Well done, Mr Mitchell
Read to the end for a player name pronunciation guide
Welcome to The Maroon Observer, a weekly newsletter about rugby league, Queensland and rugby league in Queensland.
The Blues are still blue
Nick Campton said on Boom Rookies that the Blues should win the second game of the women’s series, kicking off Thursday night, comfortably. As a result, I could not have done a full u-turn in my opinion faster. I feel there is almost no way the Maroons will lose this now, especially if its wet.
*checks weather, eyes emoji*
Highly professionalised footballers, like the men’s Origin teams, struggle when they walk in fancying their chances and assuming they’ve got it won.Those are ripe grounds for upset. An Origin victory always has to be earned.
With the less professionalised ranks of the women’s game, we’ve seen New South Wales trip over this several times. There was their time-wasting celebration at the end of the second game in 2023 and the complete collapse of the Bluewash in the second and third game of last year’s series. As I repeatedly have to explain to my four year old, people don’t just give up and hand you wins.
Without any intervening competitive football, the breathing space that gives men’s Origin a bit of life (compare the listlessness of the 2020 series), I am still concerned that the Owen/Peters side is absolutely not going to hold up under the circumstances. I am, in fact, surprised they’re going back out there as they did in game 1. Tahnee Norris took one piece of advice in bringing back Chelsea Lenarduzzi to beef up the middle.
I don’t know if that’s necessarily going to be enough and I'm not sure what options she really had. It might help stem the tide to give the rest of the team a chance to do something. There is plenty of playmaking and points in the spine and the right side. If half the team could keep their axons from shearing, we might be able to see a full team out there.
Put it all together and anything is possible.
Tip: Queensland 13+
A note that the first game’s Origin was another women’s attendance record (if you don’t count the 2022 grand final) of 26k. The record that was set with the 2022 Canberra game was just 11k. How far we’ve come. Crazy what happens when rugby league invests in something and sticks with it.
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In case you missed it
I wrote about the for-realsies, no-takes-backs confirmation of the return of Western Australia to the NRL, as well as the likely involvement of the Bears in a capacity that is not especially well defined. As usual, I have asked some Lisa Simpson questions vis-a-vis what it all really means.
A couple of Bear-ddenda.
offered a few suggestions on what the existing clubs might be getting out of this deal on Bluesky. I don’t have much of a better hypothesis but do note that the NRL’s licencing palava seems to have been quietly resolved, according to the updated wording in the Broncos’ annual report, so there may be something esoteric in there.I don't think most people in Perth will form an opinion as to whether the Bears is a broken down east coast franchise that is being foisted on them or whatever. Most will just accept that they’re getting a NRL team and that might be cool to follow along and have no interest in the past. Online cranks, like your correspondent, always overthink this stuff. See also: the Dolphins’ lack of name, jersey colours, etc, none of which seems to matter now that everyone is used to it.
Not all North Sydney fans are happy about the outcome. You can’t make everyone happy all of the time and it is unsurprising that's there's a dissident, Real IRA element. There is a certain cardboard edifice to the Perth operation - if you ever get a good look at the Adina Hotel on the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets, you’ll see what I mean - that isn’t going to come across as particularly authentic to true believers and informed observers alike. How the Bears reconcile all of that will be one of the fascinating things to watch as they try to land this thing.
This month’s edition of the Pony Picayune consists of two parts: 1) the free essay at the start, in which I start to worry we’ve got a lemon of a coach, and 2) the paywalled content behind, which this month was a deeper look at Maguire’s coaching resume, match reviews, a detailed preview (which turned out to be somewhat prescient) and a rewind to the 2019 NRLW grand final for Tazmin Rapana’s retirement.
If you’d like access to part 2, consider an upgrade to a paid subscription or chuck us a tip on Ko-Fi.
Around the grounds
Dolphins 20 defeated Eels 16. This was not a pretty match to sit through, even with less than my full attention dedicated to it. Glancing at it from an oblique angle was probably the safest approach. I don’t think there’s a lot to be gleaned long term. The Dolphins had a great completion rate, less ball and got the two points against a team they should have gotten the two points. I guess we say Phins Up with all the enthusiasm of having completed a tax return.
