[ad_1]
Key events
Queensland XVII
It’s all about the youthful backline for the Maroons, headlined by 20-year-old Reece Walsh, the only debutant in Billy Slater’s starting XIII. Harry Grant provides an x-factor off the bench with Ben Hunt’s versatility and experience worth its weight in gold.
Speaking about Walsh, Slater said: “Hopefully he is himself, enjoys himself and gets his game on. He’s been fantastic this year for the Broncos. He got an opportunity a couple of years ago to play for Queensland and unfortunately tore his hamstring a couple of days before the game. So he is more ready now than he has ever been. He has had a great week at training. Got a good team that he’s in. Hopefully he can be himself.”
Queensland: 1 Reece Walsh, 2 Selwyn Cobbo, 3 Valentine Holmes, 4 Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, 5 Murray Taulagi, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans, 15 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, 9 Ben Hunt, 16 Reuben Cotter, 11 Tom Gilbert, 12 David Fifita, 13 Pat Carrigan.
INTERCHANGE: 14 Harry Grant, 8 Tom Flegler, 10 Lindsay Collins, 17 Jai Arrow.
Angus Fontaine sets the scene.
Last year at Suncorp, with a minute to play and NSW attacking close to the line, Cleary sniffed victory and put the ball on that golden boot of his. Ben Hunt saw the kick coming, charged it down and raced 90-metres to score a try that sealed the match and series. Yet again, glorious victory and abject defeat in Origin was decided in a single moment by a slight miscalculation and a sweet stroke of genius. When the chance comes on Wednesday and the lightning is there to be bottled, who will be the one?
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of State of Origin Game 1 between Queensland’s Maroons and New South Wales’s Blues. Kick-off at Adelaide Oval is 8.05pm-ish (AEST).
I say ish, because this is Origin. Normal rules don’t apply. Especially in South Australia. I wager it’ll be gone ten-past and there’ll still be pyro smoke drifting over the Chappell Stand as commentators gush about the Greatest Game in the World™ at the most picturesque stadium in sport™.
And you know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Give me all the chintz and cliche. For three nights of the year I relish putting my snark in a draw in and embracing all the mate v mate™ chicanery. I love the Phil Gould supercuts, Andrew Johns’s “bullshit”, the legend of The King, and everything else that makes State of Origin so insular and compelling.
As for the action this year, there’s nothing to suggest it isn’t going to be as gripping and keenly fought as ever. Only two series this millennium have been swept, while the ledger reads three-apiece since 2017.
Queensland arrive as defending champions, upsetting favourites New South Wales last year in the most thrilling decider. The Maroons will again rely on the experience of halves Cameron Munster and Daly Cherry-Evans, and hope the instincts of Billy Slater are proven correct once more with the second-year coach selecting players in jersey numbers 1-5 with an average age of just 22.
The Blues come in with a point to prove, and bursting with star quality courtesy of half a dozen Penrith Panthers and three of the past four Dally M Medalists. However, the absence of Latrell Mitchell tonight robs the occasion of arguably the game’s most maverick and magnificent force.
If you want to get in touch at any point you can always send me an email or pop a tweet to @JPHowcroft. On with the show.
[ad_2]
Source link
(This article is generated through the syndicated feed sources, Financetin neither support nor own any part of this article)
