Wednesday night see’s the second State Of Origin match for the series which will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Queensland Maroons go into the match as clear favourites despite losing the first game to NSW. We take a look at the teams for each side as well as a preview and other information regarding the match between Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues.
Where: Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia
When: Wednesday, June 26 at 8pm
Featured Bookmakers:
Queensland Maroons $1.52 vs New South Wales Blues $2.60 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match
Queensland Maroons $1.48 vs New South Wales Blues $2.70 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match
Odds Comparison by NRL Odds:
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| Queensland Maroons | 1.52 | 1.48 | 1.48 | 1.48 | 1.52 | 1.53 |
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New South Wales Blues
|
2.60 | 2.72 | 2.70 | 2.72 | 2.60 | 2.55 |
Preview:
The New South Wales Blues will be hoping to end one of rugby leagues great eras of domination this Wednesday night when they head north to the fortress known as Suncorp Stadium to take on the Queensland Maroons. There could be no sweeter feeling for the Blues than ending the Maroons dominance in their own back yard. But there is no task more difficult than snatching a win from the maniac Queensland fans. There will be a number of debutants lining up for both sides who will no doubt be playing in the biggest game of their respective careers.
The question is, do the Blues believe they can win? It would certainly seem so after a brutal victory in Game I at ANZ Stadium. They played an attacking style of football right from the first kick off and got a jump on Queensland. They rushed the Queensland offense with their enthusiasm getting off the defensive line which never allowed the Maroons big three to get on the front foot in attack. The Blues forward pack was one of the most aggressive and mobile forward packs in recent years which helped open the space for the backline to play an attacking game, even from their own end of the field.
However, a shaky preparation for Game II with the Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan incident has the Queensland Maroons installed as the $1.55 overwhelming favourites. There is no doubting the ability and the class that the Queensland team has and with a home ground advantage they will be incredibly hard to beat.
Queensland have done something that we are not used to in recent series, and that was making changes to the side during the series. Ashley Harrison, a stalwart for the Maroons, and David Shillington, Canberra’s own metre maker, have been dropped and replaced by two debutants in Josh Papalii and Daly Cherry-Evans. This means that Queensland will be attacking the game with only one specialist prop which can be a real danger in a match like Origin.
New South Wales will also field their own line up of debutants with Aaron Woods, Nathan Merritt and Josh Reynolds (was selected in the team Game I but sat on the bench) for Game II. Then if you consider that Josh Dugan, who only has one Origin game under his belt, has been recalled to the team to replace the injured Jarryd Hayne it is an obvious weakness that this New South Wales team is very inexperienced.
While the benches from both sides played a major factor in Game I, so much so that Chris McQueen and Corey Parker get a call up into the starting squads, the match will be decided in the halves. In Game I the Queensland halves were terrible, they seemed static and at times they seemed lost on the field. While on the other hand, James Maloney relished his time on the Origin arena and commanded his troops around with authority. He attacked the line with the ball in hand which kept the Maroons defensive line moving backwards and opening spaces for his backs to speed through. His kicking game was pin point accurate which continually put pressure on both wingers from the Maroons. The tactic to kick to the wingers proved pivotal as it kept Queensland best attacking option, Billy Slater, quiet all night.
Queensland rely on structure and with their halves struggling to find some form in the opening match they will be hoping to bounce back strongly on Wednesday night. You can expect to see a few of the Cronk to Slater inside balls that always cause havoc and a more polished kicking game from Thurston and Cronk.
While statistics show that only two of the past seven matches have surpassed a total of 28 points, there seems to be a lot of points in Wednesday night’s match. Through the recent dominance of Queensland they have reached 20 points 20 times compared to New South Wales 4 times who have also been held to single digits 4 times. But Wednesday night will be different with both teams selecting a number of high profile try scorers and if the game is played at a fast pace you can expect the middle of the field to open up towards the back half of the match. This will give players like Josh Reynolds and Billy Slater the chance to scamper through the forwards and catch them off guard.
New South Wales will give Queensland a real run for their money in Game II but the potent attacking force of the Maroons will prove too much in the hostile environment of Suncorp. As was mentioned earlier, you can expect a stack of points in this match if conditions suit, but Queensland should be bouncing back to the winners list.
Teams:
Queensland Maroons:
| Player | G | T | CG | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billy Slater | 1 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Darius Boyd | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 |
| Greg Inglis | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Justin Hodges | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| Brent Tate | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Johnathan Thurston | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| Cooper Cronk | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Corey Parker | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Sam Thaiday | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| Chris McQueen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nate Myles | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| Cameron Smith | 1 | 0 | 28 | 2 |
| Matthew Scott | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Daly Cherry-Evans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Te’o | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Matt Gillett | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Josh Papalii | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
New South Wales Blues:
| Player | G | T | CG | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Dugan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Brett Morris | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Michael Jennings | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
| Josh Morris | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Nathan Merritt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Maloney | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Mitchell Pearce | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Greg Bird | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Luke Lewis | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Ryan Hoffman | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Aaron Woods | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robbie Farah | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Paul Gallen | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Andrew Fifita | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Trent Merrin | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Anthony Watmough | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Josh Reynolds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |