Round 19: Origin 3: The Fallout

A fairly crazy Round 19 of NRL action had its genesis — in two ways — in last Wednesday’s night epic State of Origin.

Every State of Origin match is played at a speed and intensity several levels above a typical NRL match. Despite this, most Origin players are typically able to back up for their NRL teams on the following weekend, with many of these players able to play starring roles despite heavy legs, bumps, bruises and sometimes even injuries picked up from the previous Wednesday night.

However, last Wednesday’s State of Origin match was such a battle with such physical and mental consequences that most players were either unable to back up for their NRL club (due to injury, possessing the will but not the ability to fight or just general soreness) or posted a far from spectacular performance. This was even seen with those who have an excellent reputation of backing up for their NRL club after Origin.

In addition to the effect of last Wednesday night on the individual Origin player, it also hit those teams with more Origin players quite hard. The State of Origin series and — to, a lesser extent, Test Matches — has become quite the vital cog in the NRL’s parity strategy — albeit with a lag. As a team makes the move from cellar-dweller to contender, this usually leads to players from that team moving into representative teams. However, a preference from representative selectors for those players who have ‘done it before’ can mean that some teams enter their decline whilst possessing a greater-than-average percentage of representative players (and some teams can make their ascent up the NRL ladder without much of a representative cohort e.g. Manly prior to this year).

In Round 19, following such a brutal Origin game, it was perhaps not surprising to see a number of teams with fewer players from Origin 3 faring better than their more Origin-represented opponents. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was those teams with Queensland Origin players who suffered the most in Round 19, led by the stunning capitulation of the Broncos on Friday night.

As often seems to happen with visiting teams at Suncorp Stadium, Souths started quite strongly against Brisbane, but Brisbane seemed keen for a battle — at least when they had the ball. As the game neared half time, Souths held a 10-6 lead but both teams looked dangerous: a high-scoring game seemed certain, but the explosion of points which soon followed from Souths — and the very easy manner in these points came — was still quite a shock.

While Brisbane was missing Origin players Lockyer and Thaiday, it is important to note that their left side defence — the side Souths attacked relentlessly — was intact. In other words, it was almost inexplicable to see Souths causing carnage every time they passed the ball right and ran. You’d have to think Brisbane would have done something to stop the bleeding if Lockyer and Thaiday would have played, or if their other Origin players Hunt and Hodges had anything to back up their initial 20 minutes’ worth of verve, but this should not detract from the awesome manner of Souths’ victory.

Alas, for supporters of the much-maligned but now on-fire Souths’ five-eighth John Sutton, the two highlights from this game which will be seen for years to come will be Colin Best’s momentum being halted by a sideline cameraman and referee Tony De Las Heras’ consciousness being (briefly) halted by Tonie Carroll’s knee. You’d have to think Carroll and his team mates wished their memory of this slaughter was erased as well…

While Brisbane have gone from a team who would win after every Origin game to a rabble in just a few short years, perhaps the greatest shock in this post-Origin weekend was the rubbish game played by Feral Thurston at Leichhardt on Sunday. Feral is acknowledged as the best player in the NRL at backing up after representative games, but his insipid effort was a major factor behind the Cowbores being well beaten by the Tigers.

It wasn’t the best of weeks for the Feral. Firstly, he was lucky to even be playing for the ‘Bores in this game. As David Williams fortuitously received the ball from Billy Slater in the in-goal area last Wednesday night and went (rather clumsily) to put the ball down, Feral was in the vicinity and, recalling the lessons he’d received from Billy Slater, tried to position his legs under Williams so as to avoid the try being scored.

Someone obviously forgot to tell Feral that Billy is a world-class athlete, with training in gymnastics and equestrian, not to mention 6 years’ experience at the Bellamy Robot School in Melbourne. Feral, on the other hand…well, as an athlete, he makes a pretty good play-making halfback. It can only be assumed that body control and flexibility was one of the last characteristics acquired in the evolution of man….? Whatever the reason, Feral’s attempted try-saving manoeuvre resulted in a swift boot being delivered to the face of Williams.

