The all important Game 2 of the State of Origin is on Wednesday as Queensland look to win back the shield while New South Wales will be desperate to even up the series. It will be interesting to see which side is able to keep their stars on the field the longest as both Robbie Farah from NSW and Billy Slater from QLD will be carrying shoulder injuries into the contest. Both players play vital roles for their sides, however it would be a massive blow if Farah went down injured as they do not have a specialist hooker in the side to replace him. Josh Jackson would be forced to fill that role and he has only played a handful of games in the position at the top grade. Although Slater would be massive blow as his importance in the side is under rated, Greg Inglis would slip into the fullback role quite comfortably.
Queensland fans were devastated when the news was reported that Cooper Cronk would be ruled out of the contest. His replacement Daly Cheery-Evans has played at this level on multiple occasions now but with little success. Last year when Cronk broke his arm in the opening 10 minutes of game one it was Cherry-Evans who took over at halfback. Queensland would go on to lose that game and Game 2 which resulted in them losing the Origin series for the first time in 8 years. Cronk then returned to the Queensland side in Game 3 and contributed massively to their demolition of NSW.
The loss makes this contest a lot closer and possibly puts New South Wales in the driver's seat. The return of Brett Morris and captain Paul Gallen will improve the side's go forward and defence. Morris will return the ball stronger than Tupou and he is a much quicker player. The impact off the bench will still be there for NSW and it was clear in the second half of Game 1 they were struggling. I expect coach Laurie Daley to make changes to his substitute plan which should fix this issue.
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The first try scorer of any match is hard to predict, however with the money back on a free bet promotion from Palmerbet it makes the choice a lot simpler. It is no secret that QLD focus their attack down their left hand side as they have the top two try scorers in Origin history working with the magician Johnathon Thurston. Darius Boyd and Greg Inglis were shut down in Game 1 but it will be hard to contain the beast that is GI when he has a point to prove. I expect Boyd to be given plenty of room after either Thurston or Inglis set him up. He will almost definitely find himself on the scorer’s sheet as he has a great strike rate of 15 tries in 22 matches for QLD.
TIP: Darius Boyd 1st try scorer for QLD @$4.50 - Palmerbet 1st try scorer money back special
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