State of Origin 2023

I don't think Cody has the temperament for origin, he fires up too easily and loses control of his thinking, you need a cool head in the origin cauldron
It’s a difficult one. In one way, I think Cody is perfect for origin; he farrrkking cares. However, I also acknowledge he is susceptible to self-destruction when things don’t go his way and opposition players start niggling him. I actually believe he is the exact type of player QLD would pick and turn into a match winner.
 
What do you guys think about Fittler as the Sea Eagles next coach?

Asking for a friend.
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It’s a difficult one. In one way, I think Cody is perfect for origin; he farrrkking cares. However, I also acknowledge he is susceptible to self-destruction when things don’t go his way and opposition players start niggling him. I actually believe he is the exact type of player QLD would pick and turn into a match winner.
I guess we'll never know mate, it's hard to imagine nsw looking past either Luai or Hynes for the rest of the series
 
He's got everything we look for in a coach: a history of failure, no real connection to the club, a proven ability to fall asleep in public while under the influence of alcohol, media experience, and a surname with two syllables. Sign him up!
Also, has the dubious honour of getting sacked right after his Roosters got humbled by us at Brookie...no thanks.
 
Buzz is a farrrkkking dinosaur. Protecting Teddy for that ridiculous performance last night.

Money in the bank, my a$$. Teddy has spent his credit all bloody 2023 season. But, let's ignore it, right.

And Brandy is just as bad. Defending Teddy and all his Penrith selections deserves to be challenged completely.
 
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In view of the latest farce with Tom, imo he should follow Latrell (like he did to the U.S. for treatment) and withdraw from Origin.

Him playing Origin is a huge risk...the series has gone so what's the point. If we can't beat the Maroons with them one man down and players playing out of position, we have no hope against a full strength team and at Suncorp.

As for Haumole, the further he stays away from Origin, the better. It's bad enough risking our 3 highest paid players and we can ill-afford losing him too, but I'm not sure he's fit enough for Origin anyway.
 
Cody Walker partnered Cleary in the halves in Game One in 2019 which NSW lost 14-18 - highlights below. Walker was subsequently replaced by James Maloney for Game Two. Fittler made seven changes for that game which NSW won 38-6. NSW won the series with a last minute 26-20 victory in Game Three.

 
Last night it was very noticeable that the Blues scrum base trio only had eyes for their Panthers team mates when attacking in the Qld 20.

Cleary, Luai and Yeo went left, left and left last night. The only times when NSW had the ball that Frizell, Turbo and Addo-Carr got any real ball was in their own quarter when they were doing early tackle hit ups. But when attacking the Qld line, pretty much all the ball went left to Martin, Crichton and To'o.

Now granted, NSW did score twice that way through Martin and Crichton. But it became rather predictable for the Qld defence that when they were in their own 20, the ball was gonna go to their right.
Spot on Holden. I said that last night while watching the game. It was so obvious Api was always going to his Panthers mates all night long and Qld with the brain trusts of Slater, Smith and Thurston would've predicted that during the week after Latrell pulled out. Api to Cleary to Lui to Crichton to To'o. I noticed at one stage in the first half I think Tommy had to run over to the left side just so he can have a run, and it nearly paid off.
 
Andrew Webster in the SMH. I imagine other clubs’ forums, not just ours, would have drawn similar conclusions to Andrew’s:

OPINION​

Why the Pantherisation of NSW needs to stop​

Andrew Webster

Andrew Webster

Chief Sports Writer
June 2, 2023 — 5.00am

There are many versions of Brad Fittler. Silly Freddy. Reflective Freddy. Big-hearted Freddy. Pass-the-ball Freddy.

Then there’s Under-the-Pump Freddy - which inevitably surfaces at some stage during an Origin campaign, and never more so than after his side’s calamitous 26-18 loss to Queensland in Origin I at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.

Coaches wear too much of the blame when their side loses, and are lavished with too much credit when they win, but this loss must reside squarely on Fittler’s shoulders.

This was a tightly wrapped burrito of misguided selections, superstar players desperately out of form, and a brand of Pantherised football that Queensland’s superior defence had little trouble reading.

The Blues can no longer ignore what the rest of us can see; that up against the coaching team of Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, and Johnathan Thurston, they are being out-thought, out-strategised, out-played.

They terrorised NSW as players, now they are doing it as coaches. It’s like being chased by Terminator: it never ends.
NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler is under extreme pressure.

NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler is under extreme pressure.CREDIT: GETTY

Fittler knew he’d cop it if his whacky selections didn’t work out, so he can’t say he didn’t see it coming. He took a wild chance on rookie firebrands Tevita Pangai jnr and Hudson Young and got his fingers burnt. Whatever “aggression” the pair brought was negated by penalties and handling errors. Both made dumb plays that led to Selwyn Cobbo tries.

Conversely, Slater’s selection gambles turned into selection masterstrokes. Fullback Reece Walsh’s big green eyes didn’t blink at any stage while centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow carried his club form into the Origin arena.

