{"id":451659,"date":"2025-05-28T20:50:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T20:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=451659"},"modified":"2025-05-28T23:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T23:14:45","slug":"two-brutal-axings-needed-to-dig-maroons-out-of-awful-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=451659","title":{"rendered":"Two brutal axings needed to dig Maroons out of 'awful trouble'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland<\/a> have to roll the dice and gamble on a fiery redhead from Canberra to change the trend of State of Origin<\/a> in game two.<\/p>\n

New South Wales<\/a> were only average for much of the 80 minutes but always looked like winning and the Maroons have now lost two straight games at Suncorp Stadium<\/a> for the first time since 1998 and four of their last five clashes with the Blues.<\/p>\n

The Maroons need more aggression up front and Canberra's wild child Corey Horsburgh has that in bucketloads.<\/p>\n

PLAYER RATINGS:<\/strong> 'Real disappointment' called out in Maroons stinker\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Watson basketball pass, Edwards try seal stunning NSW win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Spider cam reveals trainer's act that led to referee spray\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yes, he can lose his cool on the big stage but the Blues were happy he wasn't picked for game one and will be delighted if the Maroons persist with their 'pick and stick' mentality.<\/p>\n

The other big call Billy Slater may want to consider is dropping the struggling Kayln Ponga and moving the dangerous Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to fullback.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

'The Hammer' is the most elusive ball-runner in the game but was starved of the ball with any time or space on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Ponga has been a shadow of his best this season at club level and many put that down to Newcastle's spluttering attack.<\/p>\n

\"2025<\/p>\n

But in elite company, Ponga again looked flat and barely troubled the Blues defence.<\/p>\n

Skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was another big-name Maroon who failed to fire and the oldest man in Origin footy may have played one series too many.<\/p>\n

The Maroons are in awful trouble having lost game one at home – and only wholesale changes can give them a chance to turn things around.<\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queensland have to roll the dice and gamble on a fiery redhead from Canberra to change the trend of State of Origin in game two. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":443913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=451659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451663,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451659\/revisions\/451663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/443913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=451659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=451659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=451659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}