The Blues were far too good in the first game of the 2021 State of Origin series and Sunday evening will see them take on the Maroons in Game 2 from 7:50pm. See our full preview and NRL tips for the all-important clash from Suncorp Stadium from Greg Davis below.
State of Origin Game 2 Betting Tips
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Sunday 27th June, 7:50pm (AEST)
QLD
1.Reece Walsh, 2. Valentine Holmes 3. Kurt Capewell 4. Dane Gagai 5. Kyle Feldt 6. Cameron Munster 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Christian Welch 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Josh Papalii 11. Jai Arrow 12. Felise Kaufusi 13. Tino Fa’asumaleaui. Interchange: 14. Ben Hunt 15. Moeaki Fotuaika 16. David Fifita 17. Francis Molo. Reserves: 18. Coen Hess 19. Ronaldo Mulitalo
NSW
1.James Tedesco 2. Brian To’o 3. Latrell Mitchell 4. Tom Trbojevic 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Jarome Luai 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Daniel Saifiti 9. Damien Cook 10. Junior Paulo 11. Cameron Murray 12. Tariq Sims 13. Isaah Yeo. Interchange: 14. Jack Wighton 15. Angus Crichton 16. Payne Haas 17. Liam Martin. Reserves: 18. Apisai Koroisau 19. Campbell Graham 20. Dale Finucane
Match Prediction
As they say in the State of Origin classics, Queensland has NSW right where they want them heading into Game 2 of the 2021 series this Sunday night.
The Blues were equal parts brilliant and brutal in the comprehensive 50-6 demolition of the Maroons in the series opener in Townsville earlier this month.
It was nothing short of Terror in the Tropics as Tom Trbojevic ran riot with three tries with the bouncers at the famous Townsville nightclub The Mad Cow muscling up more than the flimsy Queensland defensive line.
The Blues are raging red-hot favourites to clinch the series when hostilities are resumed at Suncorp Stadium. And rightly so.
They looked a few classes above the Maroons in Townsville and have a star-studded side that is in outstanding form at club level and brimming with confidence after emphatically embarrassing Queensland.
If this was a second match race between two horses, it would be the galloper carrying the jockey in the sky blue silks by how far. They may even call it off as an act of kindness to the old nag from north of the Tweed River to prevent a Secretariat-style win from the 1973 Belmont Stakes when it won by 31 lengths.
With the Maroon paying $4 or thereabouts in head-to-head betting with most bookmakers, it is hard to recollect a more despised outsider in recent Origin history.
And Queensland could not be happier about it. Being the rank underdogs with their backs ever-so-firmly against the wall is the natural resting state of the Maroons. The more written off they are, the better.
Even when Queensland had the likes of Darren Lockyer, Cam Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater, Greg Inglis and co at their disposal, they were rarely short-priced favourites and revelled in the – when you think of it now – ridiculous underdog status.
The Maroons have already ticked off one of the Origin camp must-dos by having a player in hospital on a drip. Last game it was Dane Gagai and now it is Jai Arrow who is battling illness and “racing the clock” to be fit.
New coach Paul Green will have poured over the vision/horror movie that was the series opener and has made a number of changes to the side including the return of Josh Papalii in the front row and a debut for teenage fullback Reece Walsh.
Walsh was born in July 2002 when Nelly’s “Hot in Here” and Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” were duelling for no.1 on the music charts. Feel old?
Anyway, we digress.
Queensland return to their spiritual home at the old Lang Park where 50,000-plus Maroons fans will be baying for blue blood. The Maroons are an infinitely better side at Suncorp Stadium.
They grow another leg and feel 10-foot and bullet-proof – as another of the Origin classics goes.
Their pride was hurt in Game One and they will be jumping out of their skins in the bid for redemption. Memories of lippy Blues five-eighth Jerome Luai giving them a gobful will also be fresh.
And to produce the biggest turnaround in Origin history, they will have to call on all that and more.
The Queensland fans filing down from the Caxton Hotel alone are not going to help the Maroons who need to physically and mentally get in the face of the Blues early and often and play right on the edge of the rules.
Will the new interpretations allow that? If the Maroons get a little wriggle room, they can rattle the Blues. If it is refereed like an NRL game – glorified touch football – then the Maroons may be in a little trouble.
Queensland cannot be that bad again and with the home ground advantage, they should give the Blues a run for their money with the line of 14.5 points having some appeal.
Trbojevic has been in sublime touch for club and state, and you know he will be in the hunt for the first four-pointer of the match. After failing to cross the white strip for just the third time in his Origin career, expect Valentine Holmes to be a very real scoring threat, especially with his return to the wing.
The man-of-the-match honours should belong to a member of the playmaking spine. Nathan Cleary is too short at $4-$5. Blues skipper James Tedesco presents more value at $7 while Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans ($21) has been in blistering form since Origin 1 and needs to maintain that rage to lift his side to an unlikely win.
Match Props
First Try: Tom Trbojevic ($9.50 at Sportsbet)
AnytimeTtry: Valentine Holmes ($2.10 at Sportsbet)
Man-of-the-Match: James Tedesco/Daly Cherry-Evans ($7/$21 at Sportsbet)
Total Match Points: Over 46.5 ($1.90 at Sportsbet)
