State of Origin 2010

AdeT

Squads announced today:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27135392-5018993,00.html

It's my favourite series of the year. They really smash into each other. In my opinion it's probably the ultimate in competitive rugby matches in either code.

Alot of people I know are calling it a Queensland series now, without too much stress. I'm not sure...Cam Smith is semi-injured and if he pulls out that's huge.

Hayne will play fb for a while in the first test. Gidley will go to 9 and Idris will come onto the wing. That could be a crucial period for the Blues - Hayne is their most exciting player and probably a better fb than Gidley. The main worry for the blues must be the halves. Lyon & Kimmorley v Lockyer & Thurston. Granted there is no other half back combo in the world that is near those two, I'd worry about this area for the NSW. Brett Kimmorley has been going great this season though and maybe Thurston is carrying an injury? I know he's been rested by the Cowboys. That's probably why Cronk is benching rather than another hooker. With Smith fighting to make it and Thurston just back from injury, there's a scenario where both have to come off injured...

I think i'd like NSW to win the first test...Queensland have a huge amount of talent but i'd like to see them go one behind in the series

toomevara

Jesus, that Queensland squad looks astonishingly strong. Cannot wait for these games.

old gregg

yep, looking forward to this in a big way. I can't imagine a more exciting sporting event ....... :pof any description:p

Stev_o

AdeT wrote: »

Squads announced today:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27135392-5018993,00.html

It's my favourite series of the year. They really smash into each other. In my opinion it's probably the ultimate in competitive rugby matches in either code.

Alot of people I know are calling it a Queensland series now, without too much stress. I'm not sure...Cam Smith is semi-injured and if he pulls out that's huge.

Hayne will play fb for a while in the first test. Gidley will go to 9 and Idris will come onto the wing. That could be a crucial period for the Blues - Hayne is their most exciting player and probably a better fb than Gidley. The main worry for the blues must be the halves. Lyon & Kimmorley v Lockyer & Thurston. Granted there is no other half back combo in the world that is near those two, I'd worry about this area for the NSW. Brett Kimmorley has been going great this season though and maybe Thurston is carrying an injury? I know he's been rested by the Cowboys. That's probably why Cronk is benching rather than another hooker. With Smith fighting to make it and Thurston just back from injury, there's a scenario where both have to come off injured...

I think i'd like NSW to win the first test...Queensland have a huge amount of talent but i'd like to see them go one behind in the series

Well Gidley's Captain so he's playing regardless it's more of a question of where and if it ends up being at FB ill cry.

Maroons pack is by far the better of the two and the gulf in quaility in the Half Backs is hilarious.

Where's Soward or Bird for NSW? Hell even Rogers would of been worth a stab.

The fact that Jamie Lyon is at FE is one of the funniest things you ll ever see.

mountain

Hi all,

dont forget, first state of origin on tomorrow (weds),
just to remind of all where the last one finished, this is a good read,
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/it-was-mayhem--there-was-a-feeling-the-whole-stadium-was-going-to-erupt-20100524-w84v.html

toomevara

Interesting that Carney's fronting Sky's coverage of this..must have big plans for him...

Stev_o

Blues go 4 up after a stupid mistake from a bomb after Thurston while being offside kicks it into his in goal area for Hayne to simply touch down. Weather's pretty bad and the pitch is looking cut up already so i wouldn't expect too much wide play which if anything plays to NSW strengths.

Stev_o

Thurston with a basketball offload in a two man tackle puts Boyd in for the try.

old gregg

reasonable stream up on http://www.justin.tv/scottsport#r=KV2zRfo~ for folks who don't have the tv channel

Stev_o

Miracle try by Slater, Thurston with one of the best kicks you ll ever see puts Slater in.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

Miracle try by Slater, Thurston with one of the best kicks you ll ever see puts Slater in.

Lovely, lovely try. cagey thus far. QLD maybe just getting on top a little.

Stev_o

toomevara wrote: »

Lovely, lovely try. cagey thus far. QLD maybe just getting on top a little.

What do you expect when you have a fatty in the shape of Jamie Lyon at FE for NSW madness really Soward should of at least been on the bench to offer a attacking threat, and ffs take Gidley off put Hayne to FB let him go FE now and again and bring on Idris in on the Wing. And make a note to drop Cooper for the next test.

toomevara

Great try saver....

mountain

toomevara wrote: »

Interesting that Carney's fronting Sky's coverage of this..must have big plans for him...

