ORIGIN II THOUGHTS: All the Hits, Try's and Queensland's 10th Win

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 36 years, you would have known that last night 34 of the NRL's best players entered the cauldron where one team would leave victorious and the other, well you know the story.

The Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues battled it out on the hallowed grounds of Suncorp Stadium in front of a sold out crowd as well as millions of fans watching at home, myself included!

Now if you weren't aware, Queensland took the cake in a tight 26-16 win giving them their 10th series win in 11 years, so where do the Maroons excel and the Blues crumble?

Last night both teams came to compete and at the 60th minute the game could have gone either way. The game itself came down to class and composure, two things that the Maroons have nailed to a tee. Player of the match, Cameron Smith made an astonishing 43 tackles, the most of all Queensland players, and was impressive all over the field, doing exactly what was necessary to win. That's composure.

For me personally, Dane Gagai deserved everything that came his way and should have been man of the match. A hat trick in his third origin game, whilst carrying an injury epitomises what it means to be an origin player, playing in the toughest arena, against the best players.

All origin games are determined by the will and skill of each teams forward packs, and this game was no different. A tough, grinding game that was both electrifying and compelling to watch. Matt Gillett was impressive as always, bumping his way to 10 runs, 100 metres and playing the full 80 minutes! Now that in itself is an incredible achievement with the pace that origin games are played. The same can be said for Matt Scott, Sam Thaiday and Corey Parker, who played his last Origin game at Suncorp.

Now, my review so far has been heavily weighted towards the Maroons impressive stats, but while the Blues may not have won, they certainly gave it their best shot.

Tyson Frizzel was most certainly the Blues best on ground last night. Off Gagai's intercepted try, Frizzel showed no sign of letting the winger off easy, running the length of the field to give the perfect ankle tap almost stopping Gagai just short of the line. In the 72 minutes that he played, Frizzel managed to produce 7 runs, 70 metres and 22 tackles, as well as scoring a try on debut. Impressive right?

While I may not like the Blues, I certainly respect some of their players. Dylan Walker definitely stood up to the test of Greg Inglis in a tough match up that saw old team mates going head to head, in a contest that Inglis won easily. Matt Moylan and Josh Mansour were another two players that stood up from game 1, playing great football to try and get their team over the line.

Phil Gould in a post match interview stated that the Blues would do better if some of their players in leadership roles stopped being so 'selfish', most likely on and off the field. I agree with this 100%. The Maroons have built a team that relies heavily on trust and loyalty, consistently using the same players to get the job done. Something that the Blues haven't done, except for in their forward pack and with captain, Paul Gallen. Now I wouldn't suggest that Gould meant Gallen was a 'selfish' player, but it isn't hard to connect the dots in these findings.

In the full 80 minute game, I felt every sort of emotion from my living room and I imagine it would have been the same for people watching around the state, at the game and for the players on the field. Origin II showed me that the Blues are building a side that is finally able to compete with the greatest team to play NRL, who are repeatedly bettering themselves in finding the right combinations.

However, the dynasty of the mighty Maroons roles on another year, proving to all those that have called the team old, that nothing can stop passionate and great players when they are competing for not only their state, but also their mate.

You may be wondering whether game 3 would be worth watching given that the Maroons have taken this years cake? Well if you ask me, the final instalment for this years series will outline the path for the years too come in showing which team will finish on top.

As they always say, it's Mate against Mate, State versus State.

*All photos taken from NRL.com