New South Wales make history as they finally win a deciding Game III at Lang Park without Ricky Stuart
If you don't believe that, I'll simply tell you that Sticky was the starting halfback for Game III in 1994, then he was the coach in 2005.
Anyway, what a fantastic display of rugby league that was at Lang Park, as New South Wales absolutely smashed the Queensland line for over an hour, but the Maroons displayed that trademark spirit to keep them out and somehow led 4-2 with 20 minutes to go, aside from that you had Jarome Luai nailing 2 short dropouts, the bench-clearing spat between Cherry-Evans and Luai that got Cam Murray suspended from the bench and Haumole Olakau'atu suspended as the 19th man, Zac Lomax nailing sideline kicks for fun...
Then eventually after 65 minutes, the dam wall burst and Luai found a hole, fed through Bradman Best for the ice-breaking try after Gagai missed the one on one tackle, then the backbreaker was Mitch Moses cut through 3 Maroons and added the insurance try from the kickoff set as the Queenslanders simply ran out of energy to muster a comeback - All in all the Blues were the better team, Michael Maguire won the chess match against Billy Slater and bought himself some space in Gorden Tallis' head, and the scoreboard and the statistics will back that all up.
The first time in a generation that the Blues have won a deciding Game III at Lang Park (19 years), the first time in history that Queensland haven't scored a try in a Game III at Lang Park, and the first time in history that Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow hasn't scored in an Origin game..
Still, Channel 9 were perhaps the biggest winners of all, with the game's average national audience of 3.652m being the best of any program this year, and the best for any Origin game since Game III of 2013, which averaged 4.2m.
Other than that, the casualty list rivals a Western Front battle, as Mitch Moses paid for a series win with a torn bicep to end his season, Dylan Edwards played with a torn PCL and racked up over 200 running metres but will now miss a month for Penrith (Right as Nathan Cleary comes back), Ben Hunt got smashed by Spencer Leniu, Angus Crichton thought he'd broken his neck before he got the Wally Lewis Medal, Reece Walsh took more hits than Mick Foley took chair shots, and how any other bastard can back up and play a club game this weekend is beyond me...
Although Jake Trbojevic probably will, considering he didn't even play for half an hour.
In conclusion, what a great birthday present for my Great Uncle Geoffrey to see his native New South Wales win, life's way of rewarding him for being a fan of this page since it started back in 2019, and after being public enemy No.1 in Queensland after Game II last year, Jarome Luai had the last laugh on the locals:
To quote a wise man, chill, all you idiots have work tomorrow morning.
So, looking ahead to Round 20, as we enter the final 8 rounds of the Home & Away season:
The Canberra Raiders host the New Zealand Warriors in Canberra, with Jamal Fogarty playing his first game for the Raiders since Round 7 as they try and divert course after losing 4 consecutive games, and the Warriors are praying for the end of time as Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (A former Raider), Marcelo Montoya and captain Tohu Harris all go out injured, just when their season couldn't get any tougher.
Souths host the Wests Tigers in Gosford, with the captains of both teams now sidelined (Cam Murray suspended and Api Korisau injured) the news coming through that the one-time blood brothers Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah have decided to end their head coach-assistant partnership after this season, with the apparent reason being that Benji needed more coaching experience in his box.
Newcastle host the Brisbane Broncos in the Hunter Valley, as Kevin Walters desperately needs his Origin stars back, but he'll have no such joy after Wednesday night's bruiser, although it seems Adam Reynolds isn't far away from returning after over 2 months out, while the Knights had a wipeout last week without their fullback and centres... by sheer coincidence, they will be playing this week.
The Melbourne Storm host the free-scoring Roosters in Melbourne, in what could be a Qualifying Final preview given their ladder positions, and you almost wouldn't believe it but the Roosters are on course to start favourites against a team who are currently 2 games clear on top of the ladder, defeated the Roosters already this season, have won 5 games in a row and have only lost at home once this season.
The Panthers host the Dolphins in Penrith, and despite losing Dylan Edwards to something beyond their control, Nathan Cleary is back for the first time since his hamstring injury in Round 10, with the Panthers having had a mixed run of 3 wins and 4 defeats without him, while the Dolphins will have to deal with the loss of Euan Aitken for the season.
Manly host the Gold Coast Titans at Brookvale in the Channel 9 Sunday game, as Des Hasler returns to Brookvale for the first time since he got dumped as Sea Eagles coach for the second time in 2022, with this being a rematch of their free-willing Round 7 game in which Manly won 34-30 on the Gold Coast, with all the points being scored before the hour mark.
Considering Jake Trbojevic and DCE are both backing up from Origin, that's just about the best team Manly's put on the park all season.
And the last game has the North Queensland Cowboys hosting Canterbury in Townsville, and I would note that none of the Cowboys Origin brigade are due to play, while Stephen Crichton will back up and captain the Bulldogs, and if this game is decided by one score with 2 minutes left, just watch out for the Berries to strike like my dog on a stuffed toy.
And now for the Succinct NRL Tips for Round 20, as I somehow now sit in the Top 9% of NRL tipsters on FootyTips...
Round 19 Score = 4/5
Running score after Round 19 = 86/141 (60.99%)
Lock of the Week
Because when you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time
Because I can't be bothered using Penrith again....
We'll predict another Souths victory in this weekend's cripple fight at Gosford, but instead of another dose of Eddie Rabbit, here's Jefferson Airplane with White Rabbit!
Coles Radio was playing that very song when I strolled in to work on Tuesday morning...
Sadly, it was not followed by Somebody To Love.
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