2017 State of Origin Game 3 Betting Preview
Thirty-four players will run out onto Suncorp stadium on Wednesday night to decide the 2017 State of Origin series. We take a look at the big game in our NRL State of Origin Game 3 Preview and Betting Tips below.
Queensland vs New South Wales (Wednesday 8pm AEST)
The Maroons will head into the origin decider as outsiders, despite playing in front of their home fans. They have lost the best player in the game, Johnathan Thurston, who succumbed to a shoulder injury. He was the man to lead the side to victory in game 2 and kicked a conversion from near the sideline to give them the two point advantage, and victory, with minutes remaining in the match. He is a big loss for the side but Darius Boyd also joins him on the sidelines after breaking his thumb in the match. It brings Cameron Munster into the starting side at five-eighth in his debut game while Michael Morgan goes to left centre. Munster will be alongside his Melbourne Storm spine while Morgan will be playing his first professional match in the centres. It will be an area the Blues will look to target but unfortunately for them they haven’t looked very threatening down their right edge at all this series through Josh Dugan (we believe Jack Bird should be starting in the position).
Meanwhile the Blues are hoping captain Boyd Cordner and Tyson Frizell will be able to take to the field on Wednesday night. The two players are under the injury cloud but it is looking like they will take their places and the Blues will have the luxury of no changes throughout the entire series. Despite this, the side will have a chip on their shoulder in game 3 as a lot of people believe they blew their chance to lift the trophy after giving up a 16-6 lead at half-time of game 2.
The side needs to revert back to what had worked for them during the first 120 minutes of the series – leading the way up the middle of the field. The side has the superior forward pack and they should be able to turn the Queensland big fellas around and create space on the back of this. The Blues were going wide too early or were getting caught one out in the second half of game 2. The side also shot themselves in the foot with errors and giving away cheap penalties. They will be a lot more disciplined in this one.
We are predicting the Blues to win this one in a tight one. It will take the monkey off the back for Mitchell Pearce who will win his first origin series in six attempts. The side will be more structured, follow their gameplan of working over the forwards and they will earn the victory.
TIP: New South Wales at the margin (1-12) – $2.75 with Sportsbet
We are predicting Mitchell Pearce to be the first try scorer in this match. In games 1 and 2 Pearce crossed for a try and on both occasions it was due to his support play and his speed allowing him to pull away from defenders. While we think that is a very likely occurrence to happen again, following his big forwards and being the support player for the opening try, we believe he will score the try himself on the back of his own hard work. The halfback has the ability to throw a dummy and find his way over the line but he is yet to test the Queensland defence by doing this, we believe it will be an area he is looking to improve on as it will immediately keep the Queensland defence in two minds when he has the ball in his hands. We believe this will be enough to see him score the first try of state of origin game 3.
TIP: Mitchell Pearce first try scorer – $23 with Sportsbet
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TIPS ARE SIMPLY THE AUTHOR’s OPINION. ALWAYS GAMBLE RESPONSIBLY
