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Message: [QUOTE="Big Pete, post: 2592175, member: 1899"] [B]Origin 2007[/B] Is it just me or does this series get lost in the shuffle? It's sort of like Origin 93 where people just seemingly remember the result and not the quality or closeness of the matches, which is a shame. As a Queensland fan, I don't think I'd ever felt as confident about a series win up to that point. Two games at Suncorp, most of our stars were fit (sans Crocker who I always thought was a good player for Queensland) and NSW seemed like a real basket case resting all their hopes on young Jarrod Mullen who wasn't even considered for their silly exhibition game. Be that as it may, it was an odd feeling and I just wondered if the Maroons shared my feeling and whether or not it'd make them complacent heading in. As it happened, the opener was a real test for the Maroons, but one they handled quite comfortably in the end. It was odd, despite holding an intimidating lead at half-time, you just got the sense that once Queensland composed themselves they'd bounce back and sure enough they did just that scoring off a simple rehearsed second man play to GI and a soft try to Pricey which felt especially sweet since he'd been denied off a questionable call earlier. Looking back for me what sticks out about this game is the debut of Jarryd Hayne. Haynsy scored one of the great Origin tries, intercepting a desperate Tate kick and doing it all himself down the touch-line and basically threw it all away throwing the ball back inside to Lockyer who scored a try that was eerily similar to the one he scored in his last outing for the Maroons. That and of course the famous sledge from Hodges to Buderus. The sucker does it when he's 12 points down, showing absolutely no respect to the Blues. Origin II was all about whether or not the Maroons would be able to break their hoodoo in Sydney and on paper, it never seemed to be in doubt but there was definitely a bit of tension surrounding this game. This tension seemingly played a part in the game as the referees kept the whistle for the most part in their pockets, turning the game into a real battle of attrition. As it's been pointed out, the game was basically decided in one quick dash when Price scored a rare and valuable possession for his team when Bailey interfered with him while attempting to play the ball before Webb threw a clear forward pass leading to a nice try to Bell right in the corner. The dying moments of this match were pretty thrilling with the Blues going close on a couple of occasions but in the end, once GI booted the ball into the grand-stand, Queensland had two series in a row and for the first time in what felt like a long time, won four games in a row. Surely a white-wash was a mere formality? Nope. But the third game was by far the more memorable match of the contest. Not because it was a quality game, it really wasn't but because of the story of Queensland's determination who refused to let NSW to score despite wave after wave of attack and threatened to take the match. Unfortunately, the injuries caught up to them and NSW were just too strong on this partiuclar occasion. Which I think is a shame, not only for Queensland but because the game is just sort of lost in time. Had Queensland won, it would have been remembered like Game 2 1989, but instead it's rarely spoken about. In saying that, I think the game was important for a NSW perspective because it gave them hope for the future and that the next wave of players like Brett Stewart, Jarryd Hayne, Greg Bird, Paul Gallen & Ryan Hoffman could turn things around. All they really needed was for a half to step up, and they'd be right, especially with two games in Sydney. [/QUOTE]

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