And then an hour later....
Good job you corrected yourself, matey
The Blues showed tonight that just by playing well for 50 minutes, they can win the match.
An 80 minute effort up at Suncorp, and SOO is as good as ours.
Johns showed the rugby league world something special tonight. However, for those reading the thread about the Knights, I still say that they should let him go for long-run benefit.
Bailey and Ryles were excellent tonight (even though Bails dropped the ball a couple of minutes after he came on). They, along with Simpson, provided the dominating forward platform that was needed for victory in this match. BK was awesome despite pushing a few too many passes (especially in the ten minute period before half time when NSW decided to chase the lead). Hindmarsh was solid, Fitzgibbon average (not what I've come to expect from Fitzy at Origin level).
Anasta played as a second rower, which worked for the most part, but came unstuck when we needed to get the ball out wide.
King was superb in the first twenty, keeping us in the game and then in the lead. Gaz and Coops were brilliant, and Menzies did a perfect job covering for Rooney's injury and the positional changes associated with that, capping it off with a strong try.
Minichiello, although he scored two tries, was probably a little off his game this evening. However, his "game" is at a standard so far above pretty much every fullback in the world, so I can accept this.
Craig Wing was solid, and Andrew Ryan provided able assistance up front. Buderus looked lazy at periods during the first half, but his performance was much improved on SOOI.
Overall, a much better performance at The Colloseum, as Rabs eloquently put it. Ten from ten at Telstra, and now the daunting task of a decider at Suncorp.
GO THE BLUES!!!
