Corner of solitude

Queensland kicked arsed, and were too good, beating NSW in the second game of the State of Origin last night. And what a difference having Titan’s Prince in the side has made for Queensland, especially with Thurston not firing at club level and without injured maroons captain Lockyer. It gave us NSW blues supporters the blues.

The last month has been a long and dreary month. It felt as though it would go on forever, and it was cold to boot. And almost every friggin day it was raining, just like in winter.

So I could almost be forgiven for thinking that it was already at the end of winter. Here I was telling everyone not to worry because winter was almost over. Sadly I was wrong. It’s only the start of an ozzie winter.

You know what that means?  Yes folks it means heaters, and a poll about keeping warm using heaters. Heres one right now.

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I’m currently sick with the flue and have a throat infection. A few days ago I went to see the local GP. I walked into the reception area and what’s the first thing the receptionist said to me?

“How are you?” she asked.

I was dumbfounded, with the condition that I was in couldn’t she see how I was? She could’ve said a million other things, like:

“Hi, you’re here to see the doctor, right, please take a seat.”

Or “hey sugar, take a load off, the doc is in the house.”

It was as if she was put upon and was daring me to say good or fine so that she could kick me out again.

“So you’re good are you? Then you won’t be needing to see the doctor. Well, there’s the door, loitering is a crime you know. Thank you very much for helping me waste some of my time.”

Polite as I am, I said good thank you anyway, which was the only thing I could think of saying at the time, normally I’m armed with witty remarks which I could use as a comeback.

I have no doubt that NSW will take home the trophy this year. After the easy win they had last night, Queensland may as well have told NSW “it’s yours bitches we’re sick of it”.

Queensland had an abysmal night, with no creativity with the ball at all. This is largely due to the bad player selection. With regular captain and five eight Darren Lockyer out of the picture, Queensland selectors had chosen K. Hunt as make shift five eight. Sure Thurston might be rated as the best half back in the league, and most of the attacking decisions could be made by him, but when your playing in the State of Origin you need something to fall back on. Making K. Hunt the five eight made him a sitting duck, his defence was solid but he hardly had enough juice left for attack.

Thurston tried hard and did his best, but that was problem, he was trying to do too much. If he had someone who was a genuine attacking ballplayer like Darren Lockyer, to fall back on then some of his plays would have had a little more oomph. Queensland shoud have selected Titan half back and captain, Prince. Who not only is the form half back in the league but is not far behind Lockyer and Thurston as genuine ballplaying attacking generals.

I would have chosen Prince at half, and Thurston at five eight which is generally believed to be his preferred position. Slater would have remained as fullback leaving K. Hunt a spot on the bench, ready to be unleashed fresh later in the game. Leaving out a form player like Prince just so K. Hunt is in the team is just plain game suicide. Even master coach and mentor Wayne Bennett scoffed at the idea of leaving out Prince in favour of K. Hunt.

None of it would have have mattered anyhow, because NSW would still have won.