SPECIAL PREVIEW:
NSW hoping gamble on new halves pairing pays off against star-studded Queensland combination
You’ll contain him for moments in a game, but will never negate him – Queensland coach Mal Meninga on skipper Cameron Smith
STATE of Origin’s clock goes back 99 games tonight to where it began at Lang Park 34 years ago.
The big question is whether the result from that very first game – a 20-10 victory to Queensland, in which a young Mal Meninga celebrated his 20th birthday with a perfect seven-from-seven goalkicking display – will be the same?
What is certain is that every one of the 34 players will be totally spent with nothing more to give when the siren sounds after 80 minutes of bone-jarring collisions.
That’s what Origin games often come down to.
When those one or two special players go beyond the superhuman, or a champion team produces a freakish last-minute miracle play like Mark Coyne’s 1994 try in the last minute which is now so synonymous with Origin.
For the first time in several years NSW appears to have come up with a side, under a coach who knows what it takes to be successful in the Origin arena, that can beat Queensland. But there is one proviso. The Blues’ inexperienced halves pairing of Bulldogs teammates Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds must fire, and they must play their natural games despite the daunting task facing them – up against established Australian pairing Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston.
Hodkinson and Reynolds will be the 16th halves combination used by NSW during Queensland’s record streak of eight-straight series wins.
And they can only provide their strike weapons, Michael Jennings, Jarryd Hayne and the Morris brothers, Brett and Josh, with enough quality ball if props James Tamou and Aaron Woods dominate Queensland’s world-class forward Matt Scott and his front-row partner Nate Myles.
Daley wants the Bulldogs pair to take on the Maroons and not worry about finding their Origin feet, because otherwise, as he knows from his own experience at Lang Park, the game will be over before you know it.
Daley has taken a big gamble on his halves. But on their club form this year they offer more, especially with their running and kicking games, than dumped Roosters duo Mitchell Pearce and James Maloney who haven’t put a lot of fear into
Queensland in the past two series.
Hodkinson and Daly Cherry-Evans played together on the Sunshine Coast with Hodkinson the first to make it to the NRL playing for Manly in 2010.
Two years later Cherry-Evans took the No.7 jersey at Brookvale Oval when Hodkinson joined the Bulldogs.
Reynolds is a pesky, niggling, tough competitor who looks ideally suited to Origin football which demands combatants push themselves to the limit, yet be able the play the crucial closing minutes as strongly as the fiery and fast opening minutes.
Having said that, Queensland has Melbourne’s big three, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, Origin’s greatest try scorer, Greg Inglis, and veterans such as Justin Hodges and Brent Tate to call on.
Meninga yesterday confirmed Hodges (ankle) would play his 19th game for Queensland despite whispers Storm centre Will Chambers was on standby.
Meninga conceded Queensland was outplayed in the opening game in Sydney last year and needed a fast start tonight.
A lot of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of Smith, who Meninga crowned the best hooker to have played the game.
“You’ll contain him for moments in a game, or sections of the game, but will never negate him,” the coach said.
Queensland, which has won eight of the last 10 Origins in Brisbane, will have the majority of the 50,000 Suncorp Stadium crowd in its corner.
The team will also draw on the emotion of dedicating the Centenary Origin to the memory of the late Arthur Beetson, who lit the Origin fuse in 1980, and whose No.11 jumper will be retired for this historic game.
Everything adds up to a special clash on a special night, something only State of Origin can produce.