Further proof of Feral’s Neanderthal-Like behaviour came in the aftermath to this incident, where he joined the Lleyton Hewitt Hall of Fame for telling NSW Captain Kurt Gidley (after Gidley told the referees about Feral’s actions with his boot) to “Shut up, you spastic!”

Somehow, incredibly, Feral received the lightest of charges from the judiciary and was able to play on Sunday but even with this good fortune, the end of a long representative season told on him and he (and his team) stunk.

The Tuesday Roast, as you are all no doubt well aware, takes great pride in objectivity and providing a balanced discussion of the week in the NRL. However, the sight of the Tigers giving the Cowbores a hiding at the home of Rugby League (Leichhardt Oval) with Feral (“Australia says NO!”) having a shocker remains, unequivocally, the best in the game.

Feral’s week was topped off by this description of him from the radio show Fire Up! (on FBI 94.5FM) last Friday morning as they led into referring to his botched try-saving attempt and subsequent spastic comment…”But Johnathan Thurston…he’s on the jungle juice, we don’t know what concoction he’s on, but they’ve got something up at North Queensland, we don’t know what it is. He’s sprouting acne around his neck, he’s got hair in places you shouldn’t have. His veins pop like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He’s got eyes to match and he came up with a classic…. And let’s not forget he has to wear headgear to restrain those Dumbo-like ears, because if he doesn’t wear his headgear and he puts on a spurt, he’ll fly over the top of the defence!”

Ahh brilliant! Anyway…the Tigers got off to a slow start as the ‘Bores jumped to an 8-nil lead, but the Tigers halted the ‘Bores’ momentum and cut the lead to 2. But the key moment in the game came in the lead-up to this try, when Anthony Watts — a former protégé of Paul Gallen at Cronulla — responded to what he thought was an elbow in the scrum by king-hitting Robbie Farah. The key response came when the referees deemed Watts’ actions worthy of….a warning. A warning! Watts, a grub and a thug with a history of disgusting on-field conduct, was lucky to stay on the field!

Thankfully the Tigers sorted out this oversight in the next scrum and, in doing so, made the task of seeing rather more difficult for Watts over the next few days. Not even seeing his team mate get beaten up could fire up Feral, but the Tigers dominated the next 20 minutes, before easing off for a while, then finishing with a flourish. The ‘Bores definitely missed the usual post-Origin Feral, but also his injured Origin team mate Matt Scott.

The other NRL team to feature a number of Queenslanders is Melbourne and while their overall effort last night against Parramatta wasn’t too bad, it was not enough to match that of the Eels, who were at their best. Melbourne was missing Smith, while Dallas Johnson and Greg Inglis were far from their normal selves (although Billy Slater had a very good game) but Parramatta would have beaten most teams in the NRL with their excellent combination of all-round intensity and desperate defence.

It was Nathan Hindmarsh’s 250th game, but Jarryd Hayne — again — was the star of the show. He was a threat almost every time he touched the ball, he was increasingly involved in playmaking and kicking but his battle against Slater was….just awesome. The viewing public was treated to a clash between two of the best players in the NRL, both at or near their best, both exhibiting extreme competitiveness and both being very important to their team’s chances of victory.

When Parramatta scored 8 points early in the second half (and probably should have had 14 if it wasn’t for an unnecessary Krisnan Inu double movement) with Hayne playing a pivotal role, it seemed as though Hayne would win the battle, but when Melbourne continued to close the deficit despite time running out (where Slater was crucial), the outcome was somewhat less certain.

In the end, Hayne (and Parramatta) triumphed, in part to Parramatta’s excellent on-line defence after reaching their 12-point lead. They denied what appeared to be a number of certain Melbourne tries (although they were a touch lucky when Hayne appeared to bounce the ball, rather than ground it, in his in-goal area) and made the Storm run out of time.

