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Message: [QUOTE="CaptainHook, post: 2598903, member: 8315"] Having reflected on the game, here are a few of my thoughts: I think this was the year that complacency finally crept into the Maroons camp. After eight years of unprecedented success, I'm amazed that it hadn't happened earlier. The preparation for Game 2 in particular left a lot to be desired. I can't help thinking even a few years ago, DCE would have been ruled out early on and we would have gone with Ben Hunt. It turned into a bit of a shambles, tbh. Ben Hunt trained all week and we should've went with him. Picking 20, 30, 40 man squads is nonsense at this level. Yes, they are great players and should be given every opportunity but in Origin we need 17 able bodied guys, not superstars on one leg. The fact that DCE only completed one session and was the preferred option just smacks of a "she'll be right" attitude and a real sign of disrespect to our opposition. As others have commented, the refereeing was terrible. There was SO much grubby stuff from both teams. I know Origin is different but geez, that was bad even by Origin standards. Having said that, it's not the reason we lost. We should have known that the 50/50 calls, hell even the 90/10 calls in our favour, weren't going to go our way and we needed to brace ourselves for it. Perhaps the worse thing is that NSW did a QLD on Queensland. They were the team that earned repeat sets, respected the football, gained field position and did the little things right. It was like the teams wore the wrong jerseys out. We were guilty of the "all or nothing" play and squandered what little attacking opportunities we had. Here's a hint, boys: If it's not on - just roll it in goal and start again. At the very least, you'll tire them out and maybe gaps will appear. QLD looked to panic which is surprising considering their wealth of experience. Interesting times ahead for the Maroons. We pride ourselves on loyalty, mateship etc but the cold, hard reality is some of our players are getting on and they are not the players they once were. Yes, we only lost by 4 and 2 points respectively but that is a bit deceiving. The way we have lost, injuries or no, points to poor preparation. Maybe it was the loss we had to have to clear the air and get down to business. There's been a lot of talk about dropping players left and right like Gillett, Guerra, Teo etc but by and large I think we do have the best players available. With some players already ruled out though, I'd like us to look to the future and choose some rookies and not recall guys to "do a job." We need to take this opportunity to plan for the future, not look to the past for a face saving win. [/QUOTE]

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