STATE OF ORIGIN 1 - ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Wednesday

[melon]

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ANZ Stadium, Sydney, Wednesday 21st May 2008.

Well the teams have been picked with many surprise inclusions and ommisions particularly from the New South Wales camp.

This years State of Origin series, in the centenary of rugby league year, is set to be a blockbuster with both teams desperate to win in this historic year. Will Queensland retain the trophy for the third year running? Or will NSW fight back to secure the ***le of the dominant rugby league state for the first time since 2005?

Come 7:30pm on Wednesday 21st May, all eyes will be on Peter Wallace, the Blues debutant who this year has joined the Brisbane Broncos from Penrith and has done a magnificent job at steering his team around the park and secure a position in the top 4 in the absence of Darren Lockyer.
Will Wallace be able to replicate his success at his new club with the Blues? Heres hoping he will as he has been instilled with the trust of the selectors which is evident in not only his selection, but his selection in preference to Manly's Matt Orford who has been pressing for selection for a few years now, Brett Finch who is a proven performer in the 7, as well as Newcastle's Jarrod Mullen.
It seems the Novocastrian Kurt Gidley was infact favoured by the selectors as the Blues halfback, however all hopes of this were destroyed when Gidley was ruled out following a fractured Cheekbone last night in his teams loss to Melbourne.
With Gidley's unavailability it would have been quite attractive for the selectors to choose Roosters halves pairing Brett Finch and Braith Anasta, however with news of players not "trusting" Anasta, and Greg Bird playing a solid game for Australia in the centenary test on Friday night, it seemed Bird was a must for the 6, leaving Wallace with the chance to become the Blues new 7, which he has been given the privealge of and must impress in order to retain it for the remaining games of the series.

The Blues team is quite different this year with 9 players missing from Origin 3 last year, including Gidley (cheekbone), Nathan Hindmarsh, Andrew Ryan, Steve Simpson (knee), Matt King (ESL), Jamie Lyon, Brett Kimmorley, Brent Kite and Luke Bailey (wrist).
Out of this group of players, what surprises me the most is Brent Kite missing out despite his strong performance for Australia against New Zealand on Friday night, as well as Matt King not being considered as a result of him playing in the English Super League.


Tony Archer has been appointed referee

Have your say and discuss anything and everything about State of Origin 1 in this thread.


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Fullback - Billy Slater
</div></blockquote> <blockquote>Wing - Brent Tate
</blockquote> <blockquote>Centre - Justin Hodges
</blockquote> <blockquote>Centre - Israel Folau
</blockquote> <blockquote>Wing - Greg Inglis
</blockquote> <blockquote>Five-Eighth - Karmichael Hunt
</blockquote> <blockquote>Halfback - Johnathan Thurston
</blockquote> <blockquote>Front Row - Petero Civonoceiva
</blockquote> <blockquote>Hooker - Cameron Smith ©
</blockquote> <blockquote>Front Row - Carl Webb
</blockquote> <blockquote>Second Row - Michael Crocker
</blockquote> <blockquote>Second Row - Sam Thaiday
</blockquote> <blockquote>Lock - Dallas Johnson

</blockquote> Interchange
<blockquote> PJ Marsh
Ben Hannant
Nat Myles
Jacob Lillyman


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Referee - Tony Archer

Sideline Officials (touchies) - Steve Chiddy and Paul Holland

Video Referees - Paul Harrigan and Tim Mander

 

[sanzar]

Qld by 20. if we're lucky...

 

[ak47]

i'll watch this from under my sheets - this is a nightmare
QLD by thousands

 

[Vambo]

On paper it should be a Queensland win but this is SOO we're talking about here so anything can happen.

How come Hindmarsh isn't in the NSW team? What's his form been like this year?

 

[sanzar]

Not bad, but nothing special... doesn't warrant rep selection in any case.

 

[melon]

On paper it should be a Queensland win but this is SOO we're talking about here so anything can happen.

