Origin: How Blues blew it
James Matthey dissects what went wrong against a much-maligned Queensland side
It’s been the longest season in history but it’s going to drag on even more for NSW as they dissect where everything went wrong in Wednesday night’s State of Origin decider.
Up against a Queensland side dubbed the weakest in decades, a string of newcomers and mastercoach Wayne Bennett conspired to complete the most stunning upset since Paul Vautin’s troops in 1995, wrapping up a 2-1 series win on home turf last night by holding on for a gritty 20-14 victory in Game 3.
So how did NSW blow it?
Big bench blunder
The Blues’ best player and captain James Tedesco was ruled out of the game after 20 minutes when he was knocked senseless by an accidental knee to the head as he slid into a tackle, throwing NSW’s structure into disarray.
Eels fullback Clint Gutherson started in the centres before shifting back to his usual position in the No 1 jersey to cover Tedesco’s absence, but this created a hole in the backline the Blues couldn’t fill.
Coach Brad Fittler picked four forwards on the bench, leaving fullback/utility Ryan Papenhuyzen out of his squad. Had the Storm star been playing, he could have gone straight to fullback and Gutherson could have remained in the centres, leaving the Blues’ backline relatively untouched.
Instead, Fittler was forced to throw Penrith back-rower Isaah Yeo into the unfamiliar right centre slot, where his lack of pace was exposed by Queensland’s left edge.
Forwards let Cleary down
NSW suffered a similar problem to their plight in the second 40 minutes of Origin I in Adelaide. They found themselves camped inside their own half, unable to make ground or control the ruck as Queensland dominated field position.
Too often the Blues ran one-out and while Nathan Cleary’s kicking was majestic in Game 2, he was regularly kicking from 30m out from his own line on Wednesday night, unable to find space and giving Queensland easy starts to their sets.
To avoid being pressured, Cleary was often sitting very deep off the ruck come tackle five, shaving valuable metres off kicks.
This isn’t a criticism of the Blues halfback, but a reality of how difficult a No 7’s life is when playing behind a beaten forward pack, which was out-muscled by Maroons props Josh Papalii and Christian Welch in the first half, and Lindsay Collins and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui in the second.
NSW were too predictable coming out of their own end, unable to find another way to make metres by spreading the ball wide early in the tackle count and challenging the Queensland defence.
Where is Jack Wighton?
Jack Wighton won the Dally M
Medal as the best player in the NRL this year but barely touched the ball in Brisbane. One of the most damaging ball-runners in the game wasn’t given a chance to steamroll Origin newcomers Edrick Lee and Brenko Lee because the Blues just couldn’t get him early ball, and he never went looking for it.
A five-eighth at club level for Canberra, Wighton looked lost further away from the action, rendering him — and by extension, the Blues’ attack — impotent.
Individual missed tackles from Wighton and Gutherson (again, playing in the centres even though he’s a fullback at club level) resulted in two Queensland tries in Game 1 and cost NSW the game.
Last night a poor read from Gutherson in defence, falling for a decoy runner, allowed Holmes to open the scoring in the fourth minute as a clever play created an overlap and showed the risks of playing people out of position.