Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our Queensland dead!
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.
Apologies to The Bard!
Yes, it’s time for State of Origin 2 in the year of our Lord 2008.
The Queensland team of the century has just been announced.
1. Darren LOCKYER
2. Cecil AYNSLEY
3. Tom GORMAN
4. Mal MENINGA
5. Denis FLANNERY
6. Wally LEWIS ©
7. Allan LANGER
8. Mick MADSEN
9. Noel KELLY
10. Duncan HALL
11. Brian DAVIES
12. Arthur BEETSON
13. Bob LINDNER
14. Jim CRAIG
15. Duncan THOMPSON
16. Gene MILES
17. Herb STEINOHRT
Coach: Wayne BENNETT
I don’t even know some of those blokes. Six of them are from the golden age of the 1920s. I’m glad the squeezed Gene Miles in there. I’ve been in awe of him since I saw him catch the ball from the kick-off with only one arm. As casual as you like! He was a big bugger and I reckon seeing him and Mal facing up in the centres would have been a fearsome sight.
But guess who’s missing - Raging Bull! That’s Gordon Tallis, for the uninitiated. What a disgrace!
I don’t really want to say much about the SOO match or the team except to say that they finally selected one of the best players running around - Scott Prince. And in the configuration suggested by Warren Boland for Origin 1. Prince is at half-back, Thurston at five-eighth with Hunt on the bench. They’ll target him for sure by getting big forwards to run at him. Queensland will probably place him at second from the edge in defence, but then they’ve got two little guys to hide. Thurston’s not all that big either.
We have Prince (80kg) and Thurston (82kg) against Wallace (97kg - is he really that big?) and Bird (102kg). Overall we have 7/17 at 100kg or more whereas the other mob have 10.
Did you know that Jonathon Brown of AFL fame is the same height and one kg lighter than Israel Folau. Willie Mason is one cm taller and 12kg heavier. There are some big boys running around in rugby league.
I think there might be a back story as to how the coaching staff got Prince into the team past the selectors. He was brought into the camp to cover Thurston, who injured his leg in training. Thurston’s leg seemed to recover awfully quickly. Once there they could then report to the selectors that he was fitting in marvellously, as Bennett always said he would. So when Lockyer pulled out, they got their way and left Karmichael Hunt on the bench.
What I really wanted to draw attention to was the national anthem. This time it’s going to be sung by Don Bemrose, Australia’s only Indigenous opera singer. It’s quite a story.
When Bemrose was a boy he was mad keen on rugby league, growing up on the Sunshine Coast. His budding career was cut short when he suffered injury from a spear tackle. The doctor told him never to play again.
A music teacher had given the whole class a voice try-out and told his parents that young Don had talent. When they played him a record of the famous Aboriginal singer Harold Blair young Don said, “That’s what I want to be!”
And so it came to pass.
Retaining his love of the greatest game of all, last year he thought he might like to have a shot at singing the national anthem at a state of origin match. While contemplating how he might achieve his aim he ran into Mal Meninga in Queen Street, as you do. He asked Mal whether he could help. Mal said, probably not, but asked him for his card. A couple of months later he got a phone call and tonight his dream comes true. He’s a good bloke Mal Meninga AM whose father was descended from the Kanakas, his mother Scottish, and now a fruit and veg man and part-time rugby league coach.
I hope Bemrose does really well. I do think that the national anthem requires a classically trained voice and I’m really embarrassed when I hear no-talent would-be pop singers mucking it about and sliding onto the notes.
If he does well, I might turn the tele off. I’m not sure I can bear to watch the match.
To finish off we must have some pictures. Here are our tiny halves. Notice how scared they look.
Both of them have Aboriginal heritage, I understand. Here’s the tenor Harold Blair who, they say, taught himself to sing by listening to records of Nelson Eddy. He studied singing in New York, where his voice got wrecked for a period. Funny that.
I have to say that down in Newcastle I beamed every time Tallis was chosen for QLD because he was, quite frankly, a liability.
The win-loss record QLD had during his tenure, and partcularly his captaincy, speaks for itself.
Highlights included getting sent off (a honour he alone holds) to start the Blueswash of 2000.
Missing two matches in 2001, allowing a QLD victory under Lockyer.
Blowing his chances of an Australian captaincy by celebrating a draw ingraciously.
Retiring, allowing Lockyer’s return and the inevitable results.
Other highlights I can’t date include two of the most hilariously bombed tries in Origin. One where he ran into the post (cue cartoon gong sounds), and another when, whilst falling over the line, attempting a miracle flick pass that dribled out forward, when doing nothing would have resulted in a certain try.
The QLD selectors have finally wised up, too late it seems.
Now, if only the Blues would realise that Mason has never ever ever stepped up to perform at Origin level. And if the QLD selectors would realise that one unnecessarily baroque try from Slater several years ago doesn’t change the fact he’s remained fragile in defence in Origin (something he doesn’t show at club level) and has come up with innumerable drop balls coming out of trouble.
Y’know, Shakespeare had nothing good to say about football …
What about rugby league?
