EYE-BALL’s Snoop-Poop – 2013 State of Origin – Game 3 and Series Review…

Latest ‘Snoop-Poop’ Posts: – 28th June – 2013 State of Origin – – Game 2 Post Match Review – – 29th May – 2013 State of Origin – Game 1 Pre Match Review and Player Rankings … – July 5th: – 2012 State of Origin – Game 3 and Series Review – June 25th: – 2012 State of Origin – Game 3 Preview – June 13th: – NSW SOO Coach – A Dirty Stinkin’ RAT … – June 7th: – 2012 State of Origin – Game 2 Preview – May 24th: – 2012 State of Origin – Game 1 Review – May 21st: – 2012 State of Origin Preview – Game 1 To see more EYE-BALL Snoop-Poop posts: click here …

Title: – 2013 State of Origin – – GAme 3 and Series Review – | Author: EYE-BALL’s Snoop-Poop | 30th July 2013 |

Again the SOO Game 3 decider contest was true, fierce, and absorbing … some two weeks after the event the glow of victory still brings a smile and want to shout the ‘Queenslander’ match cry. On the night NSW looked would be winners with possession and the tiring QLD forward pack.   Yet the scoreboard did not favour them in the end result. The immediate post match questions are mountainous – so too with the benefit of time lapsed to consider the efforts of both teams. In both scenarios it comes down to one thing – what was missing from the NSW effort to get them over the line? Too have had that much ball possession in the 20 minutes prior to half-time, and then again in the last 20 minutes of the 2nd half and not be able to post a winning score, points to greater issues other than the efforts and committment the players left on the field. Gallen and Hayne missed Game 3 – would they have made the difference if they played?  We’ll never know but they have not been the difference in the past in terms of NSW winning a decider. During post match interviews the word being used by NSW coaches and players was ‘clinical’ or lack of  – to that I say ‘composure’ and ‘self-belief’ are better points of reference … NSW on the back-end of an 8 year drought have already written off next year because QLD host two games in 2014 – already NSW are displaying that defeatist attitude and that is the problem every NSW player has never tasted SOO victory and some have been there for many of the 8 years of losses. Whilst the crowds and the TV audience are posting new records every season – and the games themselves thrill the audience with their intensity and brutality – continued excuses for NSW losses only avoid the cold hard truth and that truth comes in many forms. Phil Gould’s interview shown pre-match with Smith, Kronk, Thurston and Slater tells much of the story – this group of players have been together since junior league learning and feeding off each other all their league careers.  Bonds like that can never be forged – this is truly a QLD side of which legends are made from. Gordon Tallis made the comment in the pre-match build-up – “…Qld have a team full of stars and anyone of those individuals can take the game by the scruff of the neck when needed – NSW have no-one who can do that… that’s why I pick QLD to win.” Never has a comment proved so poetic as Game 3 played itself out. QLD were gone in the back-end of both halves – be it the aging QLD team, the mystifying mistakes they make – or the 50-50 ref calls all going NSW’s way – NSW had enough ball to win this game thrice over … Yet their failure to get the job done given all the positives they had to work with – the failure to post points comes down to the options taken by the halves. During that last 10 minutes when NSW drew themselves to a 12-10 score line – every QLD’er watching had fear in their mind as they believed NSW would run over the top and end the winning streak. If NSW coach Daly was honest he would tell all they he also believed NSW would win the game from that position – the game was there to be won and yet again NSW found a way to lose … QLD did not win this game – NSW lost it. Gould would have believed in the NSW victory as well – but he knew as he has known all along – NSW don’t have what QLD have – the ability to turn adversity, the ability to weather the momentum shifts, the story is that as much as the hype demands NSW are in the contest – NSW have forgotten how to win important games. The myth that QLD’s have greater ‘ticker’, greater ‘belief’, and greater ‘composure’ lives on and was proved once again. Those north of the border say it every year in the wash-up – NSW can’t match QLD for heart and soul – and the NSW team Management say otherwise – but the truth is that every Queenslander knows that beating NSW in SOO is a blood sport that cannot be underestimated. QLD’s believe in the symbolism of SOO victories and when defeat comes – all QLD will feel a sense of loss that will have no bounds.  This is what QLD players feel and play for – a responsibility worn as proudly and all those who have gone before. NSW don’t have this inner soul that comprehends – they had it once under Gould, and during the 90’s – but these recent teams have not come near what those teams showed on the field in terms of heart and soul. It can all be traced back to the biggest winning margin in Origin history – NSW crushed QLD when they posted more than 50 points in the year before the winning streak began. The NSW player antics in post try celebrations will live in QLD memory forever.  Those dark days in QLD SOO history is what drives the coaches, the players, and the QLD supporters – never again … NSW don’t get it – in that contest they disrespected the game and the contest – they now deserve their humiliation in 8 series losses – never once has QLD disrespected the NSW efforts or the team players in those victories. QLD has class – and when NSW understand that their losing streak is based on their biggest victory – perhaps they might get some understanding where the QLD spirit comes from. Another reality is NSW play as individuals – they claim to have the will and the determination, and at this level there is nothing special about that commitment – it is about how far they will go as a team and as individuals to spend themselves physically, and emotionally on the field. Of course ability and insight to the game is just as important and that comes down to individual player ability – QLD’s dominance comes down to their halves combination over many years.   In Pearce NSW have committed themselves for four series now and he has demonstrated from a QLD perspective that he is the weak link – Soward, Carney, and now Maloney – have been his five-eight combinations and they have come and gone and Pearce still remains. Look to Pearce’s club form and measure the stats for the re-starts he gets when in the opposition 22 – his conversion rate is the worst in the league – how can NSW selectors think that at the SOO level his record would improve or get any better? I believed NSW had the forward pack to dominate the aging and smaller QLD pack in this series – Game 1 proved that.  Game 2 they went walkabout – and Game 3 they again stood up and were the better pack on the field.   As a team the NSW halves just don’t make it work and QLD love to see Pearce at half – they see it as a choice that favours them. Can QLD make it 10 in a row – the odds have shortened and where can NSW go to get the players needed that are not mentally scarred? Well done QLD – suck it up NSW and in the next year try to be humble as you contemplate the enormity of QLD’s efforts. EYE-BALL’s Snoop-Poop …