*Official* NRL 2012 Season thread

[Spikey]

c00ps refused to 'don the blue jersey', instead requesting to play shirtless.

 

[Prince EWS]

My sources indicate that c00ps has been asked to come out of representative retirement to don the blue jersey for the rest of the series.

Well I know Lyon was asked before the series started, so if you said this a week or two ago I'd have bought it. Doubt they'd only ask him after Game I though, so I call bull****.

 

[benchmark00]

Well I know Lyon was before the series started, so if you said this a week or two ago I'd have bought it. Doubt they'd only ask him after Game I though, so I call bull****.

You dissin' my sources, bro?

 

[Prince EWS]

You dissin' my sources, bro?

Absolutely.

 

[benchmark00]

Absolutely.

Not happy.

 

[Spikey]

He's got better things to do.

 

[benchmark00]

 

[Burgey]

Also wtf was Gallen thinking going for 2 points, 10 minutes into the second half.

Wasn't a bad call at all IMO. He kicked it dead and by the end of the ensuing set they were on the filth's line again.

 

[Burgey]

Coops packing a decent Hollywood Loaf there, tttt.

 

[Ausage]

Sin bin aside the centers were fine. Morris went surprisingly well. Got done on the outside of Inglis once but other than that he was very good defensively.

 

[uvelocity]

Sin bin aside the centers were fine. Morris went surprisingly well. Got done on the outside of Inglis once but other than that he was very good defensively.

glen stewart stuffed him up in attack I reckon or his game would have been even better.

 

[Prince EWS]

Ausage has suggested that I should post more in here. Just for him I'm going to re-post a rant I posted up on a rugby league forum, so he can strongly disagree with it and stop wishing I'd posted more in here.

In the lead-up to Origin I, I could not help but notice the growing influx of New South Wales supporters, mainly in the mainstream media and amongst the casual fans but also to a lesser extent on sites like this, who became very optimistic about Stuart's "attack-based" side. Even some of the more pessimistic, realistic and even cynical New South Wales fans were qualifying their despair with comments like "at least we haven't picked a team to try and defend for eighty minutes" or "at least Stuart is having a go at trying to out-score them", so this was not an example of the Pollyanna principle (that one is for you, CricketWebbers) but a demonstration of a exceedingly warped view of how points actually come in Origin and how the game is different from club football.

I contended pre-match that not only was an attack-based side not even necessarily the best way to beat Queensland, but that Stuart had not even picked such a thing anyway. He had instead imposed a completely warped view on the structure of Origin and picked an entirely arse-about-face outfit that I compared to the theoretical cricket example of selecting four specialist bowlers to bat in the top order and then claiming you had a strong batting side as your tailenders could all wield the willow. It is of course absolute no surprise to me that even though New South Wales dominated possession and territory, won the battle of the forwards and dominated the ruck they only scored two tries - both off kicks - and only managed to stay in the game through excellent middle third defence and gross under-performance from Queensland in general.

This was not an attack-based side. Stuart thought it was when he selected it, and it may even have looked as such to the untrained eye, but it was not. While I think most everyone would agree that New South Wales did not pick their strongest defensive side, it was always going to pan out as a defensive side at Origin level due to the core structure in the important centrefield positions. In other words, it could have been far better in either discipline or even both at once.

At Origin level, games are won through a determined and well-structured defensive line, from creativity from the spine on the back of good go-forward from the middle third forwards or (usually) from a combination both. No matter how hard various coaches have tried to change this, Origin remains a very pure game on this level. This is precisely why individualist back rowers and centres who thrive at club level as their reliance on halves is minimal have a much higher flop rate at Origin than average, and I will use the classic example of Justin Hodges who has been a repeated disappointment for Queensland overall even despite being part of a massive unbeaten dynasty. It is also why players like Shaun Timmins, Brent Tate and Ashley Harrison seem to be more effective at Origin level than at club level; they are skilled but no-nonsense in attack, defend well and know how to play a role off a set of halves without having to be heroes. Individual brilliance on the fringes is simply not how points are scored at such high levels; you need genuine momentum and creativity further in-field and out wide you really just need good role players.

Which brings me back to the absurdity of calling Stuart's side attack-based. In his spine positions - where his points are supposed to come from - he picked three more defensive options out of the five and went on record saying he would have picked a fourth (Buderus) had he been available. The fifth was a debutant. To help support this conservative and defensive spine with the time and space it would need to make an impact, he selected just three front rowers and only one primarily middle third back rower to cover the entire match. But this was an attack-based side, apparently, because the individual brilliance of Glenn Stewart, Josh Morris, Tony Williams et al was going to come to the fore and provide so many points for New South Wales without the need for creative players inside them; Origin elitism is a myth you see and these heroes do not need the halves to lay anything on. They just need "early ball". That worked out well.

