Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Clutch performer ... Sam Thaiday was outstanding in Origin II. Source: Darren England / News Limited
Queensland skipper Cameron Smith has admitted the first 20 minutes of State of Origin II was so good for his side, he couldn't have even dreamed it up.
While the Maroons had gone public with their disappointment at "missing the jump" in Sydney and made no secret that opening game two with increased intensity was a focus, Smith was surprised by how well that plan was put into effect.
"We planned to start well but we never thought we were going to start that well," Smith confessed in a live cross to Fox Sports show Sterlo on Thursday night.
"Obviously our plan was to put a lot of pressure on the Blues by running aggressively with plenty of support and kicking long.
"But the way the game panned out, as you said, we couldn't have wished for a better start and it pretty much felt like we were camped down there end for the majority of the first half.
"Every time we kicked long we had a really good kick-chase, we got (NSW fullback Josh) Dugan within his own 10 metres, our first two tackles were really good, our line-speed was really good, and we had a couple of balls bounce our way."
In his usual laconic way, Smith almost managed to undersell the significance of the start.
But if it was difficualt to put into words, the true story was told by the numbers collated by Fox Sports Stats in the opening quarter of the game.
"Eighty-two per cent to 18 per cent was the possession, now obviously that has an impact on the tackles and the go-forward when it comes to the tackles," said Peter Sterling.
"Almost 11 extra sets forced for NSW to defend there. Over 400m for the Queenslanders going forward, short of 60 for NSW - in your wildest dreams you couldn't have thought that would be the opening 20 minutes."
And if Smith was pleasantly surprised by the ferocity of Queensland's start, his NSW counterpart Paul Gallen was stunned.
"We just burned too much energy in that half," Gallen conceded.
"I thought our forwards still played pretty well - I thought we punched through them when we did have the ball.
"But as I said, the start took too much petrol out of us and we didn't have enough energy to get back into the game."
And nowhere did the fatigue become more apparent for the Blues than in the kicking games of Mitchell Pearce, James Maloney and Robbie Farah.
While Matty Johns urged NSW coach Laurie Daley to keep the faith with the core of his team, including the halves combination of Pearce and Maloney, he was critical of their kicking game, and said it was one of the major areas that needed fixing before the decider.
"In game one I thought NSW kicked really well but in game two I thought it was really poor," Johns said.
"There were a few Maloney kicks where you went, 'gee, that's unlike Jimmy Maloney'.
"But when you look at his tackle count and the gas they took out of him in that first 20 minutes, some of those attacking kicks were rushed, there wasn't a lot of thought put into them. A lot of it is fatigue."
Gallen agreed with Johns that stability was important but hinted that Nathan Merritt and Aaron Woods would be dropped for game three.
"I think there'll be minor changes, there always is, there's no point saying there won't be," Gallen said.
"I'm hoping I'm alright but if I'm not alright then someone will have to come in for me.
"I think Jimmy Tamou will come straight back in, other than that one incident (a high-range drink-driving charge) there was no reason for him to get dropped.
"Jarryd Hayne was one of our best players in game one, so he'll come back into contention but I'm just not sure where because I think his best spot in that side is fullback.
"Josh Dugan played pretty well, he got players' player and played pretty well."