*runs*
Yeah … breach.
A breach is a hole blasted by primitive cannon fire against a fortress wall. A breach was an important military objective in the transitional stage in military history between medieval warfare and early modern warfare.
Warfare has moved on since those days.
And so have some games.
Brian, I think the idea of the Team of the Century is just silly. The athlete of today has strength and fitness levels that far surpass those attained even a decade ago.
I saw Brian Davies play and while he was great for his time, he would never match Webcke or Petereo who watch their diets and really care for their health. Also the game is so much faster. Apples and Oranges comparison.
It’s just a silly idea.
Dang! Forgot to buy a Maroon outfit!
Hey Brian. On the team of the century, I’m reasonably happy with it, even though I didn’t see some of the players get around. Obviously it’s hard to directly compare players over different eras, but it’s all relative - players like Lewis dominated their era.
The “Boland plan” has come into effect, but I must confess to having a bad feeling about tonight. It all depends on the forwards. In theory Prince or Thurston are matchwinners, but will they have the platform?
You’re right to point out that the game’s presiding geniuses at the present are indigenous men. I often wonder why the NRL doesn’t acknowledge and promote this in the same way that the AFL seems to…
wpd, I was thinking the same thing myself. I didn’t see Hall and Davies but they had an awesome reputation in their time. I was wondering whether they were made for the unlimited tackle era and how their mobility would scrub up in the modern game.
There is also a question of what part of player’s career you judge. Did they pick Miles as a centre, where he was awesome, I thought, or his later incarnation in the second row, where he went because Bennett needed him there. Beetson would have been fantastic as a centre, which is where he began I believe.
Richard, I’m inclined to agree with you about Mason and Tallis. Tallis wasn’t bad at times playing for St George, the few times I saw him, but he never did much for the Broncos. I was being tongue-in-cheek because some people thought he should have been in the Australian team of the century.
BTW there’s a fantastic picture of him and Terry Hill from 1999. Better than the Lewis v Geyer one. I’ll try to link it here. It’s from a 65 pic Maroon Magic gallery from the Courier mail. It wouldn’t download for me and I tried a screen shot and it didn’t work. I decided that the CM mightn’t like me copying it anyway. You can buy it framed on E-bay.
[Link seems to work]
Katz, I thought the breach concept worked quite well because rugby league is entirely territorial at base and you do have to hold the line. It’s not like AFL where you can ping the pill all over the place.
Kim, sorry, I should have warned you. I thought everyone just knew. I did see the staff at the newsagent at Toowong today with maroon lines on their faces, but that’s about all.
Jason, I’ve got a bad feeling too. The Blues are very big, very mobile, fast, skillful and well-drilled. But they usually are.
Meninga realises that it could have been a complete blowout in Origin 1. But it remains to be seen as to what we can do this time.
Brian,
Great story about Don Bemrose. Looking forward to hearing him sing. I’ll be live-blogging this edition of bag Ben Ikin’s commentary over at Sidelined.
The Blues 28-10. Gidley to be the difference.
maroons looking good early.
“. Beetson would have been fantastic as a centre, which is where he began I believe.”
Actually he was a great five/eight. As was Petereo in his younger years.
Been watching the TV while listening to the ABC. Morrow doesn’t realise how biased he is. I have one of these set top boxes which means I get to see the action ‘long’ after the commentary. Morrow’s commentary bears little resemblance to the game that is televised.
QLD would have to be the favourites at this point in time, for this game.
But will probably lose the series unless Lockyer is right.
More later.
Benny didn’t score but Boyd did. A type of justice.
If Gasnier is worth X then Inglis is worth 2X and Tait and Folau are not that far behind. A great game, but only from a Queensland point of view.
On this game, and only on this game, the QLD Forwards would be the Australian Forwards.
But I will stick by my prediction that NSW will win the series.
Final score 30-0. We wuz robbed! It should have been 60!
Actually I counted eight definite refereeing errors against Qld, some marginal, some quite blatant, and only two the other way.
Shaun, I reckon when you live blog something goes wrong between brain and fingers, because what you write couldn’t be what you are seeing! But you can set up the post here for Origin 3 if you like.
wpd, agree on all points. I’ve got the same setup. I listen with the TV sound on and a button radio in my good ear. Mostly I listen to the radio, but when Phil Gould says something I want to hear I just move the button away.
The Wok stressed how well Thurston played and how he set up the stuff the likes of Inglis did.
But Inglis is great in full flight!
The decision to start Hunt at fullback worked pretty well. I think they just pick him and then decide where he’ll play.
But above all the forwards came to play.
I don’t think we lost much not having Lockyer there, nor Hodges. But they can come back any time they like as far as I’m concerned.
That is because I see everything in a shade of blue!
But full credit to Queensland. They wanted this game an NSW were never in the hunt. Thurston was outstanding and Inglis unstoppable. Tate had a blinder as well.
