State of Origin: It’s the tackles that matter

Brad Fittler told James Roberts the NSW centre earned his State of Origin debut through his defence, not his attack.

James Roberts and Tyson Frizell on a ride at Melbourne’s Luna Park yesterday. Picture: AAP

Brad Fittler wandered up to James Roberts last week and made a point of telling the NSW centre he had earned his State of Origin debut through his defence, not his attack.

For all the talk about the Blues’ blistering backline, it is their ability to make tackles rather than break them that has won favour from their rookie coach.

Roberts is the prime example. Amid the debate about whether he or Josh Addo-Carr would win a footrace over 100m, Fittler prefers to talk about Roberts’ ability without the ball.

“That is just honesty,” Fittler said. “There were a few right centres we were looking at. I thought out of all of them he had the best defence. That’s why I picked him. It came down to that — it came down to his defence, not his attack. It is very important.

“In everything I have watched, he is a really good defender. He is a strong defender with the way that he defends.”

Much has been made of the Blues’ supposed defensive issues, but their missed tackle tally pales in comparison to the back five for Queensland.

The Maroons have missed — and missed a lot. But NSW five-eighth James Maloney is not being taken in by the numbers.

“I have never been big on stats,” Maloney said. “To a point they represent the game, but there are other ones that can be misleading. For the blokes that are under scrutiny and talking defensively, I am not too concerned about our ­defensive side.”

Maloney has fallen foul of the stats himself. Plenty of talk leading into Origin I has surrounded his penchant for missing tackles — he leads the NRL in that category.

Fittler himself helped put ­Maloney’s defence on the radar, suggesting it was a legitimate issue. At the same time, Maloney talks about the most important statistic of all: winning.

Penrith top the NRL ladder heading into the opening game of the Origin series and Maloney has been integral to everything the Panthers have done this year.

“How many games have we held teams scoreless?” Maloney said. “All through my career I have been in sides that have been very good defensively. That doesn’t happen if you can’t tackle.

“I know how the missed tackles are stated. I could hit someone, not land on the player, get back in the defensive line but they land right at my feet (and it counts as a missed tackle).”

The most important statistic for Maloney?

“The result — that’s what we’re judged on,” he said “If I play Origin, miss all these tackles and we win, you know what? We still win. So obviously there are areas and things you need to work on. But I don’t get too hung up on it.”

That said, for all the talk about the respective backlines, Wednesday night’s game will be largely ­determined by what happens in the middle of the field.

NSW prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard has already whetted the appetite by suggesting he is ready to pull on a blue jersey and kill people.

Asked about those comments, Queensland players have rolled their eyes and bitten their tongue. No doubt, Maroons enforcer Dylan Napa is among those to have made a mental note of Campbell-Gillard’s bravado.

After a slow start to the year, which threatened to cost him his place in the Maroons’ side, Napa has been back to his fire-breathing best in recent weeks.

The suggestion has been that he has been told to forget about padding his stats with meaningless runs and tackles. Instead, Napa has been instructed to go out there and hurt people. To put the fear of God back into his game.

Witness the way Napa hurled himself at Korbin Sims a matter of weeks ago, the resultant head clash leaving the Brisbane forward nursing a broken jaw. That was the Napa who would make opposing forwards flinch. The Napa who would have opposition players second-guessing whether to run in his direction.

His return to form has come at the perfect time for Queensland. Their backline may miss the odd tackle but their pedigree is without question. If the Maroons have question marks, they are over the capacity of their forwards to match what the Blues will throw at them.

Napa can set the standard early. If Campbell-Gillard is itching to take the opening hit-up from the kick-off, Napa will be waiting for him.