Did you see the head of hair on him????

toomevara

mountain wrote: »

Did you see the head of hair on him????

Dude, thats after a trim.....:D

AdeT

toomevara wrote: »

Dude, thats after a trim.....:D

It's like lego hair.

Stev_o

Carney taking the prize for being the most scruffy looking Presenter in League history Fair play to him he's doing a good job despite being pretty damn nervous.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

bring on Idris in on the Wing. .

He's on....

Stev_o

toomevara wrote: »

He's on....

And surely that was a knock on in contact? But anyway they are going to need more then a wrecking ball to get them back in this game.

toomevara

Stev_o wrote: »

And surely that was a knock on in contact? But anyway they are going to need more then a wrecking ball to get them back in this game.

Evened up with that penalty call on Watmough...

old gregg

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

toomevara

old gregg wrote: »

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

Nicely worked try from QLD, but nothing special...think they may be in for a rough half hour here, starting to struggle.

old gregg

old gregg wrote: »

I can't see NSW coming back at this stage

well, maybe they can

toomevara

Nice try NSW , at last a bit of creativity from the halves...game back on...

toomevara

Surely never a one on one? or maybe....?

Try, well thats the end of that I reckon....

AdeT

http://www.nrl.com/livescoreboard/home.aspx

Some of the stats are incredible. 44 tackles for Ennis and 189 meters gained by Kurt Gidley. 118 meters for Civ is huge for a prop; NSW must be ready for him to retire (and Lockyer too)

6 missed tackles by Thurston ain't great though - he's gotta be carrying an injury! 13 made so he's missed a third of his attempts. NSW will target that next time out i'm sure. He's always looked a strong defender to me

toomevara

AdeT wrote: »

http://www.nrl.com/livescoreboard/home.aspx

Some of the stats are incredible. 44 tackles for Ennis and 189 meters gained by Kurt Gidley. 118 meters for Civ is huge for a prop; NSW must be ready for him to retire (and Lockyer too)

6 missed tackles by Thurston ain't great though - he's gotta be carrying an injury! 13 made so he's missed a third of his attempts. NSW will target that next time out i'm sure. He's always looked a strong defender to me

Thanks for that Ade, fascinating. was going to post on how the scoreline was very flattering to NSW, but when you see stats like Ennis' you see the massive defensive effort they put in. Strange game, the Maroons clearly in a class above the blues, in terms of creativity and attacking potential/penetration but, total credit to NSW, they scrapped for everything and refused to accept what appeared to be the inevitable. Hard to see beyond the 5-in-a-row though after that....

amacachi

Not surprised at Thurston missing 6 tackles, had a 'mare start to the match.
Thought the Thurston steal was fair enough, but NSW have to be wondering what if Hayne hadn't thrown the ball away.
That said, QLD did look like they had answers for any anything NSW were going to try.

Fair play to Carney as well. Was obviously nervous but did a decent job.

Also I think it was QLD's first try that really annoyed me. I know it's easy to say while sitting on your arse watching on TV, but all wingers should get a kicking when they're kids if they come more than 5 metres from the sideline while defending, might get the message across then.

Limerick Dude

I was at this game last night, i'll try and post up some pictures soon!

AdeT

Limerick Dude wrote: »

I was at this game last night, i'll try and post up some pictures soon!

Lucky git!

toomevara

AdeT wrote: »

Lucky git!

+1....one of the few outstanding boxes I need to tick on my "sporting events to attend before I pop me clogs" list....

AdeT

toomevara wrote: »

+1....one of the few outstanding boxes I need to tick on my "sporting events to attend before I pop me clogs" list....

Have a (now former) mate in a corporate box for the Suncorp test.

It has to be the biggest rugby match/series in the world...?


Back on the rugby, would anyone make any changes to the sides that played yesterday?

I think the Blues should look at an out-and-out stand off a la Jamie Soward or Brett Finch. Maybe even using Gidley at 6 and Hayne at fb. I;d have Lyon at the centre with Idris on the wing. Not much to lose by popping Idris in and seeing how he goes. Kimmorley seemed quite good at 7, defensively looked very good to me

The maroon's will put Smith in at hooker if he's fit. Otherwise it's not far from being the perfect rugby league team...

jdivision

Went to this as a relative newbie but appreciative to league. Were up in the nosebleeds and it was great cos it showed how structured a lot of the offence was - you don't see that on TV. AS for Idris, yeah, as soon as he came on Queensland stayed on opposite side of the pitch until they let go the odd time, usually try scoring. I think he's got real talent though. Some great hits but game was a bit of an anticlimax, enjoyed it tho.