How come Hindmarsh isn't in the NSW team? What's his form been like this year? [/b]

Hindmarsh's form has been fairly ordinary. Hes consistently among the highest tacklers in each game and takes among the most hit ups but he never really does anything special anymore. He has made literally no line breaks, tackle busts or off loads and doesn't seem to be able to pull of consistent 50+ tackle efforts.

I think hes past it and also the fact he has the arthritis in his foot which is apparently such that he should only play and train once per fortnight in order for it to be relatively fine for the next game.

Then again, he might do what Craig Fitzgibbon and come back in to the Blues at 30 years of age after a couple of years in the wilderness, providing he finds his form again of course.

Quite simply, at the moment Nathan Hindmarsh seems just like another player with a bit of potential struggling to shine through.

 

[Vambo]

I didn't know about the arthritis. That's a real shame for the guy.

He's one of my fave players as well but since Setanta got the NRL rights from Sky I haven't seen much of him the last couple of years cos I only download the Broncos games.

 

[melon]

I didn't know about the arthritis. That's a real shame for the guy.

He's one of my fave players as well but since Setanta got the NRL rights from Sky I haven't seen much of him the last couple of years cos I only download the Broncos games. [/b]

Only downloading the Broncos games is an extremely smart option

 

[esoj]

big surprise to see wallace in the nsw lineup. I thought for sure orford and finch would be ahead of him but it seems the selectors going for something a bit unexpected to maybe unsettle queensland. greg bird at 6 another interesting call but I think a clear indication nsw want to smash it up the middle. time will tell if this pays off.

for queensland how unlucky is prince. with lockyer out I was certain prince would get a run in the halves with thurston. what a halves pairing that could have been but it is not to be with hunt wearing the no6 jumper. pj marsh was a bit of surprise selection but I guess he has some nice ulitity value

 

[Hamster]

geeez whats with the nsw fans dissing there team, imo its quite a good team but I agree they are hanging on to players like Cooper gaz and mason who shouldnt be there. I wouldnt be surprised if NSW win, afterall they have the supercoach bellamy. [sentence deleted] *Please do not bring personal issues in to the public arena. This will not be tolerated*.

 

[fongbread]

nsw by 4, we always have an edge at home

 

[woosaah]

it hasnt been often in the last 3-4 years that queensland have been favourites but they have still put up some very good performances. Now its the turn of the Blues to be the underdogs. Can they put up the performances that QLD have been able to put up? Of course they can, this is SOO and its going to be a good competition. Cant wait.

 

[esoj]

it should be another cracker of a game first up. queensland are probably better on paper and the favourites but in origin anything can happen with these teams regardless who takes the field. roll on game 1!

 

[Bazzinator]

The only thing NSW has going for them is there forwards and also that it is in Sydney so i say maybe a chance.

on paper Queensland but only one win in 10 matches at Homebush is hard to deny

 

[melon]

I was made aware of an interesting statistic today that since the opening game in 1999, the Qld Maroons have never won without Darren Lockyer.

 

[sanzar]

That was because back then you had Thurston though.

 

[Nat]

The whole issue of Hunt at 6 is shocking! It should be Prince at 7 and Thurston at 6. Have ppl forgotten that Thurston is actually a 5/8 not a halfback. Hunt has never played 5/8 yet those foolish QLD selectors decide to experiment tonite...unbelievable. Look for a Prince recall for Origin #2. Would love to see the so-called game plain that throw rookie 5/8's into an Origin..they must be dreaming.

 

[sanzar]

NSW have made the same blunder by ignoring the experienced (and currently in probably career best form) Anaster. So I doubt you lot will suffer much. But you're right, it's a weird call on Qld's behalf given that Prince has been pretty much the best player in the bloody competition (how the f#ck did he miss out on test selection?!?).

 

[melon]

Death to referee Tony Archer for not ruling on a forward pass that blatantly went 1m forward from NSW and then not allowing play to continue after Qld won the scrum against the feed, instead blowing the whistle and giving the ball back to NSW!!!

 

[Radman]

Thank you Mr Bellamy, you are one hell of a coach.