Now my spine would have been similar to his, for what it's worth, but then again I would not have been calling my side attack-based, and I certainly would not have selected some of the individualistic attacking heroes he played on the fringes. And maybe - just maybe - if Josh Morris (or rather, the player I would have selected in his place) had not come rushing fifteen metres infield to take Inglis regardless of the structure of every well-constructed play Queensland ran down his side (oh and that is an example of attacking Origin football, by the way) Uate would not have been left posted marking two or three men by himself repeatedly. And afterall, the only two legitimate tries Queensland scored were through that very thing.

No doubt we will ignore all that, however, and spend the coming weeks bickering about the officiating instead.

 

[NUFAN]

Wasn't a bad call at all IMO. He kicked it dead and by the end of the ensuing set they were on the filth's line again.

I wished he kicked it as I had guessed an 18-12 QLD win.

Well done Pews too, I can't believe Myles got it. I was expecting JT. I feel like I need to watch the match again as I wasn't sober enough to analyse everyone's performance.

NSW shouldn't make many changes at all but I wouldn't keep the same starting back row. Watmough or a match fit Williams to start with Lewis benched as he hasn't looked quite as good for the Panthers in the past couple of weeks after having some awesome games.

So Watmough for his Manly team mate Buhrer and I don't rate Creagh so I would look at bringing in Beau Scott or adding an extra prop like Aaron Woods.

Really happy to be leading the series 1-0 without playing anywhere near our best.

 

[howardj]

I well and truly peaked before kick off last night but nonetheless have a recollection of the game. For mine, and I hope this is not an oversimplification, but again when we need to score and when we need to produce, we just do. By contrast, NSW tries came from kicks. I just thought, broadly speaking, we were once again in control.

 

[Ausage]

Ausage has suggested that I should post more in here. Just for him I'm going to re-post a rant I posted up on a rugby league forum, so he can strongly disagree with it and stop wishing I'd posted more in here.

Nah only a couple of things I disagree with there.

The "attack based" side was always a bit of a media construct. Much of it being how people see someone like Jennings (speedy, can't tackle). I don't really think there's much we can do though, in particular there's no NSW halves that have the creativity of Thurston, Carney is as close as we have and we picked him. He just had stage fright, but I doubt Maloney or anyone else would be any better. Farah though was a revelation, and his creativity really took pressure off the halves. Buhrer was a terrible selection. He came on, we lost the momentum Farah was generating and he got subbed off 5 minutes later.

I would have had Scott in there in place of one of the backrowers, but he got injured. Watmough wasn't picked because he was injured (apparently). TLL would have been a good pick but other than that someone like Houston, maybe Fensom? Hardly spoiled for choice. The cupboard is even barer in the centers, Lawrence has been largely gash, Lyon and C00ps are retired, Idris is an "attacking player" anyway, I guess you could take a punt on someone like Leilua or Tahu but after that you're talking about serious dregs (Croker, King, Pomeroy).

There's the obvious changes, TLL or Watmough and a prop for Creagh and Buhrer. Maybe lose one of G Stewart or Lewis for the other backrower. Other than that I think the team was fine.

As you said, we were good in the middle third, picked as good a spine as we could (albiet being helped by injury) there's no missing standouts in the edge forwards or centers, not sure what else we should have done. We lost because of some JT brilliance, very solid QLD edge defense and some terrible refereeing. It's easy to say QLD weren't that great, but the fact is we were pretty damn close to winning that game.

Agree that Lewis was pretty average too ftr. Hasn't been anywhere near his best this year for Penrith either.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Haven't seen any Souths games, how has Matt King been this year?

 

[uvelocity]

well one thing I don't feel NSW did was attempt to kick for the ingoal and force repeat sets. Always the high kick. Tate was rock solid under it, definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

NSW were well on top but also didn't believe in themselves as evidenced by the stupid decision to go for penalty goal.

 

[Prince EWS]

One thing I'll never get is why so many people seem to think TLL is a second rower. Even when he wore 11 for Canberra (which was a while ago now) he played up the middle and they used Tongue on the edge. Bloke is a prop, ffs.

 

[Ausage]

Haven't seen any Souths games, how has Matt King been this year?

Only seen a couple of games myself and he's been simply ok. A couple of flashy flick passes to a winger have come off for him I guess.

 

[NUFAN]

Haven't seen any Souths games, how has Matt King been this year?

Matt King has been very good particularly in defence this year, he has formed a terrific combination with Everingham. King isn't as quick as he once was and doesn't break many tackles but he appears a smarter footballer these days. He wouldn't be the worse selection, I would liken his performances this year to Brent Tate's.

well one thing I don't feel NSW did was attempt to kick for the ingoal and force repeat sets. Always the high kick. Tate was rock solid under it, definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

NSW were well on top but also didn't believe in themselves as evidenced by the stupid decision to go for penalty goal.

Genuine question - How many opportunities did NSW have to trap QLD in goal? Were they coaches orders or just rubbish options by the halves?