Queensland vs New South Wales @ Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

[sizeQLD
Billy Slater
Darius Boyd
Dane Neilsen
Willie Tonga
Jharal Yow Yeh
Darren Lockyer
Jonathan Thurston
Matthew Scott
Cam Smith
Petero Civoniceva
Nate Miles
Sam Thaiday
Ashley Harrison

Interchange
Cooper Cronk
Corey Parker
Jacob Lillyman
Ben Hannant

18th Man
Dave Taylor

[sizeNSW
Josh Dugan
Brett Morris
Michael Jennings
Marc Gasnier
Akuila Uate
Jamie Soward
Mitchell Pearce
Jason King
Michael Ennis
Kane Snowden
Beau Scott
Greg Bird
Paul Gallen

Interchange
Ben Creagh
Trent Merrin
Tim Mannah
Dean Young

18th Man
Jammal Idris

Qld centres bit weak without GI & Hodgo

I think this'll be close. The outside backs have swung into NSW's favour IMO. The forwards aren't too bad either. Hopefully itll be the closest series in 5 years anyway.

I wouldnt go that far.

The form backs in the NRL all wear Maroon...

Boyd, Lockyer, Thurston, Slater, Yow Yeh.

Outside backs... As in 2,3,4 and 5. Man for man I'd pick every NSWman over thier QLD counter part in those positions. Obviously when Hodges and GI come back into the fold it's a different scenario altogether.

You can have them. We'll keep the winners. As in five zip.

Think the Blues will take the series this year. The 3/4 lines are in NSW favour with only Slater and Boyd that I'd take to the blues.
Think the back row is the blues' by some distance, I'm a Titans fan and don't rate Harrison that highly, certainly nowhere near Gallen.
The front row is definitely QLD's, this is were the problems are for NSW, both sets of halves can control a game so it could depend on which set of forwards get on top.

You'd either be mad or a NSW journo to tip NSW against QLD in Bris.

QLD to dominate game 1.

That'll be why I said [iseries[/i and not just game 1.

Although I do think the Blues will win tomorrow. And I maintain that I am not mad, nor am I a NSW journo!

Queensland by 8. Looking forward to seeing Yow Yeh and Uate. Russell Crowe take a bow. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

Queensland by 8. Looking forward to seeing Yow Yeh and Uate. Russell Crowe take a bow. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

Great work Crowe.

YouTube

State of Origin a History

To get you in the mood

NSW by 1, ANZ to be sold out for origin 2!

We can but dream!

Good game, NSW did well and will get better but they need to make a couple of changes still.
Jason King was destroyed by the QLD forwards and should not have played to start with, he hasn't even been great for Manly. NSW looked better when Mannah and Merrin come on but that could of also been when Matt Scott went off as he was great and is the best prop in the game ATM.
I'd also bring back Luke Lewis for Ben Creagh who didn't get much gametime but didn't offer anything either. And Dean Young is only there because he plays for the Dragons, not creative enough out of dummy half and Gidley will be straight back in when fit.
Dugan did well on debut, Jennings proved he was worth his spot. The back row was solid and Uate looks lively and strong, the one error was a strip by Thurston and should have been a penalty.
B Moz what was he doing? Never does anything in Origin and the same again today apart from gift Yow Yeh 4 points. Gasnier was well contained and even he spilled the ball at the end.
Why was Soward in the team and not kicking much, Pearce was kicking poor and Soward didn't kick for the first 20 minutes. Both halves will stay but need to offer more. A few silly error were letting them down, Ennis 10m out dropped the ball, Jennings 10m out when Slater tackled him knocked on, you have to take advantage of chances like that and they blew it.
All in all a good effort but QLD just deserved the win IMO. NSW will stick with most of the side and will be better for it.

Good game, but it doesn't stop hurting.

I don't know if we'll see it, but least a couple must be made for mine. I'd make 4...

Hayne in for Morris. I've been hardline against BMoz for a long time now and he goes and does that. There's no joy in being right with this one though.

Lewis in for Young. Young was supposedly our utility pick, then started the game? Let our hooker play 80 minutes. Have Lewis on the bench if we must, but he has to be there.

TLL and Tolman in for King and Merrin.

Our props were annihilated. Scott is easily the best prop in the game, we have no one to match him, but we can definitely do better than tonight. It's a wonder we were in that game with next to zero go-forward.

Positives?

Jennings. Go on, my son. Best rep game to date. I said pre-game that was his last chance with me. I saw a lot tonight, he's good with me.

Shows where we're at, but no Hodges and Inglis was a huge positive. That backline is so much more vulnerable now. If it weren't for some braindead errors, we win that game based on their backline vulnerability.

Was happy with Dugan. One boggle, but they really heaped pressure on him with bombs all night and he defused every one. The cleanup he did in goal when we self-imploded on 3 occasions saved 3 tries. And of course his try-assist with the play they persisted with all night and finally paid dividends. He was very good behind such a poor pack.