Game two of the 2013 State Of Origin series was an ambush. Queensland came out breathing fire and New South Wales simply could not stand up to the pressure.
In the aftermath of such a complete and utter beat down, its always fun to rate the performances of players from both teams.
I tend to rate players fairly harshly. I have a scale of 1-10 to use, and I use the entire scale.
Here are my player ratings for game two of the 2013 State Of Origin Series:
Queensland
1. Billy Slater – 6
Kinda typical of Slater recently, played alright but he looks to be carrying injury.
2. Brent Tate – 6
Didn’t have a huge impact but played well. Got sin binned for headbutting Trent Merrins fist.
3. Greg Inglis – 8
Still didn’t see enough of the ball but when it was his time to shine, he got the job done every single time.
4. Justin Hodges – 8
Is possibly the player of the series so far for QLD. He is dominating everything!
5. Darius Boyd – 9
Turned every half chance into points. A classic Darius Boyd performance.
6. Johnathan Thurston – 7
NSW once again did a great job in defense on him but he still managed to cause problems.
7. Cooper Cronk – 8
Guided QLD around the park really well. His kicking game early on was simply perfect.
8. Matt Scott – 7
Solid as always, helped dominate the Blues forwards.
9. Cameron Smith – 8
An outstanding performance after he was kept quiet in game one.
10. Nate Myles – 8
Took it right to the NSW pack and dominated every single one of them.
11. Chris McQueen – 8
Really stepped up and showed he deserved to start the match. Tough to handle all night.
12. Sam Thaiday – 8
Set the tone early on, scored the first try, his best game of the year by far.
13. Corey Parker – 9
My man of the match. An outstanding effort. He led from the front all night.
14. Daly Cherry-Evans – 7
Didn’t get too much game time but looked like he was close to breaking the Blues line a few times.
15. Ben Te’o – 6
Has more impact than he did in game one.
16. Matt Gillett – 7
Was really good off the bench. He much be getting close to starting.
17. Josh Papalii – 7
Didn’t get on until late but he was damaging when he did make an appearance.
New South Wales
1. Josh Dugan – 7
Was pretty good as a replacement, but won’t retain his place if Hayne is even half fit.
2. Brett Morris – 4
Had a very quiet game.
3. Michael Jennings – 5
Looked dangerous but the game just didn’t go his way at all. Never really got going.
4. Josh Morris – 6
Defended well at times but didn’t have a big impact in defense.
5. Nathan Merritt – 2
One and done. Was terrible in defense. Found out time after time.
6. James Maloney – 3
His kicking game was terrible and he was targeted in defense. Not a good game at all.
7. Mitchell Pearce – 1
The Mitchell Pearce project is DONE.
8. Paul Gallen – 4
Pretty much a non factor in the game. Hard to get into him too much, he has carried NSW for years.
9. Robbie Farah – 5
Did his best against great defense. Had to take over the kicking duties at one stage. He can’t do it all!
10. Aaron Woods – 0
Gave NSW no go forward, was soft in defense, he showed why he is the leading forward in the worst forward pack in the NRL.
11. Ryan Hoffman – 4
Once again he didn’t do much. I think Origin is beyond him at this stage of his career.
12. Luke Lewis – 6
No where near as good as he was in game one.
13. Greg Bird – 6
Played well in defense but did nothing in attack.
14. Josh Reynolds – 7
For the limited time he was on the field, he looked dangerous. Might have played his way into a starting role for game three.
15. Andrew Fifita – 8
Was outstanding when on the field. Gave good go forward, strong in defense, stood up to the QLD all on his own.
16. Tren Merrin – 7
Gave great go forward but had a brain explosion and found himself in the bin.
17. Anthony Watmough – 6
When he came on he added a bit of spark but didn’t really trouble the Maroons.
Note: I have NEVER given a player a rating of ZERO in any Rugby League game I have rated. Congratulations Aaron Woods!
If you disagree with any of the ratings above, feel free to use the comment box below to have your say. Post your own ratings!