There will be some changes for NSW in game 3. Anasta should come in at 5/8 and Hayne (if his suspension is served) on the wing for Turner. I’d find room for Mark Minichello in the forwards dropping Hoffman and Mason. Bird will keep his spot at lock which suits him a lot better.
Shaun, I agree about Thurston, Inglis and Tate. I thought Hunt played well when he was on in the first half.
The Wok and Warren Boland reckon Gidley played himself out of the team. Mason was a big help to us. Yep I reckon I agree with your suggested changes.
Qld played pretty close to the perfect game, like NSW did in the first one.
I think that tonight has proved that the best form of defence is attack!
Prince and Thurston played off one another extremely well, and both defended well (Oh to think what could have been if the cowboys had held onto Prince). Price steadied the ship and worked hard. I was impressed with Thaiday, too - he also worked really hard. Inglis was a stand-out, obviously. Hunt was excellent at full-back in the first half - precisely the right strategy with him and Slater. Tate played well, but in a particular way - he’s no longer as explosive or creative as the younger guys, but he’ll catch the ball every time and take a tackle when necessary to steady things.
I think everyone on the park played well. Honestly, they blew them away tonight. It was a victory for attacking, positive football. I know it was a bit of a walkover, and I’m biased, but I think it was an attractive game - an Origin classic!!
Dead set right, Jason. Yes Thaiday did well. The Wok said before SOO1 that he’d have Thaiday in his Australian team.
Big Petero just keeps charging ahead. He has tremendous leg drive and for a tall man it’s remarkable that he never gets bent backwards.
A good night and one to savour. They don’t come like that very often.
Great thread again Brian, and very impressed with your bringing the bard to Suncorp! Bring on game 3!!!
Would have been good to watch the Blues Team from SOO1 play the Maroons Team from SOO2 - now that would have been a bloody good game. What a turnaround.
Blues never looked in it from the kick off, never had the ball, never made a decent break the whole night, never even looked like scoring for the whole game. Queensland were on fire. As for the dodgy decisions…I’d like to see that, cough, forward-ish pass from Inglis to set up the second try, but it wouldn’t have mattered NSW just looked amateurish by the end.
How many times did they drop and fumble the ball!! At the pub I was at everyone was laughing for the whole second half, in Sydney.
A right royal shellacing for an Origin match.
And Inglis is brilliant! He and Adam Goodes (Swans) both have the same grace, balance, acceleration, ball handling & the ability to pick up the ball at pace. Can’t believe they let him have his first senior game in Qld. Wot were they thinking… not obviously.
Well yes, Brian. In Australian football players can ping the pill anywhere.
But unless they intelligently dispose of the ball somewhere useful, their team will lose.
Australian football doesn’t dictate artificial laws to tell players where they may not “ping the pill”.
Darwinian processes of bad choices and negative outcomes impose patterns of ball use that are subtle and flexible. Successful choice of creative patterns drives creative evolution of the great game.
Katz, I’m a bit of a sports nut, but I freely admit there are sports that I don’t fully understand. I do watch AFL, especially when the Lions are in full flow, and can appreciate that there are amazing subtleties in the game, apart from the irritating pushing and shoving.
There are amazing subtleties in rugby league too, and if you listen commentary from a super coach like Warren Ryan you come to appreciate them.
jo, the two refereeing mistakes that favoured Qld, IMHO, were the forward pass leading to the second try in the 21st minute, and I think Hannant bounced the ball in scoring. On the second, I can see why the video ref passed it back to the field ref, and why he gave the try on what he saw and wouldn’t have seen.
As to the ‘forward pass’ from Inglis to Boyd, you see ones like that passed every week. It’s one of those where a player running fast passes so that the ball is maybe flat when it leaves the hands, but because of the forward momentum of both players it travels forward in relation to the ground. Such passes always look clearly forward on TV.
It was perhaps balanced by a no-try ruling in about the 62nd minute when the last pass was dead flat but ruled forward. It happened two metres in front of the touchie standing on that side. The Hannant try came about a minute later.
The passage of play that was worst for refereeing was from the 11th to the 18th minute. There were two unjustified penalties against Qld, plus once when Tate was deemed to have knocked on whereas I thought it was flat at worst, and a similar one where NSW knocked on and got away with it. Those two were perhaps 50:50 calls, but the effect was to give NSW momentum and they looked as though they were back in the game. At the end of the sequence we were pinged in-goal and had a line dropout.
Then NSW turned the pill over, Inglis made the break and Boyd scored his second.
One way or another the game was very much in the balance during that period. Those who say refereeing doesn’t decide games should think again. So maybe the Inglis pass was forward, but at the time I thought there was some justice restored.
BTW there were three penalty goals to Qld as the only scores between the 21st and 63rd minutes. Qld took the safe option and rightly so. If they’d have gone for the kill I think NSW may have been completely blown off the park.
Anyway that’s how I saw it. If my vision is coloured maroon to Shaun’s blue, I can’t help that. I try to avoid it but we’re all human.
Enough from me. I thought Bemrose did quite nicely with the national anthem and showed how it should be sung. It’s not a great anthem, though, compared with lots of others.