Captains Call: Round 16
Welcome to week 16 of Captains Call.
Well done to New South Wales on winning the State of Origin series, well deserved. Being a Queensland supporter it’s a bitter pill to swallow but the reality is New South Wales played better for longer periods and at the crucial times.
The great thing about Origin is there are always talking points after the game, the biggest from game two was the awarding of a penalty try to New South Wales. In my opinion it was a penalty try every day of the week. You can say what you want about Hunt barely touching him or there was no guarantee he was going to score but, if Hunt doesn’t move in his direction then he has no chance of being penalised. He was also going to get to the ball first by a mile as he had a five meter head start on Chambers who was the player to recover the ball. The simple reason Queensland wasn’t awarded one when Cooper was held back by Roberts was because he wasn’t going to get to the ball first. In that same play people were questioning why Hunt wasn’t sin binned, very simple, New South Wales were awarded the try.
You will never see a penalty try given and a player sin binned for the offence the penalty try was awarded for, the advantage will be one or the other, not both.
As a Queensland fan I was very disappointed in the way a few of them played, namely Hunt and Chambers. Not only did they bomb several opportunities, but they also cost the team with bad defensive plays which lead to New South Wales tries. The Blues on the other hand played well both games and it pains me to say it, but could we be seeing a New South Wales dynasty? Time will tell.
Let’s review the players from round 15 and although games that have 66 points scored in them are good for you back line, it’s the forwards that generally miss out as was the case for Crichton. He was four involvements off a workhorse but did manage a try assist and line break assist. In that same game and one of only five players to make a workhorse was Brown. 45 involvements but never really threatened in attack. Another blow out was the Tigers versus Raiders game where the Tigers never came out after half time. The Raiders ran in eight tries after the Tigers second and one of them was by Cotric. That brings his tally to nine with eight of them coming from his last eight games. Addo-Carr ended his drought with a double against Newcastle. That’s four tries from two games against them this season. The best of the week was from Ryan James, with another monster effort. A double workhorse, a try and a line break. He has scored more points from his last two games than his seven previous to that.
Let’s preview five more and don’t forget to vote or leave a comment.
Cameron Smith – safe bet
Now that he is not playing Origin, Smiths form has been fantastic. Five workhorse’, one try, one line break, one try assist and one line break assist from his last three games is a great return. Expect him to punch out another easy workhorse this week.
Andrew McCullough – safe bet
After losing Origin in his first series as Queensland hooker, expect McCullough to come out firing. I wouldn’t put it past him either scoring a double workhorse or a single with a try to go with it.
Josh Papalii – safe bet
Same as McCullough, Papalii will want to come out and have a massive game after a very quiet game for Queensland. Papalii is averaging six points from his last seven games. I think he has found his position at lock.
Ash Taylor – risk and reward
He is leading the comp for try assists and is the second highest scoring halfback so far this year. Against the Tigers who let the Raiders run riot, expect the man with a good passing game and the best short kicking game to have a field day.
Robbie Farah – risk and reward
Back to where it all began. If he plays 80 and can strike up a working partnership with Brooks this could be the turning point for the Tigers. We all know what Farah is capable of given the minutes and with all other hooker options at the Tigers either injured or ineffective, this could be the perfect time for Farah.
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Adam Hewat
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