Souths. Wigan. New Zealand. NSW: Maguire ends another drought ...
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If there is a replay to define the State of Origin series that defied history, it is of Mitchell Moses turning a straightforward set into a series-winning try.
It was the 69th minute, NSW were up 8-4 thanks to Bradman Best’s game-breaking four-pointer but still needing to put this decider to end all deciders to bed.
Moses, the man who made game two and had been comparatively quiet until this point in game three, could have offloaded or kicked. That is what Queensland expected him to do. Instead, he stepped to his left. Away from Harry Grant and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, and past Reece Walsh as if parting the sea.
The dam burst under the blinding lights of a blinder of a contest that sealed the Blues’ series comeback win, in a match underscored by heat and melodrama. Ben Hunt might call this the Angry Dad Derby – the fruits of Billy Slater’s frustrations, taken out on his squad during a confronting video review session of game two.
Whatever it gets called, Michael Maguire has ended yet another drought. Wigan (who hadn’t won the Super League in 12 years). South Sydney (where he helped end a 43-year premiership drought). New Zealand (whose Pacific Cup win last year was their first tournament victory since 2014). NSW (the first coach to lead the Blues to a game-three victory at Suncorp Stadium since Ricky Stuart in 2005).
“I’ve learned many different things, whether it be at clubland or at this space,” Maguire said. “And I’ve got to thank the Kiwis. They gave me a great opportunity, and we had some great times together that taught me how to coach at campaign levels. But I’ve enjoyed my coaching at club level, too.
The Blues celebrate their series triumph.Credit: Getty
“I guess especially over the last, probably, two years [with New Zealand] has shown me that you can do whatever you want to do if you believe in it hard enough. And I think this playing group believe that they’re capable of doing something special, and they did that.”
And who is this Michael Maguire, with his old-boy mentality and keenness to bus his players down Caxton Street? Why the desire to be heckled? But these are a new breed of Blues. We are now in the age of the mental skills guru. A post-earthing, post-good bloke (except Jake Trbojevic) counter-culture that seems to be centred around two main themes: getting back in touch with Origin history and “trading barbs”.
The latter has been decidedly more tame than some of the great verbal mind games of the past, but mind games they have been nonetheless. And the minor provocations being spat out from the Blues camp (“glass houses” etc), along with some former players (Queensland “a bunch of powder puffs” – Mark Carroll) and the media (the Selwyn Cobbo-Slater feud – “fake news”, according to Billy Slater) have had the cumulative result of creating what one might call the “pressure narrative”.
Slater is under pressure, they say. He is rattled. He has cancelled the traditional full-squad media session and the strain is written all over his face. Madge, in response, called the Blues “the people’s team”, which sounded like code for “the Maroons are not”.
Mitchell Moses makes the break to seal the match and the series for NSW.Credit: Getty
Slater himself insisted he is “happy”; that he was “as disappointed as anyone after game two but time heals everything” (not angry, in the end, just disappointed).
But this is all what sportspeople like to call “outside noise”. The real question was: will the “pressure narrative” stay contained inside the build-up bubble, or will it ooze into the 80 minutes? In other words: who had the psychological edge?
The opening 10 or so minutes were supposed to tell at least some of the story. In this case, make that the opening 30 minutes, and all they really revealed was how much both sides wanted it. Daly Cherry-Evans came to the rescue, once to stop Best on the break, twice to thwart a Mitch Moses kick and chase, and thrice to jostle the ball away from Jarome Luai.
Angus Crichton went off for a HIA and then returned. Liam Martin was flattened and then flattened again. Luai got away with a high shot from behind on Tom Dearden.
NSW hadn’t claimed a series decider in Brisbane since 2005.Credit: Getty Images
The aim – as it generally is for the Blues at Suncorp – was to take the crowd out of the game. Queensland’s forward pack ensured that did not occur by going after the Blues’ ball carriers with all the ferocity they had lacked at the MCG three weeks ago. Both sides dealt out meaty blow after meaty blow. The initial difference was that NSW had the possession, the field position and the wind. And, most surprisingly, the penalties.
The Blues, who went in having won the penalty count in just nine of the 60 Origin matches played in Brisbane, were awarded the first within four minutes and finished the first half with six to their opponents’ two. Unfortunately for the visitors, one of those two gave Queensland an unlikely 2-0 half-time lead when, off the back of a scrum and Queensland’s strongest attacking set of the half, Spencer Leniu collected Cherry-Evans clean and Valentine Holmes converted the kick.
When Zac Lomax returned the favour early in the second half, the stage was set for a finale to rival the rest. But it was always going to be close. The opening 20 minutes featured few stoppages and still we waited for the first signs of fatigue. Twenty-seven minutes in, the score still read 0-0. At this point in game two the Blues were already 22-0 ahead. All involved in this brutal stalemate were ready to blow, and the eruption arrived just after the half-hour mark.
Cherry-Evans and Luai were the initial culprits, snatching at each other in a moving three-act shirt grab that ended with both barrelling straight into the Queensland bench.
Bodies spilled in from all angles and engaged in every manner of fighting without throwing an actual punch. Ashley Klein, with the Bunker’s assistance, penalised Cherry-Evans for his contact on Luai, and then sin-binned Jeremiah Nanai for being third man in.
Then, in a spectacular scene, Klein summoned Cameron Murray, who had been on the interchange, onto the pitch just to send him back off again. And because Murray was already off, poor Mitch Barnett had to come off, too, to bring the count on both sides down to 12. It later emerged that NSW’s 19th man Haumole Olakau’atu had also made himself known during the fracas and was dismissed from the sideline despite not playing.
Afterwards, Cherry-Evans reiterated his on-field view that Murray should have been sent off, while Slater said: “I’m sure the referee will review his own game”.
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“I think it ended up being 100 more tackles that we had to do the first half,” Slater said. “We just felt like we were on our line deep and things weren’t going our way. It didn’t feel like we’ve got the bounce of the ball or the rub of the green, so that tells in the end with fatigue. But I couldn’t be any more proud of this team.”
The match did not resemble anything close to what might be a considered normal rugby league until 50 minutes had passed, at which point the hits started to subside, the play-the-balls sped up, and the Blues loosened up. Angus Crichton had a go. Connor Watson had a go. Then Luai, and a storming Best who took the Panther’s pass and held off his defender all the way into the left-hand corner.
And then there was Moses, parting the red sea to realise the prophecy.
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