Blues smell blood: ‘Scourges of God’s fury’ coming for the broken Maroons in Game II

13 June, 2017 The81stMinute 0 Comments 1 category

BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

Bishop Isidore of Seville once called the Huns – the “scourges of God’s fury”. For centuries these nomadic warriors, made up of different tribes, became one of the most feared peoples in all of Europe.

The Huns became out of necessity. As singular tribes they would be defeated.

Together they became unstoppable.

Much can be said about State of Origin I in Brisbane. The least is that the New South Wales Blues demolished the mighty Queenslanders in a record-breaking 28-4 performance.

Game II is next Wednesday and the Blues have picked the same side for back-to-back matches for the first time in over 20 years.

The Blues have a momentum rarely seen south of the border.

Why?

Because together they have become the army QLD always was.

QLD’s dominance has been brutal and constant but NSW never fully understood how much power they too had in them. They may not have won every series but the Maroons wouldn’t have won as many as they did if the Blues aimed up.

Now time has caught up to QLD and the Blues are surging.

A desperate QLD coach Kevin Walters has wielded his shaky axe and dropped seven players now not worthy to wear the maroon jersey and in a peculiar comment after the team announcement said, “We just picked 17 players who we feel are the best 17 for Queensland.”

Well Mr. Walters, why did you pick the team you did for Game I if this is QLD’s best 17?

Nate Myles, Jacob Lillyman, Aidan Guerra, Sam Thaiday, Justin O’Neill, Corey Oates are gone while Anthony Milford’s shoulder injury saved him from officially being swapped out for Johnathan Thurston.

“It was tough, particularly those players who have been there for a long period — Nate Myles, Sam Thaiday, Jacob Lillyman, Aidan Guerra — all been long-term players for Queensland,” Walters said.

“But with our recent results we felt there needed to be a change. For game one we picked a team that had won last year’s series.

 

 

“The majority of those players were afforded the luxury to perform in game one. We didn’t get the result that we needed, that Queensland needed to have.

“So Gene [Myles], myself and Darren [Lockyer] went for Plan B, which was always going to be in our plans, to bring some new players into the team that haven’t played Origin.

“The transition period for this team is right now. It’s not next year or the year after.”

Time is of the essence but it seems QLD are all out.

The Blues on the other hand have lighting in a bottle. Blood is in the water and the great white sharks are already feeding.

This NSW side isn’t just a list of 17 players representing their NRL clubs. They are a heaving mass of sky blue smashing down the gates of QLD’s Empire.

Ignoring Billy Slater for Game I is unlike the Maroons.

While Thurston was given every last second to prove his fitness, Slater was treated like an untested rookie – not someone that has won the Golden Boot and proven himself to be one of the greatest fullbacks the game will ever see.

“I think it may have been just a little bit unfair on Billy to put him under so much pressure in game one of the series, everyone expected him to come out and change the world,” Walters said before Game I.

Pressure?

This is Billy Slater we’re talking about.

Slater is on par with the Immortal Graeme Langlands. Boyd would be lucky to be in the top 20 fullbacks to play the game.

For the first time in forever, QLD lack continuity and their actions and reactions smell of an outfit preparing for another heavy defeat.

Time will tell as it always does.

@woodward_curtis

 

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