*Official* NRL 2012 Season thread

[Burgey]

Burt wouldn't let NSW down, but he's just too small to be taking kick returns at Origin level. He'd get smashed.

Would be mistake free, but just not as fast or explosive as Uate.

 

[howardj]

What's Rod Wishart doing these days?

Origin Gun

 

[Ausage]

Steve Turner and Bryson Goodwin can kick.

Now that we're all done gutlaughing, gotta agree with Nufan, Gordon is the only goalkicking winger that should be considered.

Carney's not a bad kicker though, he's just had nerves. He's fine for the Sharks. Uate should stick around because there's really no one better. Ferguson, B Morris or a bolter like McManus or Wolfman are the only options if we don't play someone like Dugan out of position. I can see (and have seen) howlers coming from any of them. Better to stick with the guy and see if he gains in confidence.

 

[uvelocity]

if only beau knew goalkicking

 

[chaminda_00]

I hope they persist with Utate and work on his weakness, he is awesome in attack. But if we go back to old habits that dropping a player because their not perfect, then Brett Morris would be good replacement. Carney goal kicking is fine, his far better kicker then Turner.

 

[uvelocity]

plus turners a renegging cheating unrepentant douchebag

 

[NUFAN]

Plus he is not Origin standard and he is injured for the year, ffs.

NSW will not make a change unless injury/suspension.

QLD will bring in Thaiday and Barba. Slater out and I guess Parker, but maybe Gillett who to no surprise has been ineffectual.

 

[howardj]

I would bring Neilsen in for the injured Slater (with Inglis reverting to full-back)

Thaiday for Parker

Gillett on shaky ground

 

[Ausage]

I don't think Qld will risk Barba. We've been putting up tons of bombs, and having a 1/2/5 good at diffusing them has been huge for Qld. Barba is a massive risk under the high ball. They'll put Inglis or Boyd at FB and blood a winger, or go with Neilsen.

 

[uvelocity]

hope they go boyd and not inglis

 

[NUFAN]

I would bring Neilsen in for the injured Slater (with Inglis reverting to full-back)

Thaiday for Parker

Gillett on shaky ground

Yeah I agree actually, I meant to write that but somehow didn't.

1 Inglis 2 Boyd 3 Nielson 3 Hodges 5 Tate 6 Thurston 7 Cronk 8 Scott 9 Smith 10 Hannant 11 Myles 12 Thaiday 13 Harrison 14 Barba 15 Taylor 16 Shillington 17 Civoniceva

So that's no Parker, Gillett and Slater out injured.

 

[Mister Wright]

Man...NSW played awesome Wednesday night, they finally played as a team. Don't think they can play much better than that tbh. It's heartening that we only lost by 4 points and the result wasn't confirmed until the ref blew full time. NSW dominated the game and only scored 16 points. I think I read somewhere that they have only scored more than 16 points twice in the last 12 Origin games or something like that and once was a dead rubber, the other was game 3 last year.

It's going to be a cracking 3rd game and unless QLD improve their dropped ball and last tackle options I could be saying, "good bye" to $150.

 

[Spikey]

i thought they played much the same as game 1, but this time they got the man advantage instead of qld. nsw defended well, the forwards played well, the kicking was disappointing and they still didn't really look like getting a try through a good play, expect of course the first try which was really encouraging

 

[uvelocity]

the confidence they will have gained will be enormous

 

[chaminda_00]

Reckon NSW could play a lot better. The kicking game and last tackle options was quite average. The defence under the high ball was also pretty poor. If it wasn't for the extra player, I doubt we would have scored those two tries.

The defence from both teams was awesome, but both teams struggled in make a impact in attack.

If NSW want to win the last game, they need to play a lot better. Especially the halves. Though I don't think Pearce can play any better. Carney needs more experience to really dominate an origin game. He still looks like rookie at this level.

The Grant and Tamou combination was awesome. Finally we have some big fellows up front with some go forward.

 

[howardj]

I thought we looked really disjointed in attack. Every time we went wide, the support players seemed to overrun the guy in possession (usually Thurston). Anyway, NSW will derive a lot of confidence from finally winning a tight game. Their defence in particular was mighty.

There's no real continuum in Origin though - each game is an island unto itself, a clean sheet if you will. You have to go out there and earn it all over again.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Yeah I agree, I think we were in a similar situation last year and were 20-0 behind after about 20 minutes in the third game. I think we've played a lot more consistently this year, how we were even close in the first game last year is still a mystery. Still, anything could happen in Game 3.

I'm hoping QLD go with Barba at fullback. Inglis would be the worst option from NSW's point of view. I'd say it'll be the latter.

 

[uvelocity]

just got to see half of the nrl on fox recap last night and one thing I noticed was when cronk came back on and made that tackle on b.stewart in our in goal, inglis was actually leading the chase by a good 10m and was beaten by 20m by cronk. he had one of his lazy efforts.

so Inglis at fb could be devastating, but could also be quite lazy. Has the added disadvantage of not having the club combination with smith and cronk.

cliffs: not worried about inglis

 

[NUFAN]

Do you really think Inglis will be worried about not having a combination with his ex-Storm, current QLD and current Australian halfback and hooker. Very unlikely mate.

Dismiss Inglis at your peril.

 

[uvelocity]

the smith -> cronk -> back inside to slater play will be back in the rack

nsw by 24