State Of Origin 2026

Steps on his arm...and then holds his boot is what you meant to say.

Never once said Radley should've been binned. Are you okay, lil bud?

 

Lol how naive are you, mate?

 

I don't think Tedesco or Edwards should even be in contention for the Blues fullback spot tbh. If Turbo shows full fitness and great form then maybe an argument could be made for him but short of that, Drinkwater should already be pencilled in afaic.

He has more passing and ball-playing ability than the other two combined. The Blues do not have enough points in them to have a pure ball runner at the back. Drinkwater has the best passing game and vision of any NSW no.1 and by a long way.

 

Nah you misunderstood. Katoa isn't in contention with Cleary, in my mind. I'm saying Moses at 7 for organisation and either Strange or Katoa at 6.

I don't put any stock in those Islander test matches. They are the most mickey mouse, touch football prank sides. They're the furthest thing from Origin that you could possibly get.

As for Cleary, I dont know why you think his style is perfectly suited to Origin. It is Penrith from start to finish. It's conservative drop-off shit until sheer weight of possession and field position falls them over the line. His attacking instincts from outside the opposition 30/40m are non-existent.

The fact that he's been shithouse in pretty much every decider he's played in doesn't help his cause either.

 

You're spot on with that analysis of Qld. I have the stats written down somewhere; Qld under Slater score more tries and make more linebreaks from outside the opposition 40m or inside their own half, than any team in Origin history.

The part I think you're misdiagnosing is that a team who moves the ball like that and completes at 85-95%, combined with the 6 agains, short dropouts and 7 tackle restarts, means it's virtually impossible to pin and grind them as you would in a club game for long periods.

They have Koroisau, they have Brailey. They have Drinkwater or Turbo. There's so much more creativity and ad-lib in there than Tedesco/Edwards and Robson imo.

 

I would also just add to the above that Moses's long kicking game is more suited to that style than Cleary's is anyway, even if his overall game isn't. I mean he has the best long kick of any half in the NRL. NSW looked far better when he was drilling most of them in the first 40. The longer the game went, the more Cleary kicked and Qld were returning the ball much further upfield.

Even if by some miracle Daley picks the pack we all think he should; Haas/Yeo up front, Olakauatu back in, Murray at 13, two props on the bench, you're still gonna have Cleary burning tackles in the mid-field with drop-off shit instead of taking risks, throwing cut-outs, playing down short-sides, cause it's all he knows. You're still gonna have Tedesco burning tackles with two nothing runs a set from first receiver cause it's all he knows. I really think this is make or break for Cleary. If he doesn't do something in this decider, he has to go, and he'll be in the Mitchell Pearce basket, no matter how many people want to compare him to Joey.

 

Latrell out of game 3. Koula will presumably keep his spot. Staggs has to go though. I wouldn't be playing Best out of position and I assume it will be Crichton.

 

I mean of all the disqualifying criticisms you could level at Ashley Klein, 0 ruck infringements against NSW two games in a row, has got to be up there. 0 ruck infringements in 160 minutes of football. You can't make this shit up.

 

Agreed. I don't understand why his form seems to count for nothing. He's reffed 14 straight games and 22 in total, which is more than Bill Harrigan. The idea that he simply needs to turn up to be handed another series is absurd given how shit he's been at club level.

 

Yeah same. I don't think Cleary/Moses works at all. Strange, Luai, Katoa are all better options at 6. They'll never drop Cleary though.

 

Agree with most of that except for the fact that Luia has played better than any other NSW 6 in the last 5 years. Walker, Wighton and Moses have been toilet at 5/8th. Strange looked quiet prior to the Ponga send off but great when it was 13 on 12.

It should be Strange imo. Big, strong ball runner who can play to his Canberra teammate, Young and leave the rest to Cleary or Moses.

 

As great as Billy has been coaching Qld, I'm a little bit surprised he hasn't adjusted Cobbo's positioning on shifts. I've been saying it for years whenever Cobbo's played for Qld, he's too deep and too far in-field. It cost us a try in game 1, and could easily have cost us on the play where Ponga got wiped out. Cleary is very prone to over-chasing and Hammer beat him with the step inside twice, luckily. But i'd still rather see Hammer burning him or Staggs for pace on the outside and Selwyn actually in position to take advantage once the 2 on 1 is there.

Other than that Cobbo has been pretty much flawless.

 

I don't see any way that Moses can be picked after last night and game 2. Dude is clearly hampered by injury and doesn't want the contact.