Blues have edge where it matters
Sometimes, in a rugby league game, it is better just to have one plan. In the first State of Origin clash at the MCG, the Maroons had two objectives. One was to attack NSWthrough the middle to try and exploit the perceived front-on defensive weaknesses of hooker Damien Cook and the edge forwards defending in the ruck.
NRL players today are very specialised. Club training will be divided into sessions for the spine, the middle and the edge, with the edge players divided into left and right. Gone are the days of backs and forwards. Therefore, to ask an edge forward to defend for long periods in the middle can sap his energy and result in him missing tackles.
The Maroons’ second objective at theMCGwas to attack NSW right centre James Roberts and left centre Latrell Mitchell. Both can be caught out when plenty of players in motion come at them. Even experienced centres can be confused when a clever fullback joins the attack. Storm and Queensland right centre Will Chambers was duped when Newcastle fullback Kalyn Ponga joined Newcastle’s left side attack last Sunday, leading to a try.
After the first Origin match, some in the Queensland camp were angry the Maroons didn’t follow the game plan. Well, they did, but didn’t have the smarts to know when to switch from one objective to the other. They attacked up the middle, then went wide, then returned to the middle again.
In the second half, when Queensland had plenty of ball, NSW forward Tyson Frizell was defending in the middle for too long. He was vulnerable to an offload or a missed tackle. But Queensland suddenly let the Blues off the hook by opting to switch the attack by moving it wide to the flanks.
Had former Queensland captain Cameron Smith been on the field, he would have read the body language and persisted attacking through the ruck. Origin is faster than club football, plus there were fewer stoppages in theMCGgame because the referees blew only five penalties. Any forward not accustomed to defending in the middle, playing club games with multiple breaks, in a game about 15 per cent faster, is going to get frazzled.
Had Queensland persisted through the middle, it’s likely the weaknesses out wide would have been exposed anyway. In other words, having only one plan forces a team to persist, to be patient and be confident the gaps will open across the park.
How many military battles in history have been lost because the infantry handed control to the artillery, just as they were about to break through the lines? The enemy infantry welcomed the respite, regrouped and counterattacked, winning the battle.
NSW coach Brad Fittler won’t leave Frizell in the middle for long periods in Origin II. It’s more likely he will be used as a right-edge player for an extended period, go to the bench and return as a middle man. Souths’ Angus Crichton, another right-edge player, will have stints in the middle when Frizell is out wider, or on the bench.
The inclusion of Matt Prior will benefit NSW. He does not play the 80 minutes of a Ryan James – who was the other potential replacement for the injured Reagan CampbellGillard – but is one of those angular, lean, hard men the Maroons won’t want in the team.
With Billy Slater or Ponga at fullback, Queensland will definitely test the NSWcentres but, based on the straight-line defensive drills the Blues were practising at training, gaps may not appear. The Blues displayed the kind of confidence in each other that prevents one edge defender of the four (secondrower, half, centre and wing) racing up in panic to try and stop an opposition ball carrier.
Watch them tonight maintain that straight line, even if they have to retreat marginally to do so.
Still, Ponga will be a challenge. Queensland have won games in moments where three halves have been on the field at once. Think back to the triple threat of Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston and bench men Michael Morgan or Daly Cherry-Evans conjuring some match-winning magic.
The trio of Ben Hunt, Cameron Munster and Ponga can create havoc, particularly via the deceptive strength of the Storm five-eighth and the elusiveness of the Knights fullback.
Still, NSWwill get better and better, this year and next. There is talent in this team that is yet to be unleashed. They played orthodox, full-speed, high percentage attack in Melbourne, without any of the trick shots they possess.
A video review of the game would have revealed many occasions when half Nathan Cleary, in his first game for the Blues, should have called for the ball. He will tonight.