While Queensland lacked direction in their game one defeat, the Dearden-Munster combination played straight at the Blues to pose questions and keep them guessing.
โ[We just played] off the cuff, eyes up footy. We obviously have structures in place, but that goes out the window when you see opportunities, and that just takes one little moment for blokes to push into the right hole,โ Munster said.
โWe had a great combination of me and Tommy, we can build on that. There are some things we could both work on in the second half, we lost a bit of control there, weโve just got to work on our discipline there.โ
Dearden proved the perfect foil for Munster, whose debut as captain proved a man-of-the-match performance โ finishing with a try and 131 running metres.
Slater believed all that changed for the five-eighth was the fact the โcโ was next to his name, adamant the man many see as a larrikin had already been a leader since entering the Origin arena.
But to part ways with a leader in Cherry-Evans had the potential to make or break his Origin coaching career.
It was one of several selection calls which divided pundits, yet each proved effective.
Capewell was inspirational, scoring a try and coming up with several bruising hits, one that forced an error from Payne Haas while pinned on Queenslandโs line with 90 seconds remaining.
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Trent Loieroโs shift to lock was rewarded with 41 tackles despite leaving the field at one stage for a head injury assessment.
Tabuai-Fidow returned to his try-scoring ways on the wing, crossing twice, Kurt Mannโs debut off the bench yielded a try assist, and Moeaki Fotuaika overcame a poor game one to set a palpable platform in his opening stint.
But at the heart of the performance, particularly as they defended for the majority of the second half, was a desire to play for Slater, who had the pressure on him intensified following an emotional pre-game press conference.
Munster insisted he did not need to galvanise his playing group to put their heart on their sleeves for Slater. They already knew they needed to fight for the former Melbourne Storm champion.
โWhen youโve got jabs or blokes in the media having a go at your coach, at the end of the day, heโs our coach, and heโs done everything he can to tick the boxes for us,โ Munster said.
โWe didnโt perform for him in game one, and he got a lot of slack for it and stuff in the media, and he didnโt deserve it. When you have someone jab at him like that it really hurts, it hurts me personally.
โI never tell him that, Iโm telling him now โ I love him, and I just want to do the best thing for Queensland and the best thing for him. Heโs not doing this for him, heโs doing this for Queensland.
โWhen you have someone like that at the top of the helm, you just want to play for him.โ
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