AS SURE as night follows day, after every Origin game the NSW media are on to it full bore. Some of them are in the wrong game. They should be NSW selectors!
Even living over here in NZ you can hear the drama unfolding in Sydney newspapers straight out of the NSW playbook: “I want us to be stable like Queensland always is!”
I think the last thing NSW coach Michael McGuire needs right now is help with his selections.
In fact, I’m sure at this stage he will still be concerned as to why the players failed to adapt once they started playing a man down.
Obviously, playing 12 against 13 on the field requires adjustments, and I’m quite sure they would have planned and practised for different scenarios during that first game.
I heard a couple of commentators pretty much pointing their finger at McGuire for the initial lack of response positionally once they had lost a centre.
I believe the NSW coach was entitled to expect more from some of his players when it just came to using their brains and getting the position covered more quickly than they did.
There will always be a bit of panic, or some might say confusion, when someone is sent off. It happens all the time.
However, this is compounded when you don’t have like-for-like sitting on the reserves bench.
It must have been a nightmare come true for the NSW coach when, after having a back sent off, he only had forwards on the bench.
It is not uncommon in today’s game for NRL coaches to use this option, but I’m from the old school and believe it is fraught with danger.
Queensland clinically reinforced a tough lesson for those who see forwards and their power as the answer to everything Origin.