Titans 24 defeated Knights 20. I wrote this up after 30 minutes as a clear Knights win, then leading 20-0 with no Titans hope in sight. Teams have less than a 5% chance of coming back from that and usually it's the Titans blowing it. In this battle of which coach is going to get fired first, O’Brien's men simply could not fight off Hasler's. I don't really understand quite what happened but the Newcastle fans, at least the few that deigned to turn up, booed their team on full time and provided explanation enough. Did Gold Coast just want it more? A laughable conclusion to suit a laughable result.
Rabbitohs 22 defeated Broncos 14. We got the Latrell MVP game I referenced in my Pony Picayune preview, but only because the standard of the rest was so poor. Oh and the casual 48 metre field goal. The last try was pretty good too. Well done, Mr Mitchell. The good thing is that, as the season progresses, every Broncos loss becomes decreasingly impressive on the resume and every Broncos win becomes a bigger blot on the loser's copybook. You decide whether Jordan Riki made one of the smartest individual plays I've ever seen or his brain froze with blue screen of death. The Broncos rotations are still bad. The discipline is poor. The Rabbitohs capitalised on a surfeit of penalties on offer. This game sucked almost as much as Pat Carrigan, who is rapidly regressing to 2020 levels, as is the rest of the team. More to come in the next Pony Picayune.
Devils 14 defeated Dolphins 10. Norths have a habit of defending like Homer Simpson boxes. The Devs take the punches, rarely give in and then when they get the ball back, work their way down field and throw a few jabs of their own. It was a typically physical assault from the Dolphins, as we’ve come to expect from the last few encounters. But it’s now five straight wins over the Phins for the boys from Nundah. Might be time to consider giving the Dolphins NRL licence to the Devils? Wins have come in the heat and the cool, in finals and regular season and in high and low scoring contests but the Devils manage to find a way to come out on top, playing with a trademark unflappable and coherent style, suitable to the conditions. They’ll probably be seeing each other again in September.
Cowboys 30 drew Panthers 30. Even if the result wasn't precisely ideal, this kind of performance is praiseworthy and, as a bonus, hurts the Panthers’ prospects way more. The Cowboys needed more ball during regular time and Rob Derby had a career's worth of errors, so hopefully that's that out of the way. Bouncing back for the penultimate try was good stuff. I don’t have a lot to critique, and in fact will spend most of the next Bovine Bulletin lavishing praise on the team (at least by my standards). The Cowboys got a bit outplayed by a guy named Blaize - that is going to happen - but much worse, couldn't set for a field goal. The Cowboys would've been better just running it, like they did the last time they played the Panthers in golden point.
Blackhawks 21 defeated Jets 20. Not the greatest game you’re ever going to see. Townsville butchered a bunch of chances to put this away but, despite a late surge, Ipswich looked outclassed by a northern team for the second week running. The Jets will get a reprieve next week, playing the Central Queensland Capras. I really like Dudley Dotoi.
Intermission
I buried the lede on the Jets / Blackhawks. The play-by-play doesn’t quite do the drama justice. Ipswich’s Dion Teaupa takes an early shot at field goal with Townsville caught by surprise, to go up 19-18 with seven and a half to go.
The Blackhawks’ kickoff forces a mistake from the Jets and Jack Campagnolo manages to work the team around to slot a tying goal, 19-all, with six to go. The Blackhawks get to midfield on the restart and Jayden Hodges coughs up the ball. The Jets march and put through a second field goal, 20-19, to regain the lead with three minutes to go. Heads go down.
Then the Jets stuff up a second kickoff, letting the ball bounce into touch. Dotoi makes a huge run off the scrum but Townsville can’t quite get a big body to crash over the line. Campagnolo’s grubber forces an error from Arama Hau. The scrum play doesn’t look like its going anywhere until Tamou tries a quick play the ball and the Jets get called for crowding.
Celebrating a last second penalty like you won the grand final and everyone spraying Pascoe on the ground. Good stuff.
Personally, I didn’t see a lot of value in seeing if Ezra Mam could hospitalise - insert your own jokes here - Toowoomba A-grade’s best fullback but apparently everyone else did. That’s a healthy looking crowd at Davies Park for an out of town team. It’s a true shock seeing a NRL star take on the worst team in reserve grade and win easily. David Fifita, Jeremiah Nanai, etc could never. That and Ben Hunt’s hamstring going bang is all it took to get Mam back.