old gregg

This is the stuff that's always wrecked my head as an Australian living abroad :mad:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/tahu-walks-out-on-blues-after-offensive-comments-from-andrew-johns-20100612-y47j.html

and some pretty decent editorial:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/indigenous-players-its-time-to-take-a-stand-back-timana-and-boycott-origin-20100612-y4xg.html

<rant>
Every time I go back to Oz it just stumps me how racist Australians are to pretty much anyone who's not white Australian and that little has changed since whitey showed up.
</rant>
*sighs* oh well, back to another rare NH sunny day in advance of having to sit through more round ball world cup hokem

amacachi

old gregg wrote: »

This is the stuff that's always wrecked my head as an Australian living abroad :mad:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/tahu-walks-out-on-blues-after-offensive-comments-from-andrew-johns-20100612-y47j.html

and some pretty decent editorial:

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/indigenous-players-its-time-to-take-a-stand-back-timana-and-boycott-origin-20100612-y4xg.html

<rant>
Every time I go back to Oz it just stumps me how racist Australians are to pretty much anyone who's not white Australian and that little has changed since whitey showed up.
</rant>
*sighs* oh well, back to another rare NH sunny day in advance of having to sit through more round ball world cup hokem

Is it racist of me to suggest that Aussies generally seem to be the most racist ****ers around? One of the funniest (or saddest) things I've ever heard was in London in a hostel, and there was an aussie chick going on and on about Aborigines. I just said I didn't believe they/the situation was as bad as she said, then she started about how they can't be knocked out with a bottle because there skulls are so thick and that up til 30 years ago scientists said they weren't humans.
I just walked away.

Hope something is done about what's happened, but I'd be surprised.

old gregg

well, I'm an Aussie and I reckon that the Aussies are the most racist nation of people that I've ever encountered. I love the country with a passion but that aspect of society has always been a problem for me.

In 2008 I was over for the footy and to do some recording stuff and sat with a group of people one night and one of them started telling Irish jokes just cos I was over from Ireland and he thought I might find it funny. He got to the end of the first joke and I told him he was embarrassing himself and his nation. I then told the joke about the swearing parrot just to diffuse things

amacachi

old gregg wrote: »

well, I'm an Aussie and I reckon that the Aussies are the most racist nation of people that I've ever encountered. I love the country with a passion but that aspect of society has always been a problem for me.

In 2008 I was over for the footy and to do some recording stuff and sat with a group of people one night and one of them started telling Irish jokes just cos I was over from Ireland and he thought I might find it funny. He got to the end of the first joke and I told him he was embarrassing himself and his nation. I then told the joke about the swearing parrot just to diffuse things

Did you point out that he probably came from not just Irish people, but Irish people who were stupid enough to get caught for a crime? :pac:
It annoys me as well, when I see sports in Australia on telly it just looks like the most awesome place in the world, but then I meet some Aussies around and I want to punch them. I'd've thought as well that the ones passing through the UK and Ireland for a few weeks or months would've been the more enlightened Aussies but it doesn't seem to be the case.

old gregg

ah man it is an awesome place and you get to do things like watch your footy in the sunshine which I truly love, but yea, I sometimes want to hit some of them when I hear just how 'normal' and everyday racism is.

Like, when you hear what Andrew Johns said and thought at the time it was OK:
http://www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticle/tabid/10874/newsid/59030/joey-remarks-forced-tahu-walk-out-on-nsw/default.aspx
it probably never even occurred to him that he'd just insulted a large number of non-white fellow players. That's the saddest part for me, it was just so normal.

bipedalhumanoid

Game II time =D. We're going to make it 5 in a row this Wednesday.

bipedalhumanoid

old gregg wrote: »

ah man it is an awesome place and you get to do things like watch your footy in the sunshine which I truly love, but yea, I sometimes want to hit some of them when I hear just how 'normal' and everyday racism is.

Like, when you hear what Andrew Johns said and thought at the time it was OK:
http://www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticle/tabid/10874/newsid/59030/joey-remarks-forced-tahu-walk-out-on-nsw/default.aspx
it probably never even occurred to him that he'd just insulted a large number of non-white fellow players. That's the saddest part for me, it was just so normal.

Doesn't the fact that Andrew Johns had to resign over this incident tell you something about the acceptability of racism in Australia?

Mary O'Rourke still has her job after commenting publicly that her campaigners 'worked like blacks'. And she's not just some idiot sports personality, she's a politician!

