“He hasn’t passed yet, Isaah Yeo, it’s been all running. So dangerous.”
Immortal Andrew Johns made the observation 18 minutes into the Blues 18-6 ambush of a badly out-of-sorts Queensland on Wednesday night.
As usual, in matters involving a Steeden at least, the greatest halfback NSW has had was on the money.
So were Laurie Daley, Yeo and NSW – the former and the latter light years away from the glaring tactical missteps of Daley’s last Origin series in 2017.
Johns going nuclear in commentary that year endures as much as why he was apoplectic at “the dumbest half of football NSW has ever played” – the Blues’ failure to target an injured Johnathan Thurston in a tense Origin II loss, with Daley losing his job by series end.
Returning to Suncorp eight years later, Daley and the Blues came into the contest faster, smarter and sharper, and in terms of Yeo’s all-important role, responding to what was in front of them.
The numbers from Yeo are stark. Thirteen carries for 146 metres, 68 post-contact metres, and most significantly, just three passes from his 16 touches.
They’re at odds with NSW’s use of the game’s best 13 throughout most of his 15-Origin career, where Yeo’s equally exceptional passing skills were prioritised over his running.
At its peak, the use of Yeo in his usual Panthers link-man role in the 2022 decider had him passing 28 times, at a 1.65 ratio to every run he took.
Hence the accusations of excessive ‘Pantherisation’ of the NSW attack by the end of Brad Fittler’s tenure.
In Fittler’s defence, who wouldn’t pick the key figures in the most dominant club side of the modern era, and permit them to play with the same distinct attacking structure that delivered Yeo, Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai annual premiership rings?
In time, though, Queensland learnt how to pick off the Penrith-esque sweeping shifts where Yeo linked to his club playmakers.
Dane Gagai somehow furthered his ‘Origin Gagai’ alter-ego in 2022 by consistently swooping on those plays like he had the NSW game plan written down his forearm.
He didn’t always make the tackle, but Gagai’s rushing defence often did enough to stifle the Blues’ plays. Club defences just weren’t equipped to do that when Penrith pulled them out.
Yeo’s approach first changed under Michael Maguire last year, and continued to the extreme when Daley and the Blues returned to Suncorp. Along with Payne Haas, Yeo repeatedly punched over the advantage line, found his feet and a quick play-the-ball to generate crucial early momentum.
“The ruck was pretty slow, so there was probably a struggle for momentum,” Yeo said of his run-first mentality.
“Which was a bit like the last series as well, so I don’t think we were overthinking it or anything, just playing the game that was in front of us.
“That was the style of footy needed I think. Try to get through the middle as much as we can.
“That’s probably more the nature of Origin footy I think, certainly [Wednesday night] was pretty middle-focused and that grinding style of game.”
Daley agreed, but stressed Yeo is still welcome to give the ball air when he sees fit. The pairing of Mitchell Moses as a second dominant playmaker alongside Cleary naturally switches the skipper back to a run-first 13, though.
“I think having two halves like Nath and Mitch and the way they play, like to be on-ball, it does bring ‘Yeoy’s’ running game out,” Daley said.
“I think it was a case of him mixing it up and playing what suited and the more that he can mix it up, the better. It did really help everyone, those carries of his. ‘Yeoy’ and Payne got us over the advantage line so often, it was a great captain’s knock from him.
“And if the defence tries to jam him, he can still pass and add that depth to the attack, which he’s so good at doing. And opportunities do come off the back of that too.
“I think he knows the balance in his game better than anyone.”
Yeo’s running game also had an impact on an underdone Maroons hooker Harry Grant, who was targeted like rarely before in a match.
“That was probably the worst game I’ve seen Harry play,” Johns offered after Grant was uncharacteristically frustrated, mistake-prone and fatigued by 43 tackles in 58 minutes.
Knackered: Queensland hooker Harry Grant.Credit: Getty Images
Again, Yeo noted that going after the opposition hooker and dialling up his defensive workload is hardly rocket science, even by rugby league standards.
But Grant came into Origin I with just one Storm game under his belt after a six-week hamstring injury. And Yeo especially went looking for him, just as Daley’s last Origin side failed to find an injured Thurston all those years ago.
“There was a little of looking for Harry and that’s because he’s such a good player, I think you’ll find most teams try to wear him out in defence,” Yeo said.
“But this sort of game, if someone hasn’t played a lot of footy, you probably do really try to dial that up and target someone as much as you can.
“Most hookers will lead the tackle count though and that’s probably just how the game went with the middle focus.”
And as for the Pantherisation of NSW, the Blues treatment of Queensland’s dummy-half heartbeat followed the same script Penrith deployed in last year’s grand final triumph.
Grant tackled himself to a standstill for Melbourne that night with 59 tackles in 80 minutes, a defensive workload the Blues replicated before Billy Slater gave his exhausted hooker a breather.
Of all the exhaustive Origin analysis, Daley’s sound selection moves delivering a cherished win in Brisbane ring truest. So too does the promise of more cohesion between Moses and Cleary after their first game as a halves pairing.
The prospect of earlier ball to edge weapons Latrell Mitchell and Stephen Crichton in Perth, where NSW have rattled up 38 and 44 points the previous two times they’ve visited, is especially tantalising.
Particularly when they get the balance of game smarts and game plan right.
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