Hotseat
The dribbling vultures were circling Des Hasler before the weekend’s games which, despite the result, means we’re getting closer to the end.
Kevin Walters is already in the papers, via his agent, as an alternative. Good luck to him. The Titans need a coach that can improve a bad team - check - and a guy who will inject a bit of enthusiasm - check - and a guy who lives local - done, done, done. We just need a Frizelle or Searle to back Des publicly and Hasler is cooked.
On the other side of the anxiety bowl, Adam O'Brien has got to be just about done. He's probably done enough to get another shot at a bottom eight club in 2027.
Upcoming Slate
Just a note that the Knights NSW Cup game is kicking off at 3.30pm on a Friday. The NSWRL continue to innovate in weird kickoff times for their premier competition, although usually it’s the Warriors.
Dolphins versus Warriors, Saturday 3pm, Suncorp
The Dolphins, 4-6 in 12th, have a better points difference (+10) than the Warriors, 7-2 in 3rd (+1). That’s how you end up with this being the match of the weekend and the first of two NRL games at Suncorp. The people would go mad for afternoon footy if we were having normal SEQ May weather: crisp and cooling. Instead, everything is water logged and cloudy and going mouldy. I guess the moistness might help the Dolphins but the Warriors look the better package. Tip: Warriors
Cowboys versus Sea Eagles, Saturday 5.30pm, QCB Stadium
The next Bovine Bulletin will drop tomorrow and I spent a lot of words on being very nice to how well the Cowboys are playing. I do not believe the Sea Eagles to be fundamentally very good but we have seen them turn on decent performances this year, e.g. round 1 against this very club. This is a great opportunity for North Queensland to dack me in front of all of my readers, which would not be nice. Don’t do that. Clifford’s been dropped for Purdue with Laybutt coming in at centre, a change that I think has been in the works for a while. Be interesting to see how it goes. Tip: Cowboys.
Pride versus Bears, Saturday 5.30pm, Barlow Park
The QCup has a well matched up slate this week. Similar to the Phins game, you might think the 5-2 Bears in 4th against the 1-6 Pride in 14th wouldn’t be the lead off match for the week. In fact, I checked my numbers to make sure it is. Northern have lost a lot of games but they haven’t been bad. They’re almost always competitive and they field a huge number of Cowboys reserves, probably including last year's Pride Dude of the Year, Jake Clifford. Their record is not reflective of their capability. Burleigh are having their usual good season, although we will see if they can challenge for the title later in the year. This will be a good test. Tip: Pride
(Tips 12 / 28 in 2025; 48 / 92 in 2024)
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Notes
There were a couple of corrections re: XXXX State League Championship in last week’s newsletter if that’s been really bothering you. Thanks to reader Kyle.
Burleigh defeated Redcliffe, 18-14, in the Mal Meninga Cup final. I didn’t watch the game but note that Xavier Coates’ brother, Phillip, played for the Bears and Barry Berrigan’s son, Nate, played for the Dolphins.
Perry Park upgrade expected to be agreed to in ‘near future’. Football Australia and Football Queensland were pushing a Perry Park upgrade as part of the Olympics. That’s not going to happen but Crisafulli might give them the upgrade anyway. FQ is after a 17.5k capacity. I’ve think inner Brisbane could use a 20k-ish rectangular stadium so that not everything is played at either Suncorp or Redcliffe but remains to be seen how well FQ will share with the rugby codes and/or other community uses.
Titans: AJ Brimson is a pom now. Probably something to be written about a) fringe rep players defecting to England to get jerseys (funny; long term consequences?) and b) the collapse of the Nines concept (killed by Magic Round; union seems to be downsizing Sevens?) but needs a bit more time to marinate that into something coherent. And Gold Coast have picked up the Combine “winner” (your reminder that combines don’t have winners), Canadian Megan Pakulis.
Broncos: Broncos Welcome New Kiwi Rugby Stars As Preseason Begins and Ben Hunt injured for four weeks oh no what will the Broncos do. Not Jock Madden too?!
Seagulls Announce North Stradbroke Island Game (against the Capras)
Radean Robinson, one time Italian, Capra and Magpie and promising prospect, transferred to Toulouse Olympique in the French Super XIII. Dunno when that happened.
Similarly, if you're wondering where Shaniah Power and Emily Veivers are, it's Wigan.