Unfortunately for NSW, so did many of their players. Tom Trbojevic was tentative at best. Josh Addo-Carr looked like a player still finding his way back from injury, probably because he is.

But the player of most concern was captain and fullback James Tedesco, who is no longer the rock to which NSW can cling in times of need.

In this match, he was caught out of position, slipped off tackles and then faced the ignominy of being out-leaped by Maroons prop and Roosters teammate Lindsay Collins for the final try to Cameron Munster.

When Tedesco had the ball, he gobbled up plenty of metres like he always does with his quick leg-speed and vision, but he overplayed his hand.

His numbers look good on a stat sheet but the way he’s playing kills the attack, a little like Paul Gallen when he took it upon himself, as NSW captain, to touch the ball two or three times a set.

What mostly sabotaged the Blues’ ability to score points was their intricate, disjointed plays that fizzled out time and again.

Fittler has been criticised for the Pantherisation of the NSW team but, as long as the Blues were winning, the preference to pick players from the NRL’s most dominant team of the last three years made perfect sense.

Now it’s starting to feel like misguided loyalty and stubbornness in the face of unfounded accusations that Fittler and his adviser, Greg Alexander, favour their old team.

The Blues have lost three of their last four Origin matches running the same Panthers plays, on both the left and right side of the ruck.

Queensland defenders pick them off like they’re shooting fish in a barrel. Clearly, they have adopted the rushing defensive strategy used by Melbourne in the 2020 decider against Penrith — because it works.

They did in last year’s series and did something similar in Adelaide. How did the Blues not see it coming?

Onwards, now, to Brisneyland for game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21. It already feels like a funeral.

Fittler faces the trickiest of dilemmas: let the players who cornered themselves into this position find their way out of it — or perform emergency surgery on his squad?

Latrell Mitchell, who’s had a problematic relationship with NSW since being dropped for game two in 2019, looms as an obvious saviour.

His Souths teammate, Campbell Graham, was brought into the squad for game one but then told he could go home when medical staff learned he required painkilling injections on his sternum just to train.

But he’s been named to play against the Gold Coast on Saturday and should be considered for NSW ahead of Trbojevic, who has been stood down for 11 days because of concussion suffered late in the match.

The biggest call, however, needs to be made in the halves.

Halfback Nathan Cleary isn’t going anywhere, and five-eighth Jarome Luai did little wrong, but for the sake of variety, of salvaging the series, how about something different?

NSW went very close to picking Cody Walker for game one, not just because of his form for Souths but the way he pinballs around Mitchell, confusing everyone except themselves.

Perhaps it’s time to pull the trigger on Luai and try something different. If not Walker at five-eighth, then start Nicho Hynes and use Walker off the bench against tired defence?

For years, Blues coaches complained about never having the depth in the halves enjoyed by Queensland. Fittler is the first NSW coach in 15 years or more to have myriad options so he should explore them.

I mean, what else does he have to lose, apart from the series and, possibly, his job? We’d rather a Winning Freddy than a Sacked Freddy.
 
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Andrew Webster in the SMH. I imagine other clubs’ forums, not just ours, would have drawn similar conclusions to Andrew’s:

OPINION​

Why the Pantherisation of NSW needs to stop​

Andrew Webster

Andrew Webster

Chief Sports Writer
June 2, 2023 — 5.00am

There are many versions of Brad Fittler. Silly Freddy. Reflective Freddy. Big-hearted Freddy. Pass-the-ball Freddy.

Then there’s Under-the-Pump Freddy - which inevitably surfaces at some stage during an Origin campaign, and never more so than after his side’s calamitous 26-18 loss to Queensland in Origin I at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.

Coaches wear too much of the blame when their side loses, and are lavished with too much credit when they win, but this loss must reside squarely on Fittler’s shoulders.

This was a tightly wrapped burrito of misguided selections, superstar players desperately out of form, and a brand of Pantherised football that Queensland’s superior defence had little trouble reading.

The Blues can no longer ignore what the rest of us can see; that up against the coaching team of Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, and Johnathan Thurston, they are being out-thought, out-strategised, out-played.

They terrorised NSW as players, now they are doing it as coaches. It’s like being chased by Terminator: it never ends.
NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler is under extreme pressure.

NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler is under extreme pressure.CREDIT: GETTY

Fittler knew he’d cop it if his whacky selections didn’t work out, so he can’t say he didn’t see it coming. He took a wild chance on rookie firebrands Tevita Pangai jnr and Hudson Young and got his fingers burnt. Whatever “aggression” the pair brought was negated by penalties and handling errors. Both made dumb plays that led to Selwyn Cobbo tries.

Conversely, Slater’s selection gambles turned into selection masterstrokes. Fullback Reece Walsh’s big green eyes didn’t blink at any stage while centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow carried his club form into the Origin arena.

Unfortunately for NSW, so did many of their players. Tom Trbojevic was tentative at best. Josh Addo-Carr looked like a player still finding his way back from injury, probably because he is.

