kimi said:
I think everyone underestimates the importance of the forwards pack. The only reason the halves combination played so shit last night was because the our forwards were dominated to the point, our halves couldnt move nor attack.
That's definitely true.
However, there is one simple thing a halves combination can do when the forwards get dominated. And that's to drop another couple of metres deeper.
It gives them more time, it automatically creates a deeper backline, and with Queensland's up-and-in defence, they become very susceptible to long cut-out passes. We saw that at the end of the match, when NSW decided to chance their arm .. King made a 50 metre run, and I think Gasnier made a 40 metre run, not too sure.
I'm not saying this out of bias towards the Dragons, but the MOST IMPORTANT thing for NSW's attack is to get early ball to Mark Gasnier when he is in space. He is the best centre in the world, and when he has 5 or 10 metres of space to work in, he becomes unstoppable when on-song.
And outside of him in Matt King, who has shown himself to be one of NSW's best in every match he's played. He'll finish pretty much everything Gasnier creates for him.
A game which followed an almost identical path for the first half was Game 1, 2005. Queensland were up 19-0 in that match, from memory. In the second half, Trent Barrett decided he would throw the ball wide, early in the tackle count, and give Gasnier time and space. He carved up Queensland's left defence, and it resulted in NSW scoring consecutive tries, getting the momentum, scoring a couple of more .. and taking the lead. What happened after that is Kimmorley folklore, but the point is still valid.
Whoever our halves are in Game 3, they must drop deeper if the forwards are losing the battle, and give long cut-outs to Gasnier and Cooper. Finch and Anasta tried last night .. it was just they were incompetent and either threw it along the ground or straight to Queensland players.
The State of Origin is still well and truly up for grabs.