The moments that define us

Consume the moment, don't let it consume you

Trope noun: a common or overused theme or device.

If there’s one thing us media types love, it’s a good old fashioned trope. We froth it, it’s what gets headlines glowing and tongues wagging. It’s what forges rivalries and frustrations, debates and death stares.

State of Origin is built on tropes.

The most famous one, obviously, being that New South Wales don’t get Origin. While largely a humorous Queensland jibe used to irritate their pals south of the border, as with all jokes it’s buried in a modicum of truth. But that’s not why we’re here today.

State of Origin is defined by moments.

Yes that’s the good stuff.

Every year when Origin rolls around you’ll hear those with a voice bang on about how winning games like these often boils down to nailing those two or three key moments that present themselves throughout the game, often without realising they’re there until the fallout after.

Once again, Queensland nailed those key moments when we sit back and look at where the game was won and lost, and I’ve identified what I think some of those moments were that maybe aren’t imminently obvious but ones I think played some sort of part in the final result.

I’m not here to do player ratings. Player ratings are an exercise in misery, often to rage-bait and start circular discussions where neither party comes out wiser.

I’m not here to write overly negative dissertations on individual performances. The failures of James Tedesco and Nathan Cleary have been picked apart ad nauseum already, and rightfully so, and the microscope will be aimed directly at both of them in the weeks leading up to Game II at Suncorp.

Neither covered themselves with any sort of glory last night, but I prefer to focus on good rugby league rather than shitting on the bad.

With that said and done, a trip down memory lane and the moments that define us.

Tarzan Grip

I’ve always been a huge fan of Murray Taulagi’s work for the Cowboys, an exciting young winger not known for his grit work in yardage, although he’s certainly capable, but more than making up for it with his finishing nous and innate ability to conjure something from nowhere (see his try assist against the Tigers at Magic Round last year).

Origin though, is about finding out things about yourself that you never thought possible, scaling the deepest recesses of your own morality to find that little glimmer of resilience and defiance in the name of your state.

New South Wales, for most of the first half, set up camp in close proximity to the Queensland try line, shortly after Queensland raced ahead 10-0 in an opening one-two punch so quick camera nearly missed it.

Queensland’s scramble was on point all night, and while the Blues maybe weren’t at their cleanest execution-wise, it would be reductive to blame it all on attacking ineptitude without also crediting a stout defensive effort. But two instances stick out, both on Queensland’s left.

On paper, the Queensland left edge, featuring Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Taulagi presented opportunity for the Blues to target some traffic, with neither particularly known for their defence, and in the case of the Hammer, not even playing first grade in the centres this season.

Twice New South Wales barged over the line on the right edge, and twice they were miraculously repelled. James Tedesco and Tyson Frizell, two damaging ball runners, close to the line, against a scrambling defence, betting would’ve been suspended on either of those to result in tries.

And yet, after forensic examination, emerging from beneath the wreckage, the battered and twisted, but most importantly, alert, frame of Taulagi would stir, every last sinew stretched into a roadblock, his fingertips the only barrier to a New South Wales try on both occasions.

No one would have blamed Taulagi for not stopping either try, especially the Tedesco effort, which the Roosters custodian has scored countless times before in his career. And yet Taulagi didn’t concern himself with fickle things like reputations and odds. All that mattered was mano e mano, NSW were not scoring down the Queensland left.

Whether you think the ball grazed grass on Frizell’s effort is a different story, but it’s gone now, lost to the sands of time, and Taulagi did just enough to create that benefit of the doubt.

All that possession for no reward, the buildup of frustration led to panic passes and an abandonment of cohesion, a decapitation from which NSW couldn’t recover.

A second bite of the poisoned apple

The Tevita Pangai Junior selection was widely critiqued as the most brazen and left field Origin selection in the entire Origin reign of Brad Fittler, which in itself is an impressive list to top.

Plucked from a bottom feeding NRL team in dusty personal form, one afternoon of imperious aggression had Pangai’s name in marker on the NSW selection sheet prior to the first Origin.