Until a couple of years ago the Gardai didn't even accept "non-nationals" into their ranks. And if you really want to talk about racism, what about the apalling way most Irish people treat members of the travelling community?

You're talking about people in Australia saying racially insensitive things. In Ireland we have a situation where some people can't get served in pubs and restaurants because of their ethnicity.

I have a chinese friend who booked a cottage in the north for a weekend and he was turned away when he got there. Failing that he called 3 other places who were happy to take his booking until he arrived and they saw that he was chinese.

I've been refused service in a Barber shop in Dun Laoghaire because the owner 'doesn't like Australians'. As for the 'Irish Joke' anecdote, in Ireland, Australian jokes go further than some idiot recounting one in a pub somewhere. The Australian accent is often mocked on Irish radio. I don't find it any more offensive than south park or the Simpsons doing the same thing.

We can relay anecdotal evidence all day but if you want to see a true comparison of racist attitudes here is a study conducted jointly between University of Queensland and University of Ulster...
http://news.ulster.ac.uk/podcasts/Bigotry.pdf

Scroll down to page 26.

When asked if they'd have a problem with having a neighbour of a different race to themselves, 4.6% of Australians answered yes. This compares to 12.3% in Ireland and 11.1% in Northern Ireland.

Australia is often scapegoated as being a racist country, but the fact of the matter is that Ireland has a much bigger problem when it comes to bigotry and racism.

I won't be happy until those numbers fall to 0%, but at the same time, the accusation of Australia being a particularly racist country is not in any way deserved.

amacachi

Aye, those race riots we had a few years ago were terrible.

bipedalhumanoid

amacachi wrote: »

Aye, those race riots we had a few years ago were terrible.

So were the Love Ulster riots.

amacachi

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

So were the Love Ulster riots.

Touché salesman. :pac:

bipedalhumanoid

Bring on tomorrow's game anyway! Qld at home. I have a feeling we're going to make it 5 in a row.

old gregg

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

Bring on tomorrow's game anyway! Qld at home. I have a feeling we're going to make it 5 in a row.

I reckon you'll be right. As a Sydney boy who's fallen in love with Queensland in recent years I'll be hoping for a Qld win myself.

amacachi

old gregg wrote: »

I reckon you'll be right. As a Sydney boy who's fallen in love with Queensland in recent years I'll be hoping for a Qld win myself.

When you fall in love with them, about 3 years ago? :pac:

old gregg

amacachi wrote: »

When you fall in love with them, about 3 years ago? :pac:

as for the footy, the Qld jerseys just look better :pac:
as for Queensland itself, it's heaven

bipedalhumanoid

Every time I start to feel sorry for NSW I just think back to the history.

1925: Qld beats NSW and the Great Britain kangaroo tour cancelled rather than field an Australian team dominated by Queenslanders.

Pre-1980: NSW buying Qld players with poker machine money, which was unatainable by Qld clubs due to state laws, and forcing them to play for NSW.

1980s: 1980 & 1981 games excluded from series statistics

1999: Rules re-interpreted to exclude Drawn series being counted as a Qld win, despite the rules clearly stating that the previous winner retains the title... and despite everyone, including the commentators, treating the series like a Qld win at the end of game III.

2003: 1987 exhibition match reclassified as an official match so that NSW could claim to hit the lead in overall game wins!

2010: Attempts currently are being made to change the rules so that a Qld player can be prevented from playing in game 3.

There are many other controversies but these don't include complaining about poor ref decisions.

Today we make it 5 in a row, it could be 10 in a row and these bastards still wouldn't get any sympathy from me!

mountain

As i have for the past 20 years, i will be shouting for queensland today, lived in sydney back in the late 1980s, supported Queensland to annoy the NSW people i worked with, but mostly cos being Irish could associate with the queenland spirit, rather than the smugness of NSW...

When they pull on a maron jersey they grow an extra leg....

bipedalhumanoid

INGLIS!

QLD 4-0 :D:D

bipedalhumanoid

mountain wrote: »

As i have for the past 20 years, i will be shouting for queensland today, lived in sydney back in the late 1980s, supported Queensland to annoy the NSW people i worked with, but mostly cos being Irish could associate with the queenland spirit, rather than the smugness of NSW...

When they pull on a maron jersey they grow an extra leg....

I know what you mean. It's why I have to support Munster if they're playing Leinster, despite the fact that I live in Dublin.

QLD 10-0