Game 3 of the State Of Origin 2013 series will be played tonight at ANZ Stadium in Sydney between New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons. The opening kick is set to commence at 8pm local time with Queensland going into the match as the overwhelming favourites with a majority of the money being placed on the game coming for the Maroons. View our State Of Origin live scores.
WHERE AND WHEN: ANZ Stadium, Wednesday 8pm
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Opening odds comparison:
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New South Wales Blues
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2.45 | 2.50 | 2.60 | 2.50 | 2.45 | 2.45 |
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Queensland Maroons
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1.57 | 1.56 | 1.52 | 1.56 | 1.57 | 1.57 |
Preview:
Queensland will be looking to make it eight straight series wins when they take the field on Wednesday night in the final and deciding game of this year’s State of Origin.
The Maroons were dominate in Game II and registered a comfortable 26 – 6 point win, there biggest victory since their 34 – 6 win in 2010’s second game.
Back at Suncorp Stadium and with the series on the line, Queensland showed a greater commitment and played with an urgency that was lacking in Game I.
Inglis was far more involved and with his left side partner Darius Boyd, they created havoc for NSW and in particular Blues debutante, Nathan Merritt.
Merritt has been replaced for this game by Newcastle winger James McManus but rest assured, he too will be thoroughly tested as between them Inglis and Boyd have scored 27 Origin tries. More than that of the entire NSW backline combined.
After an interrupted preparation for the first game, all appears to have gone smoothly for QLD since, with the same seventeen man squad from Game II, named for Wednesday night.
Preparations for NSW since Game I however, have not.
There was the off field drama prior to Game II and this week, the Blues have learnt they’ll be without inspirational Captain Paul Gallen and strike Fullback, Jarryd Hayne.
In what will be one of the biggest games in history for New South Wales, they are valuable players to be without but on the plus side for NSW, is there recent record at ANZ Stadium.
They’ve won there past three games at the venue by margins of 8, 4 and 10 points, scoring 14, 16, 18 points in those games.
But, as QLD demonstrated in Game II, they are capable of scoring points – something NSW has struggled to do and who have only been able to surpass 20 points once in past three series.
NSW will have to play field position to nullify QLD’s attacking ability and this will require a strong and strategic kicking game from NSW halves, Pearce and Maloney and new Captain, Robbie Farah. In defensive, they’ll have to be near perfect.
Queensland, who have won the past two final games of the series and three of the last four, on the other hand, only have to do what they did in Game II.
They have the benefit of a history of big games together and will relish the opportunity to meet a new challenge and register series win number eight.
Doubt the home-ground advantage will be enough to see New South Wales stop QLD’s dominance.
Teams:
New South Wales Blues:
Josh Dugan, Brett Morris, Michael Jennings, Josh Morris, James McManus, James Maloney, Mitchell Pearce, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, James Tamou, Ryan Hoffman, Luke Lewis, Greg Bird, Andrew Fifita, Trent Merrin, Josh Reynolds, Anthony Watmough. Boyd Cordner is in the squad as injury cover for Bird. Jarryd Hayne has been ruled out of Game 3 with injury.
Queensland Maroons:
Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Brent Tate, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith (c), Nate Myles, Chris McQueen, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker, Daly Cherry-Evans, Ben Te’o, Matt Gillett, Josh Papalii. 18th man: Jacob Lillyman – 19th man: Will Chambers. Cameron Smith is captain of the Queensland team in the 2013 State of Origin series.
Titans to rest Origin pair for Manly clash
Gold Coast will rest State of Origin stars Nate Myles and Greg Bird for this weekend’s NRL clash against Manly.
The pair were not named by coach John Cartwright on Tuesday to take on the Sea Eagles with both expected to be physically and mentally drained by Wednesday’s Origin decider in Sydney.
Despite being thrashed in consecutive weeks by Newcastle and Penrith before last weekend’s bye, Cartwright says it’s better for the club to rest the pair.
“The important thing for Nate and Birdy is to refresh,” he told reporters.
“It’s a big pressure period in the middle of the season and we expect a lot out of those players.
“As a team we’ve decided it’s best they get this game (Origin) out of their system, give it everything they’ve got and we’ll get them back when we play Souths.”
Having the option to recall David Taylor, Beau Falloon and Brad Takairangi for the Sea Eagles clash probably made the call easier for Cartwright.
The key trio will all return from injury with hooker Falloon set for his first appearance since breaking his fibula against Brisbane in round 10.
Takairangi (ribs) and Taylor (sternum) both missed the losses to the Knights and the Panthers but Cartwright said the team had moved on from those defeats.
“We’ve dealt with it. Seen the areas we thought we were weak in, there’s no hiding from it,” he said.
“Had a good hard week last week, rested up over the weekend and we’re excited to get down to Manly.”
Titans: Jordan Rankin, Kevin Gordon, Brad Takairangi, Jamie Dowling, David Mead, Aidan Sezer, Albert Kelly, Luke Bailey, Matt Srama, Luke Douglas, David Taylor, Mark Minichiello, Ashley Harrison. Interchange (one to be omitted): Mark Ioane, Ryan James, Ben Ridge, Beau Falloon, Luke O’Dwyer.