That was the biggest rort in Origin history

[Bucking Beads]

A source close to the Maroons team said Meninga and the selectors were privately concerned about Taylor's performance.

So now we are passing off what Phil Rothfield writes as fact?? How believable is this shit he writes anyway.

Where exactly are you expecting Barba to be played?? It is fullback or nothing IMO.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

So now we are passing off what Phil Rothfield writes as fact?? How believable is this shit he writes anyway.

Where exactly are you expecting Barba to be played?? It is fullback or nothing IMO.

Yeh im tending to think barba shouldnt be in this side now. Inglis is just so much of a massive threat at the back it has to be him. Having said that, id rather barba there than boyd, so if its not inglis at fb i hope its barba.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Bowen could be a sneak chance but I think they will go with Inglis. I think the make up on the side does depend on how Thaiday and Parker pull up. We can't really carry Taylor and Gillett in the same side IMO. Both just haven't done anything. I like Te'o but for mine he hasn't done enough this year to warrant selection but no doubt a backrower of his top is what our team lacks especially the way Taylor has played in Origin.

 

[Clintos]

Yeah I don't want Barba at fullback in a decider. Go with GI.

 

[Porthoz]

Taking Slothfield's story with a grain of salt, it still says exactly what I think about Taylor. He shouldn't be near a Qld jersey any time soon. He just lacks the mentality and toughness for it.

As important as the FB choice, which imo should be Inglis, is to get the combination between Thurston and Cronk going, only one of them can be the dominant halve!
Thurston should take the Lockyer approach, leave the organising to Cronk and surgically inject himself into the game at the right moments.

 

[Anonymous person]

Thurston should take the Lockyer approach, leave the organising to Cronk and surgically inject himself into the game at the right moments.

the problem with that is that for the last 6 years Thurston has been the one that did everything, with lockyer just coming in when he wanted to. Thurston imo was more important to the team in our 6 year streak than lockyer was. When a game needed to be broken open, Thurston was usually the one who did it.

so while I agree that cronk needs to be the one in control as we looked 10000x better when he took the reigns, its gotta be a bit tough for thurston to go from doing it all to just doing bits here and there. That's not the type of player he is.

One thing is for sure - they need to sort it out, as the first 50 minutes of game 2 was an unorganized mess.

 

[Jeba]

Lockyer just came in when he wanted to?

 

[Coxy]

Lockyer just came in when he wanted to?

Yep. He basically did nothing in Origin for 6 years. It was all Smith, Slater and Thurston.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I thought Lockyer played mostly first receiver and Thurston patrolled the fringes. :confused:

 

[Alec]

They both had the same role, just on different sides most of the time. You wouldn't see Thurston on the right edge too often, just like you wouldn't see Lockyer on the left. In the last couple of years though, Lockyer started playing more like a classic halfback, but still primarily on the right and Thurston on the left. Now with Cronk in the side they seem to be trying to bring back the classic first receiver/second receiver roles, but it's not really working, Thurston doesn't seem to get as much ball as he used to in the past. I wish we'd go back to the split halves thing like we did when Lockyer was around. That way both Cronk and Thurston can switch between first and second receiver constantly.

 

[Anonymous person]

Lockyer just came in when he wanted to?

in terms of controlling/organising the team, yes.

Thurston was the main guy on the field. Its not a slight on lockyer or anything like that - you can't have 2 dominant playmakers taking control, and more often than not Thurston filled that role. Way h the games again if need be, I've watched every one from 2006 onwards probably close to a dozen times. Thurston is the chief playmaker and organizer.

Again - don't take this as me saying lockyee did nothing or wasn't needed, that couldn't be further from the truth. But Thurston was the one taking control every game.

 

[Big Pete]

I'd argue Smith was tbh.

Lockyer was #3.

But was always the guy who'd come and put JT into line when he'd begin to lose his s**t.

 

[Browny]

Same reason lockyer and Joey didn't click when playing for Australia

 

[Big Pete]

They only played like 3 games together didn't they? (as a halves combo)

I remember that last game was a beauty. Karmichael's debut from memory.

 

[Kimlo]

They only played like 3 games together didn't they? (as a halves combo)

I remember that last game was a beauty. Karmichael's debut from memory.

IIRC they only ever played two games together, so hard to say they didn't "click". And in the second game they played together they were amazing and we won by like 50 points.

 

[anzac7]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...ailure-at-origin/story-e6frexv9-1226397160665

Looks like mal saw just what most of us saw.



I love that te'o is being considered.

Yeah, great news that Teo is being considered. He has grown a lot over the last two years and seeing some of the passion he puts into his bronco games, I'm sure he would do QLD proud and dig very deep.

Bowen would have to be the choice over Barba, he's been there before, better at diffusing kicks (my opinion), JT combo (as pointed out) and could cover many positions in the case of injury - none the less, Inglis will get no.1 anyway..

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

Lockyer just came in when he wanted to?

I love how you guys just automatically disagree with AP haha. Its a well known fact thurston was the main ball handler in the maroons side over the last few years, and lockyer (and qld) benefited from that. he got to pick his moments to chime in and it worked wonderfully. Just on the weekend thurston was interviewed and said he needs to learn to take a back seat, let cronk control the game, and he can then just chime in much like lockyer did when thurston was the main handler.

"Once Locky was going to hang up the boots I had a think about my game and how when Locky would sit at the back and when he saw an opportunity, he'd get in there.
"I'd like to play that way too."

 

[Porthoz]

I love how you guys just automatically disagree with AP haha. Its a well known fact thurston was the main ball handler in the maroons side over the last few years, and lockyer (and qld) benefited from that. he got to pick his moments to chime in and it worked wonderfully. Just on the weekend thurston was interviewed and said he needs to learn to take a back seat, let cronk control the game, and he can then just chime in much like lockyer did when thurston was the main handler.

That's what I said in the first place and AP basically agreed with it (that's when I fell off my chair), but let's not kid ourselves, when it comes to Locky and Origin, AP is at the very least... dubious, and his wording didn't help. Anyway, let's not fuel the fire.