Jordan Samrani is another candidate for centre next season, just returned to reserve grade after a long injury layoff.

It only happens because  it's allowed to happen. Maybe the NRL'S  power to register contracts could be used.

Bloody brilliant!!!…

Both qld tries very questionable. Though Damian Cook has blown a few chances.

Tedesco has seen better days and how slow is Crighton?

Queensland seem to handle our attack with ease.a different level of defence than NRL. Surprised at Crichton's lack of pace. No cover for an outside back injury but two hookers who can both play 80 minutes

Surely this has to spell the death knock on Fittlers coaching career.

NSW: so much time and so little talent.

They may as well play gridiron because qld have scored three tries off forward passes. Unyil they can use technology to monitor it, the game will remain a lucky dip.

Not referees again. Queensland  were penalised off the park and NSW was played  off the park. 

Hopefully Foxy doesn't get suspended or it is only for 1 game.

Fox didn't have a great game, having Cook inside him didn't help.

Myth Moses wasn't actually that bad for a flat tracker.

Teddy is past it.

QLD simply too good, too comitted and energetic.

Walsh is a far better fullback than Teddy, faster and a much snarter passer of the ball.

NSW simply need to pick the best available side, that is probably Cleary and Luai in the halves.

What the hell waa Freddy thinking… 

First of all with his selections… Utica waste of a spot, the flat track bully, Robson starting… to name but a few crap ideas

And secondly putting Cook in the centres… Surely a Liam Martin or even Cam Murray should’ve gone there…

The flat trackers much vaunted kicking game was ordinary at best… and then he typically went missing when it got tough… Very poor selection at the expense of Nicho…

Not blaming the referees, just saying three of their tries were off forward passes. I never said NSW were hard done by, their attack was ineffective.

On Foxx, we’ll see what the MRC are made of this week… the headbutts far far worse than the punch that didn’t land…

What game were you watching?
Moses along with Haas were one of few good things NSW had out there....

I'm not complaining. I'm happy with QLD sealing the win as I was concerned a sell-out Decider may have been manipulated into the equation.

In the end Fitler and Alexander picked too many underdone or out of form players and had no backline redundancy in the event of injury or HIA.

Once again they tried to pick players for a certain gameplan rather than pick a gameplan and then the players who can deliver it.

As Lockyer noted... At 10-0 if DCE doesn't mow down Chrichton, score becomes 10-6 instead, Qld get a lucky break and score to make it 16-0.

I think QLD would win irrespective as they were well drilled in their defence and attacking gameplans.

NSW looked like strangers 

Sorry, what I meant was, NSW pick players who they think deserve to be there, and then try to figure out a gameplan and positions for them to play in.

Qld picks a gameplan to win the game and then picks the players most capable of delivering it.

Slater immediately dropped players that were under an injury cloud or not quite up to it. If it were him, guys like Teddy, Turbo, Murray, Mitchell, Fox etc wouldn't even be selected.

Although the score showed a convincing win suggesting great attack from Qld, the game was won when they repelled numerous NSW attack and pressure on their line.

That defensive effort came from not having injury cloud or out of form players in the side and the fact that they actually spent some time training together in the buildup. 

Slater is really impressive as coach 

Yes qld did win it convincingly but their defence wasn't built on not being injured or out of form, they were allowed to lay all over NSW all night which let their defensive line get properly re-set for every play. Qlders won't agree but little leg-ups like this make a huge difference.

I was watching the game where the $6 mans kicking game was ordinary and he went missing when things got tough… Not blaming the loss on him, that was.a Team effort…  But he should never have been picked, which is also not his fault…

Saying he was one of our best last night means very little… Like saying Critter was our best last match…

To be fair, Moses played mostly right side field and NSW attack looked more organised on that side with more direction and intent.

Sure the loss of Turbo affected the left side, but the Luai, Cook, Fox combination was very disjointed and out of sync. 

