The wash up from origin 1 last Wednesday night has been all of the above and then some. There has been a thunderous outcry for changes to be made to the NSW origin team, the coach to be sacked, the selectors to take a big jump from somewhere very high and of course for positional changes. This last point I can understand to a degree, but the others simply reek of a lack of appreciation of history.
The game itself was not one of the better origin matches. Don't get me wrong... the intensity was definitely there from both sides but due to the amount of rain in Sydney before kick off, it was obviously slippery under foot. This always changes the dynamic of a game of football. In a quick summary, QLD handled the conditions better and NSW struggled to push their game plan. The only critique one could make of the Blues is that their scrambling defence was not what you expect from an origin squad.
Others disagree. Others are of the opinion that the entire state should be crucified. The Sydney media have run a few opinion pieces that reflect this aggressive approach. Apparently, Brett Kimmorley is first to be sacked, closely followed by Brett White and Matt Cooper. The articles also say that Kurt Gidley will be moving to halfback and Perry to the bench and blah blah blah blah. Anyone notice a trend here? Anyone see the real problem surfacing once again? Anyone?
United we must stand.
In another piece based on public opinion polls (always the best way to choose an origin squad), one newspaper announces the results, "70 per cent of the 4000 respondents called for Bellamy to be axed before Origin II…” You read that correctly. Some fans want the NSW coach sacked in the middle of a series!!! More frightening is the fact that 4000 people responded to this. Even more frightening is that apparently, 87% of the voters are NSW fans, which brings me to my point.
QLD fans voted as well and must be giggling to themselves. On every couch and recliner in every caravan all over the Sunshine State, there are cane toads laughing at the sinking ship that is NSW Rugby League. We lose one game of football to arguably the best league team ever assembled and the knives are out immediately. The amount of negative quotes published in the media over the past 2 days has been astonishing, even compared to the last 4 years.
I understand people might be fed up with losing, or that they would feel frustrated by the ease of Queensland’s victory, or even if they have nothing better to do than criticize... what I don’t understand is the inability to learn from mistakes. We have tried multiple combinations in the halves, we have tried every back rower in NSW, we have tried the two best hookers south of the tweed, and we have selected 20 year olds and 19 year olds in a vain hope that miracles might happen. Have we not learnt anything from the results?
The one lesson we need to learn, in an attempt to galvanise the state and hopefully restore some pride, is that we must stick together. This approach should be adopted at every level. If it is, then we would stop destroying any sense of unity within the team, we would get behind the men that came up short on the night and instil some belief in them to have another go and play without fear of losing.
Learning to Fly, is the hardest thing..
This will address the single biggest issue from Wednesday night’s loss. The Blues looked like they were expecting to lose. This fear comes from the culture created by selectors and fans. They have sacrificed any player whom they suddenly believe should never have been picked. Anyone see the irony here? The admission of mistakes has come thick and fast from selectors as they continue to disagree with themselves. This is what creates fear in the squad. Furthermore, the possibility that some issues arise from a disagreement between selectors and coach simply adds to the division.
Please don't sack anyone, please don't pull anyone aside and tell them it’s their last chance. This is not the way to win games... This does not inspire people. Please stop crying out for the hanging of coaches and players. Let us be honest and say that a) QLD were the better side on the night; b) we all hate QLD so let's use this to galvanise our support for NSW and c) focus more on players performing better as a unit, rather than pinning our hopes on individuals.
In perhaps the most painfully obvious example of why we cannot take seriously people who wish to play the blame game... there is one comment used as a conclusion in one of these articles. Perhaps it is one person’s perspective; it’s hard to tell, but either way... "In his third season of Origin coaching, Bellamy has always got exactly the squad he and his assistant coach Andrew Johns have wanted. Bellamy has had to accept much of the flak while Johns has escaped any of the harsh criticism"... Brilliant. They are now looking for anyone to blame and singling out perhaps NSW best ever player for the next attack.
We have a long way to go, obviously. Not only are we blaming all and sundry for another heartbreaking origin loss, but we continue to look for more people to blame. Why? Is there anything productive about this? As fans, should we not get behind our state as we do our clubs? Should we not ignore the petty media outlets that simply want to sell papers and don’t care who wins? Well ... some of us do care and some of us believe that supporting a football team means supporting them through thick and thin.
