The State of Origin shield is on the line on Wednesday when game two of the 2024 series is played out on neutral territory at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground where upwards of 90,000 fans will watch a pivotal clash.
The Queensland Maroons will know that they are 80 minutes from a third straight series win after they dominated the opening game. The New South Wales Blues have to win here to force a decider on enemy territory next month.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action channels with the coverage beginning at 10am and kick off in Melbourne shortly after 11am.
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales Blues were well beaten in front of their own fans in Sydney three weeks ago and now they have to rouse themselves to get back into the series. To be fair to them, they put up a creditable display when you consider that they had to play more than 70 minutes with 12 men but once the red card happened the writing was on the wall for them. We can’t really judge them on that effort but the heart and character they showed for the next hour or so should serve them well here.
The Blues are obviously going to need to defend better in this contest but that is going to come naturally when you expect them to have 13 men on the field for this game. The fact that NSW were only eight points behind with 15 to go having played so long down to 12 men has to be a positive. They are going to need to offer more in attack but they have picked a better side for this second game so it would be a surprise if that doesn’t happen.
Queensland Maroons
While they were given a bit of a leg up with the red card in the opening game, the Queensland Maroons now know that they have two matches away from Sydney to look to secure a third successive Origin shield. While they will be on home soil in the last game, they would love to get it done here and have a celebration in front of their own crowd knowing that the series is won going into game three. If that is going to happen they need to avoid the thoughts that the emphatic score of the first game reflected the gap between the two teams.
The Maroons probably need to improve a touch in attack. The only reason I say that is because the incident which yielded the red card worked in their favour as it meant that Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow went back to full-back where he scored a hat trick from. Reece Walsh, the player who failed the head injury assessment in that opener is back for this second game so it will be interesting to see how those combinations work in this one.
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Team News
Michael Maguire has obviously made changes for this second match with the big ones being leaving James Tedesco out at full-back with Dylan Edwards coming into the side. Latrell Mitchell and Mitchell Moses return to the side while Cameron Murray also comes in.
Billy Slater is expected to field the same XIII which went onto the field in Sydney in the opening game. The only changes are likely to come on the bench where Felise Kaufusi and Kurt Capewell come in with Selwyn Cobbo left out which has caused a few raised eyebrows.
Betting
I expected a low scoring opening game but we’ll never know if that is how it was going to play out because of the early sending off. I’m not forecasting a low scoring game here though because New South Wales are going to need to put it all on the line and that might involve taking risks to get themselves level in the series and take it to Brisbane next month. The line is up at 38.5 though which is pushing the high end of what I like to take in Origin.
With that in mind, I’ll take New South Wales to win this one. Hopefully they can keep 13 on the field this time which will help but another thing that will help is the kicking game of Mitchell Moses which I thought the Blues really lacked in the opening game. The other thing which will give them a boost is the attacking prowess of Latrell Mitchell. Billy Slater is getting questioned for one or two weird backtracking decisions and there might be some doubts in that Maroons camp. I’ll take the Blues to level it up in game two and force a decider like they did emphatically two years ago on neutral soil.
Tips
Back New South Wales Blues to beat Queensland Maroons for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
