This was published 3 years ago
That’s all she wrote. NSW way too good in Townsville in the opening game of the series. They head to Brisbane with a 1-0 series lead. Fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious for Nathan Cleary. Word out of Townsville suggesting it may just be a deep laceration and no fracture to the cheekbone.
Check out Andrew Webster’s analysis, our player ratings, and the rest of our Origin coverage at smh.com.au. Catch you all next time.
From BigIve on SMH: NSW awesome, QLD second-rate. Munster and Grant way under done and why wasn’t Nicho Hynes selected? Need a couple more Big Boppers off the pine.
Chammas says: “Thought Grant was very good to open the game, but the Queensland pack was completely dominated. Hard for him to get in the game. As for Nicho Hynes, he’s a New South Welshman. He’s from the Central Coast. Played for Manly in the under 20’s before moving to Mackay to play Queensland Cup, where he was spotted by the Storm. Lot of very talented NSW backs in the game at the moment. Could you imagine if Ryan Papenhuyzen was on the bench and came on in that second half?”
From Dalyn2003 on SMH: Does NSW win by 44 if Wayne Bennett coaches QLD? Some coaches, like players, are made for origin. Green is not one of them.
Chammas says: “I take your point on Bennett, but I don’t think any coach could’ve stopped that tonight. I was always concerned for Queensland when they appointed Paul Green as coach. I think he’s a very good club coach, but I don’t know if he has the man-management ability required to get guys up for Origin in 10 days. Bennett is the master. Mal Meninga was also very good at it. Some club coaches don’t transfer well to representative arena. It’s the only blemish on Craig Bellamy’s incredible career.”
This isn’t great news for the NSW star but it’s not that surprising given the seriousness of that cut.
’We got beaten to the punch early in that game, they dominated around the ruck area. We couldn’t get any control. We tried to trick our way out, it was very disapponting,” Green says.
“We needed to tighten up and fight a bit harder. We looked for an easy way to get in the game.”
As for changes: “That’s not for tonight. We’ll have a look at our prep too. From the kick off, we weren’t in the contest.”
Says some of his injured players may have been underdone but that can’t be an excuse.
DCE: “We have to look at our preparation. We’ve got a few things wrong, not just execution. We’ve got the right people to fix it. It’s a grim feeling, I do believe we can get out of this.”
Green hints that there was a few average training sessions during the week that he let go... that won’t be happening again.
He’s very happy, to say the least. Fittler captained that 56-16 win back in 2000. But he’s only thinking about winning the series and says his side hasn’t achieved anything yet other than a big game one win.
Captain James Tedesco said they ‘felt comfortable’ the whole game. That has to be ringing alarm bells for the Maroons. Nobody should feel comfortable in Origin but that really was an easy night’s work.
Both expect Qld changes in game two and a far better effort.
“We’ve won a game every year quite convincingly. I’m aware that winning a game by 50 doesn’t mean anything.”
Hmm... not sure about this one. I’m thinking a fine rather than suspension but I’m no good at predicting who will get hit with what... I know this though, Qld can’t win if he doesn’t suit up.