Everytime the ball went that way, it was relatively easy for Qld to jam in and another them into errors.

Individually, Luai was ok, but as a halves ball-player, he was not good and neither was his team on that side.

I really think Fittler stuffed up by not starting with Martin or Murray. The selection of Young and starting him was very questionable. NSW didn't have any issues getting to Qld 30m zone. It's the fact they couldn't convert it to points that was their issue. 

How brilliant was Lindsay Collins again last night.
.

About 3 or 4 years ago I had mentioned on here that the 2 players I would love to have in our team were Lindsay Collins and Tom Starling.

We ended up getting Mahoney so all good there but Collins is just a ripper and no nonsense prop who is actually very skillfully for his size and height.

Which according to you every week is the halves fault… 

According to your theories winning games is simply a matter of having the best halfback and Moses is the best halfback.

I didn't think that he was that bad, but Hynes would have been a better option.

If they were going with Moses then Gutho should have replaced Teddy.

I don't think NSW winning is simply a matter of selecting the best available side. The gap between the 2 teams is large. But overall NSW were more competitive game 1.

Foxy wasn't great game 1 or game 2, I don't think he is up to this level, certainly not playing in a weaker side.

Like Nicho, TPJ was a bit unlucky to be dropped. To win games like this you need a team of fighters, Nicho is a fighter and Moses is too soft and lazy. All of the QLD team are fighters, especially in SOO, attitude and desire are more important than ability.

Latrell is a fighter who could have made a difference for NSW, perhaps he should be considered for fullback.

On results Billy seems to be a much better coach than Freddy, NSW might to better with a more experienced old school coach. At SOO level the coach doesn't need to worry about sugar coating the message or being a nice guy. Just build a team of hard working tough players with some polish in the spine.

I think maybe Adam Reynolds for game 3

Crichton looked slow

Here come the referees again

Criction is pretty fast, or was fast 12 months ago.

One thing that puzzled me, close to the QLD try like Haas standing one off the ruck shuffled forward and basically stood close to the try line, at no stage did he look like he would receive the ball. A lot of middle forwards do this and it looks like something that he was coached to do.

IMO if he runs hard as a decoy that is effective or just takes a pace or 2 forward he looks like a potential receiver of s flat pass. I don't understand this play, IMO it sums up what was wrong with the NSW attack, too scripted, too predictable and too slow.

Teddy getting the ball close to the ruck and trying to beat the defence one out didn't work in game 1 and was even less effective in game 2.

Luai was the most dangerous NSW attacker, simply because he was the most unpredictable. and at times plays with a fast tempo.

QLD just played faster, straighter and simplier in attack. Slow ball movement never beats a slide defence.

I was nominally a NSW supporter, the selection of Moses, the dumping of Hynes and TPJ dulled my enthusiasm.

I didn't detect the ref favoring either side, the crowd really lifted QLD.

NSW players were often slow to react, or didn't work together well.

For once I also thought that the bunker got just about everything right.

My biggest doubt was on the first QLD try, probably bounced the ball IMO.

You're  right about how queensland played.  They also seemed to have teamwork, maybe they're  a more  settled team, NSW looked like strangers.  As you point  out straightness of play a critical factor. That's  where we missed Wighton and Mitchell. RCG would have been handy too.

I'm calling it a coaching fail by Freddy, I wouldn't want him coaching the Dogs.

Cook should have been on the bench game 1.

Hynes and TPJ should not have been picked then punted after 1 game.

Both games NSW tried to work over the QLD  middle and rarely toubled them. The NSW centres rarely got early ball.
In both games the NSW attack was slow and predictable.

Only real difference individual players made more impact in game 1.

In both games NSW were slow to contested balls, leaked plenty of points and had made breakdowns in communication in defence.

If Dman just took the NSW side out for drinks before the game and told them to just have fun they might have played better. I don't know if the players are nervous, but when the coach is prone to dropping players on the basis of one performance, that doesn't inspire confidence.