Queensland Maroons great Cameron Smith has identified his man of the match from his side after an emphatic series win.
The home team was too strong in Origin II, dismantling NSW 32-6 to seal the result with captain Daly Cherry-Evans producing one of his best performances in the jersey.
While the Maroons were seriously impressive in attack, it was their ability in defence that impressed Smith the most.
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“It was a famous victory, the thing I took out of it most, I know the team scored 30 points against a very good NSW side, but it was their defence that won it for them, particularly in the first half,” he said on Nine’s coverage.
“They spent a lot of time on their tryline, much like the game one in Adelaide, and they just repelled and kept NSW at bay.
“I know NSW, they left a couple of opportunities on that field, but just a special effort from that side.”
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Smith then delivered his three-two-one votes for the Maroons side, and it’s no surprise who he went with first.
“Daly Cherry-Evans, the skipper, that huge play where he chased Stephen Crichton from the other side of the field, just tremendous, such an inspiration to a lot of these young guys wearing Maroon,” he said.
“One point is Daly Cherry-Evans, I thought he just came up with some huge plays for the Maroons, timely efforts, a true captain’s knock. He is playing some of the best football I’ve seen him play, this late in his career, just being fantastic for the Maroons.”
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While run metres is normally dominated by fullbacks, wingers and props, Queensland had a surprise man in Cameron Munster topping the list with 175m.
For Smith, the five-eighth was one of the Maroons’ best.
“Cameron Munster, he was contained quite well early by the Blues, but he finished on top of the metres for Queensland, had 20 plus runs, come up with some huge plays, kicked well and always threatened out on his edge,” he said.
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While there was many to pick from, Smith’s best went to Lindsay Collins, who backed up his game one performance.
“When he comes on the field from the bench, he made such a huge difference and talking about big plays, some of the plays he come up with for a man of his size and the position he plays (were phenomenal),” he said.
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“The big tackle on Luai, knocks the ball loose, huge play for the Maroons, and then in the second half he traps the ball from Mitch Moses, then has the audacity to go and run another 20 metres down field, just to get the Maroons on the front foot, an unbelievable effort by the big man.
“He was the match-winner in Adelaide too when he jumped above James Tedesco and set up Cam Munster but just an incredible performance by a man that goes about his business fairly quietly.
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“He just gets around training, works extremely hard, he’s a no fuss player, no frills player, but when the big plays are needed, Lindsay Collins is right there.”
Collins finished the game with 135 run metres from 14 runs and held the best average for play the ball speed in the Maroons side.
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