But while the Storm stars were probably justified in feeling a little tired after Origin, the same could not be said for Hayne, who continued his white-hot form of recent months. Has he been going through the motions since bursting on to the scene 3 years ago and, as a result, has a surplus of energy and enthusiasm? How does he have the energy to continue to play at such a high level after a full representative season?! Amazing…

The other two games featuring a high number of Origin players were Cronulla v. Manly and the Bulldogs v. Gold Coast. The Cronulla v. Manly game was one of the more bizarre games seen this season. With Manly’s strong defensive record, Cronulla’s so-so attack and the slippery night conditions making scoring difficult, a tight low-scoring game was expected by many. Instead, the first half saw 38 points, with mistake after mistake being punished for tries by both teams. Clearly, Manly’s Origin players did not have the requisite approach for this game and Cronulla’s youthful exuberance benefited, as they took a 6-point lead to half-time.

But the second half…was the exact opposite. Manly dominated possession and field position but their attack was far too predictable (even for a novice defence such as Cronulla’s) and not nearly threatening enough. Manly was big and strong and ran hard, but it was mostly sideways: it was like a team of lumberjacks trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife.

If Cronulla’s Jack Afamasaga didn’t throw a stupid offload to Manly’s Watmough, Barrett would not have been sin-binned and Manly would probably still be trying to score a second-half try. But Barrett’s sin-binning saw Cronulla open up and allow an easy try and eventually Manly overwhelmed the tiring Cronulla defence. You’d have to say though this required far more effort than was necessary.

On Friday night, the Bulldogs proved that backing up from Origin successfully was not that difficult as they were quite clinical in defeating the Gold Coast. This season, the Titans have been at their best when playing highly rated teams and their bare-minimum win over Parramatta last Monday night suggested they had their eye on the Bulldogs and another big-name scalp. Unfortunately for them, the Bulldogs also had their eye on this game (especially after losing to the Titans earlier in the season). Their early-game dominance rendered the Titans’ effort (which usually — at the very least — neutralises good teams, allowing their speed to score points) almost useless and saw them jump out to a handy lead.

The Bulldogs’ cause was boosted by the surprise return of Jamal Idris; he brushed aside Mat Rogers with ease before racing away for a try. But the Bulldogs’ lead was probably not as large as it should have been and when continued (and increasingly varied) Gold Coast attacking plays finally came off, the game got a far closer finish than it probably should have had. Kimmorley sealed the win with a late field goal, but he, Patten (NSW 18th man), Ennis and Morris all had excellent games for the Bulldogs.

The final 2 games in Round 19 had only minimal Origin players involved, but their results can still be linked to last Wednesday night. Admittedly, the link was somewhat tenuous in the Penrith v. Canberra game, where Canberra had a horrible first half with refereeing decisions. There weren’t a number of clear cut mistakes but Penrith almost always received the benefit of a doubtful decision during the first 40 minutes as they accrued an 18-0 lead. But Canberra’s forward grunt was limited by the absence of Queenslander Shillington and an injury to New South Welshman Learoyd-Lahrs (as well as to Alan Tongue); by the time Canberra was competitive in this game, the damage was done.

Lastly, the Warriors broke their drought (point-scoring and winning) in a late win against the Roosters. Without the wannabe pugilist Price, the Warriors looked to have finally (maybe) turned the corner after falling behind 12-0 and 18-6 to the Roosters. A team with a bit more in the tank than the Roosters might well have punished the Warriors as they tired in the second half, but it was ultimately a deserving win for them, as they finally stood up without their forward leader.

In most seasons, there is a definite post-representative letdown seen for those NRL teams with a significant number of Origin players; one would expect this letdown to be somewhat more pronounced this season given the above-average intensity of the final two Origin games and the high number of players carrying injuries in these games. It should be an intriguing next few weeks ahead. See you next week.

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