But the player of most concern was captain and fullback James Tedesco, who is no longer the rock to which NSW can cling in times of need.

In this match, he was caught out of position, slipped off tackles and then faced the ignominy of being out-leaped by Maroons prop and Roosters teammate Lindsay Collins for the final try to Cameron Munster.

When Tedesco had the ball, he gobbled up plenty of metres like he always does with his quick leg-speed and vision, but he overplayed his hand.

His numbers look good on a stat sheet but the way he’s playing kills the attack, a little like Paul Gallen when he took it upon himself, as NSW captain, to touch the ball two or three times a set.

What mostly sabotaged the Blues’ ability to score points was their intricate, disjointed plays that fizzled out time and again.

Fittler has been criticised for the Pantherisation of the NSW team but, as long as the Blues were winning, the preference to pick players from the NRL’s most dominant team of the last three years made perfect sense.

Now it’s starting to feel like misguided loyalty and stubbornness in the face of unfounded accusations that Fittler and his adviser, Greg Alexander, favour their old team.

The Blues have lost three of their last four Origin matches running the same Panthers plays, on both the left and right side of the ruck.

Queensland defenders pick them off like they’re shooting fish in a barrel. Clearly, they have adopted the rushing defensive strategy used by Melbourne in the 2020 decider against Penrith — because it works.

They did in last year’s series and did something similar in Adelaide. How did the Blues not see it coming?

Onwards, now, to Brisneyland for game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21. It already feels like a funeral.

Fittler faces the trickiest of dilemmas: let the players who cornered themselves into this position find their way out of it — or perform emergency surgery on his squad?

Latrell Mitchell, who’s had a problematic relationship with NSW since being dropped for game two in 2019, looms as an obvious saviour.

His Souths teammate, Campbell Graham, was brought into the squad for game one but then told he could go home when medical staff learned he required painkilling injections on his sternum just to train.

But he’s been named to play against the Gold Coast on Saturday and should be considered for NSW ahead of Trbojevic, who has been stood down for 11 days because of concussion suffered late in the match.

The biggest call, however, needs to be made in the halves.

Halfback Nathan Cleary isn’t going anywhere, and five-eighth Jarome Luai did little wrong, but for the sake of variety, of salvaging the series, how about something different?

NSW went very close to picking Cody Walker for game one, not just because of his form for Souths but the way he pinballs around Mitchell, confusing everyone except themselves.

Perhaps it’s time to pull the trigger on Luai and try something different. If not Walker at five-eighth, then start Nicho Hynes and use Walker off the bench against tired defence?

For years, Blues coaches complained about never having the depth in the halves enjoyed by Queensland. Fittler is the first NSW coach in 15 years or more to have myriad options so he should explore them.

I mean, what else does he have to lose, apart from the series and, possibly, his job? We’d rather a Winning Freddy than a Sacked Freddy.
The Andrew Webster Cody Walkers Cobwebs Perspective

The Cody Walker state of origin experiment has already been Tested Trailed and Failed

Nicho Hynes will be another Classic Maroon Casualty
Heinz Classic Vegetable Soup 400g
 
Young Walsh is a cocky little P...k. Yes he is a very talented young player but for me he is a bit up himself and the way he was carrying on in the media and bagging NSW was a bit over the top and all we need is for them to win the next game and him coming out and saying, this is our house. 2 games to go young man, be careful what you say
 
In view of the latest farce with Tom, imo he should follow Latrell (like he did to the U.S. for treatment) and withdraw from Origin.

Him playing Origin is a huge risk...the series has gone so what's the point. If we can't beat the Maroons with them one man down and players playing out of position, we have no hope against a full strength team and at Suncorp.

As for Haumole, the further he stays away from Origin, the better. It's bad enough risking our 3 highest paid players and we can ill-afford losing him too, but I'm not sure he's fit enough for Origin anyway.
Yeah it’s absolutely insane. The eels have gutho and Moses and they can’t get anywhere near origin so they are strengthened and we are weakened.
 
I think Ray Stone would have be great inclusion into the team. Can play just about anywhere in the forwards from 8-13 if need be. Tackles the house down like Jake and can do the odd hit up.
Look at his stats, the amount of tackles he makes for the time he spends on the field is nuts.
 
Young Walsh is a cocky little P...k. Yes he is a very talented young player but for me he is a bit up himself and the way he was carrying on in the media and bagging NSW was a bit over the top and all we need is for them to win the next game and him coming out and saying, this is our house. 2 games to go young man, be careful what you say
Just remind him of his substance abuse problems.
 
Team P W L PD Pts
2 2 0 36 4
2 2 0 26 4
2 2 0 23 4
2 2 0 19 4
2 2 0 12 4
2 1 1 13 2
2 1 1 10 2
2 1 1 3 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 0 2
2 1 1 -14 2
1 0 1 -20 2
1 0 1 -24 2
2 0 2 -8 0
2 0 2 -17 0
2 0 2 -22 0
2 0 2 -37 0
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