I wrote after the squad announcement that the selection of Pangai carried a bit of “smartest guy in the room” energy from Fittler. Despite all that, and my own personal preference being not to pick him, I am a Pangai fan (a PanGUY you could say), and was all in on the selection on vibes and fun alone.

While no one has publicly admitted it, it seems pretty clear to me Pangai’s role was defined as being aggressive and intimidating in the opening stages of the game. Go out there, give us your hardest 15-20 minutes, and then come off.

I thought Pangai was certainly busy and involved in his first stint, and while he was by no means sparkling (he did give away some penalties but what else did you expect) he did run the ball reasonably strongly I felt, threw himself into his defence (with some mixed results) and was generally solid.

Once he got swapped for Liam Martin around 20 minutes, that should’ve been the end of his night’s work.

I’m not going to say my jaw hit the floor when I noticed Pangai back out there in the second half, but it was perilously close.

Bringing Pangai back on felt like Fittler flirting with the line, tapping the blackjack table while sitting on 18. Pangai was solid in his first stint, and while he certainly didn’t win the Blues the game with his early play, he was sound enough that he didn’t lose it for them either, as many people feared.

That second spell was less kind.

Another silly penalty on a flop so late it belonged in Game III last year, a forced offload coming out of his own end that went to ground and was recovered by Queensland, and all of a sudden the Queensland surge was back on.

All night the Blues found their success in the middle of the field. The forward pack were, by and large, on the positive side of the ledger when it came to the yardage battle, and Queensland were finding it consistently difficult to make metres.

In a nine minute second stint, Pangai contributed two critical errors that gifted Queensland easy field position.

Freddy bit off more than he could chew, and he ended up choking.

Once is enough

Talking about seizing the singular moment that comes around, there may be no better player in the NRL at it than Cameron Munster.

Truth be told, I actually thought it was one of Munster’s quieter performances in recent Origins. He often looked threatening down the left and asked questions, but his running game wasn’t its usual potent and lethal self.

Still, despite a quieter outing, he still found ways to impact the game. There was the great awareness to notice James Tedesco well out of position for the little grubber for Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow’s first try, but I want to talk about his work for the Hammer’s second.

Moments earlier, Tom Flegler was sent to the bin for a high shot on Tom Trbojevic. I admittedly didn’t think it was a bin live, but I’d have to see better replays than the blurry one I got while watching at the only sports bar in Hobart with 50 other randoms. The bin felt like it was for the outcome, which was Trbojevic off with Category 1 concussion symptoms, which is how a lot of those seem to go, even if I don’t like it.

Anyway, what’s important is Queensland were down to 12 men and down on the scoreboard at this stage, but Fittler, clearly bereft of a real plan, decided to just throw debutant Nicho Hynes into the unfamiliar position of right centre (I remain unconvinced he knew he was allowed to activate 18th man Matt Burton).

Back to Munster, identifying mismatches and stepping up in key moments irrespective of the prior script of the game has always been his modus operandi. Recognising the Blues right edge defence was a patchwork of halves and an ailing winger, he attacked.

It’s soft from Cleary and Hynes to not reel in Munster as he’s crabbing across field when both have decent shots on him, but once he’s got that hair of space on Hynes’ outside he takes it to the bank, straightening just enough to release Tabuai-Fidow down the sideline, who proceeds to burn Addo-Carr and step a helpless Tedesco en route to what would prove to be the match winning try.

It wouldn’t be Munster’s final try involvement either, but I’m not taking Lindsay Collins’ moment away from him, outleaping Roosters teammate Tedesco before firing a precision falling down offload back inside to a backing up Munster.

Who backs up a prop in an aerial duel with a fullback 20 metres out? Munster, that’s who.

Maybe I’ve read this slightly harshly, calling the majority of Munster’s night quiet, but all I know for certain is when the game was on the line, it didn’t matter what the previous 70 minutes had comprised.

He was stepping up and making the key plays, like he’s done countless times before and will continue to do so for Melbourne, Queensland and Australia.

Origin is about winning the battles on the way to winning the war. Every moment matters, but only after the game does it become truly apparent what moments mean more.

New South Wales now head to the graveyard Suncorp in a seemingly futile bid to square the series.

Let’s see if they conquer the moment or wilt into the shadows.