NSW attack is key to the winning of Origin and I think they’ll do it

THerehaven’t been many positives fornsw over six series of Queensland dominance. But there might be one chink in the northerners’ armour: I just wonder if the Maroons will be as desperate as the Blues this year.

I’m not saying Queensland will not be driven; there is no doubt they will be desperate to win a seventh straight series. But I feelnswwill be more desperate. Ricky Stuart has been saying the right things about the decisions he has made and the players he has picked, and I believe the Blues will win. I can only go off what I’m reading and seeing, but the way the Blues are talking, they have a quiet confidence.

It’s obvious they want to play some football this year and try to move the Queensland pack around. I really feel the ability to do that has been lacking in recent years. The Blues have attempted to go through the middle and have tried to dominate the big Queensland pack. You need to move their big forwards around, making them work laterally so you can put pressure on them on the edges.

Sure, State of Origin games are won with great defence, but if you’re playing in the NRL, you can tackle. Good defence is all about attitude, so if Ricky picks players who can attack but have the right attitude, he will find the right balance. They’ll attack Queensland where they haven’t been attacked before. No Nswteam has really tried to play footy against Queensland. That’s the way they can win.

I like the selections of Robbie Farah and Todd Carney. They will be able to fight attack with attack.

Queensland would love it if the Blues just tried to run straight at the big guys. As soon as you start to move the defensive line laterally, it pays dividends. Robbie has been wanting this since his last game for the Blues, in 2009. Hedidn’t enjoy the fact that he was not getting another chance to prove himself. He won’t let anyone down.

Heis going through a tough time personally. I know what this means to Robbie and his mum.

The Blues also have try-scoring strike-power all across the park – the Stewart brothers, Greg Bird on the edges and Akuila Uate. Mitchell Pearce has started to find some form of late at halfback, while Todd has been one of the form halves in the competition so far this year.

Hehas really made the most of it so far this year with Cronulla.

Aquick note on the Tigers’ win over the Warriors on Friday night – I think it was our best win of the season. The Warriors are a good side, a big side, andwewere missing three international forwards in Robbie, Gareth Ellis and Chris Heighington. Our young forwards really stood up, Aaron Woods in particular. I’m ecstatic he has been named 19thmanfor the Blues.

There has been some focus on meswitching to halfback. Chris Lawrence didn’t want to wear the No 7 jumper, so I had to.

Myjob is hardly different. I might touch the ball a little more but that is not going to hurtmy game. It hasn’t been one ofmybest starts to the season as I’m still feelingmyway into it. But I think it’s slowly coming together formeand the team.