The day after Origin is like the day after Christmas except there’s
no presents, decorations, food, family, religious celebration, goodwill or holidays. Some might call it
“Thursday.”
I don’t think Wednesday night's Origin game will go down in rugby league folklore as
“one of the great matches”, and I don’t think anyone’s career is over because
of their terrible performance playing left centre for Queensland. It could probably be best described as “a
game of State of Origin.” It had a few
controversial moments – Dane Gagai either dropped the ball or Angus Crichton
stripped it, and James Maloney threw a pass seventy metres forward for NSW to
score and wasn’t called by the ref, but neither incident was a deciding factor
in the final result of NSW winning by 10 points. If your team falls off 50 tackles, you should
count yourself lucky to only lose by that many.
But it was entertaining enough, and definitely a quick game with some
good changes of momentum; QLD dominated the opening 20 minutes, but they could
not maintain the intensity and pressure, and in the end their defence was
shoddy and their attack became predictable.
Just because Old Man Smith, Gooper Gronk, The Immortal Johnathan
Thurston and Cheating Fucking Billy Fucking Slater weren’t playing, it
shouldn’t mean that the quick back-line plays around the ruck had to retire
with them.
I don’t think wholesale changes need to be made to either
team for the next game, injuries notwithstanding. I don’t think Hunt was anywhere near 100%
fit, Slater was obviously missing, Gagai reportedly had a broken hand, Jimmy
the Jet left the field early with a dodgy foot, Crichton lost a tooth, Maloney
picked up a new scab and Turbo Tom is still trying to get Inglis’ shoulder out
of his ribcage, but I think the majority of players will retain their
places. I mean, it’s Origin. You are expected to play through niggles and
broken bones. For example, I burnt my
mouth on a party pie while I was watching.
Did I put away my plate? No, I
grabbed another beer and had a sausage roll, because that’s what Origin is all about.
Round 14
Picking the regular round of footy will be hard over the
coming weeks, as you will never know which players will drop out at the last
minute due to injury, exhaustion or court appearances. But we will do our best.
Canberra Raiders vs Penrith Panthers
CARN YOU RAIDERS.
Even though the Pennies are sitting high and mighty at the top of the
ladder, I think the Green Machine can take advantage of a side backing up from
Wednesday’s game and Thursday’s hangover.
Gold Coast Titans vs South Sydney Rabbitohs
The Titans have finally done what the NRL world has been
begging for all year – released Bryce Cartwright for this week. That guy seems to be in all sorts at the
moment; it wasn’t that long ago that he was destined to be the next Freddy
Fittler; now he looks more like being the next… I dunno, Paul Gallen?
Manly Sea Eagles vs New Zealand Warriors
Sorry Manly, I can’t see anything good happening for you
this week. Wait, why am I sorry about
that? Fuck you, Manly.
Newcastle Knights vs Sydney Roosters
Surely the Rooters are going to kick into gear at some point
this year, right? I mean, they’ve only
had 13 rounds to let Cronk get familiar with passing to a bloke who’s not
wearing purple.
Parramatta Eels vs North Queensland Cowboys
Oh Parra, what the fuck has happened? I’d say “get rid of your coach” but I think “get
rid of your team” might be better. Just
hit that reset button and start over.
Cronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers
Tigers have great value if you’re having a punt ($2.55 for
the win), but I think the Sharkies will take the cheese this week after a pretty
ordinary performance in their last game. It's just a gut feeling in the back of my head.
Melbourne Storm vs Brisbane Broncos
Traditionally, Melbourne flogs the bejesus out of Brisbane whenever
they play around the Origin period. Let’s
hope that continues, because watching anyone put 40+ onto the Broncs is a
national pastime and we should have a public holiday given to us because of it.
Canterbury Bulldogs vs St George Dragons
Time for the Saints to get back on track and win some
games. There are reasons why the Bulldogs
are coming 15th, and this game should show exactly what those reasons
are, which is “everything.”
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| Despite what it looks like, NSW are actually pretty happy with Tom |
