, wet, dewy track (playing surface), so hopefully it’s quite dry for us and we’re able to play some footy.
“If we’re going set-for-set and the big boys are blowing a bit, it can really open up for us.’’
The NRL were forced to relocate game one on Wednesday night from the MCG due to the Victorian Covid-19 lockdown.
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The options for the NRL were to play the match in the icy weather conditions of around three degrees in Canberra - which would‘ve restricted the amount of ball movement in attack.
Instead the NRL took the QLD Government‘s healthy cheque to play out of Townsville where the weather forecast is for a dry 22 degrees at the time of kick-off.
An average of 49-points have been scored at Queensland Country Bank Stadium so far this NRL season.
Blues hooker Damien Cook said victory would be built from defence - but admitted the decision to play in Townsville perfectly suited NSW.
“Most of the time in Origin, you’re coming off your own line, so there’s definitely going to be a lot of defence involved,’’ Cook said.
“But it is lining up (for plenty of points).
“A dry track, 22 degrees, it’s going to be nice and fast up there, so it could be very entertaining footy for everyone up there.
“We’ve got Latrell (Mitchell), Turbo (Tom Trbojevic), the Foxx (Josh Addo-Carr), man, I could be here for hours, just naming them all.
“We just have to make sure we do a good job up front and give these guys a platform to play off the back of.”
Ryan Girdler, who has held the record for most-points scored by any NSW player for the past 21-years, also warned the Blues are better suited to playing in Townsville than arch-rivals Queensland.
Girdler was part of the game three NSW Origin team that beat Queensland 56-16 in the 2000 series.
It remains the highest-scoring Origin match. Girdler scored 32 of the Blues 56-points - a record that also still stands today.
The former goalkicking try-sneak said the Blues halves of Jarome Luai and Nathan Cleary would be salivating at the strike options at their disposal.
“Playing up there suits NSW,” Girdler said on Triple M.
“I think they’ll (NSW) look to use the width of the field.
“They’ve got (Isaah) Yeo who’ll allow those Penrith halves just to sit a little bit wider and they’ve got Latrell (Mitchell) and Tommy (Trbojevic) on the edges, who they want to feed the football too.
“I would imagine their plan will be to get the footy to those guys.
“I don’t think they will necessarily want to engage with the middle of the Queensland pack.
“Because I think it’s probably a stronger pack than what we (NSW) have.”
Former NSW enforcer Mark Geyer added his belief in the NSW attack by declaring Luai would be far from gun-shy on debut.
“I’m really looking forward to see how Jarome Luai adapts to State of Origin,’’ Geyer said.
“He’s a similar player to Cody Walker, but with his (Luai) teammate next to him in Nathan Cleary, I don’t think the blinkers will be on.
“I think he’ll want to express himself and play that freestyle footy that he’s used to playing.’’
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