2 hours ago
1
Cameron Smith, as usual, was seeing around Origin corners.
“This is the best NSW has looked all series,” Smith, sitting on high as he does at Suncorp Stadium, mused after 13 minutes of what proved one of the great Origin upsets.
“The ball movement, and the speed at which they’re playing, they’re playing with a lot more freedom.”
At this point, the Blues hadn’t scored a point. But already, they had fixed up the stagnant, sterile attack that had pervaded all series.
Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses found their mojo as a big-stepping, booming boot halves pairing. Payne Haas found Cameron Munster, repeatedly, and monstered him.
NSW remembered how to defend an edge assault and after the missteps in Melbourne, Laurie Daley rotated his bench to near-perfection.
All the while, Queensland lost their heads – and the series – because for once, they didn’t have an answer to the Blues tactics.
Cleary and the House of Payne: How the Blues fixed their broken attack
Starting with Cleary, and buying into the whole “owning Origin” malarkey for a moment, he now has his very own, negatively geared, Origin McMansion.
His man-of-the-match, Wally Lewis medal-winning efforts started where so many fine halfback performances do – in defence.
His first significant involvement was chopping down a well-timed Kurt Capewell run at the tryline – the type of angled line NSW simply couldn’t stop at the MCG.
In concert with Moses, the delineation of their roles has never been clearer. Moses took on all the long-kicking when NSW were under pressure, consistently raking 60-metre kicks downfield.
When the Blues got into attacking territory, Cleary was the clear first receiver and shot-caller. Moses reverted to a traditional five-eighth role.
And the Blues’ use of Haas, and the Steeden in general, gave them precious room to work with.
Haas ran wide and often in his first 27-minute stint, regularly finding Munster, and to a lesser extent Sam Walker, just as he did in the 2024 series opener – his best performance in sky blue. The result was much the same.
Munster was bounced around, Haas found offloads or quick play-the-balls and NSW rattled up a decisive advantage, particularly Cleary.
His first try, courtesy of Isaah Yeo leaving Tom Flegler sprawled on the ground and Cleary’s own exquisite right-foot step, came because Kurt Capewell shot up as the outside defender, wary of the threat out wide.
Munster made the same mistake when Liam Martin set the Blues second try in motion, Martin stepping back inside the Queensland skipper when he overshot his defensive assignment.
Reuben Cotter, who was the inside defender on Cleary’s first try, made it a terrible trio when he rushed wide off his goal line, allowing Cameron Murray to burrow over.
The backfield gambles and grit that paid off
While the Blues new edge focus brought Cleary and Haas – at their best, the NRL’s two most influential individuals – well and truly to the fore, a couple of lesser lights played their parts as well.
So, too, a slew of Queensland errors, three leading up to the first NSW try, and 14 in total.
Rookie winger Jack Bostock punched above his weight replacing Brian To’o and his inimitable yardage game.
The Maroons dominated the first seven minutes – the kind of advantage that so regularly turns into a Suncorp avalanche. The Blues’ first foray into Queensland territory came from a gutsy two-pass shift on their own 20-metre line, a tough Bostock carry and subsequent quick play-the-ball.
With James Tedesco regularly pushing up around the ruck, as Immortal Andrew Johns has been demanding for several weeks, his dummy-half scurry earned the first set-restart of the game, and swung momentum the Blues’ way.
In the lead-up to Cleary’s second try, it was another six-again earned by Tedesco that put NSW on the front foot. Reece Robson’s sharper passing and ruck management took advantage of Queensland’s extra five sets of defence accordingly.
Right side, strong side
And when the Maroons swung wide to Munster and Kalyn Ponga down the left to turn the tide, as they have done so well all series, NSW kept their heads.
Martin, Cleary and former Panther Stephen Crichton conceded space and time when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow put the foot down. Again, Queensland’s regular mistakes brought them undone. And both their tries came down that same edge.
But with Crichton employing the judicious decision-making and ‘check and release’ defensive principles Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo has drilled into him, the game’s best centre held the Blues right-edge together after conceding six of the Maroons seven tries in Melbourne.
Crichton’s ability to hold off committing to Tabuai-Fidow more than once forced Selwyn Cobbo onto the sideline and into error.
And while Martin menaced Munster, scrambled to shut down Ponga and hammered Rob Toia, Cleary was infinitely more comfortable with Penrith’s old right edge before coming up with his own game-turning play – the one-on-one strip of Cobbo that led to Murray’s try.
Daley delight: A bench battle won
For all the momentum NSW’s tactical shifts generated, things still could have swung as they did in Melbourne.
Billy Slater once again went to his bench first to swing the Blues’ 6-0 advantage, but with the series on the line, the Blues nailed their interchange calls.
Murray’s leg speed came first, before Addin Fonua-Blake found his feet in a sky blue jersey – playing the part of impact prop to a tee in 25 minutes of offloads, post-contact metres and bruising defence.
Brailey was given 30 minutes to snipe around an increasingly open ruck after Robson’s best game of the series.
Tolu Koula struggled under the high ball when Tedesco’s night was ended by a head knock, but Bostock’s exit was handled well – with Crichton able to shift sides, Bradman Best superb once more and Ethan Strange able to defend in the centres.
Post-game this time round, it was Slater left lamenting how Patrick Carrigan couldn’t get any game-time due to a slew of HIAs.
This time round, it was Queensland scrambling for points as the clock ticked down. Passes were pushed, errors mounted. Ultimately, because the Blues had finally worked out their Origin game plan.
