Dearden is the right No.7 for Maroons. But these numbers are terrifying for a halfback

Sydney Morning Herald

a day ago

Wearing the No.7 in 35 games, Dearden has lost 26 of them. That's a win percentage of just 26 per cent.
Of course, the asterisk to that is the majority of those matches came at the Broncos, when they finished with the wooden spoon in 2020, and the Cowboys a year later, when they came second last.
Dearden has grown like nothing else since then when he had so much unfair pressure on him as a young halfback, but my point is there's a lot of pressure coming again in the Origin arena.
Particularly given the way Queensland's middle forwards were completely destroyed in game one. Payne Haas, Isaah Yeo and Mitch Barnett just rolled right through the Maroons, and then Zac Lomax and Brian To'o did the same from dummy-half.
Queensland's halves were stuck on the back foot pretty much from the first play of the game. And from the bench, NSW had far more impact as well in Connor Watson, Spencer Leniu and Hudson Young.
Young, especially, I thought coming on as a middle was a real point of difference. He brought unorthodox running lines and offloads after contact – exactly what you want from your bench.
If Queensland can't contain the Blues' yardage game, they could lose the series in Perth and have a cricket score put on them, too. NSW have already won the two Origins played in WA by 32 points each (38-6 in 2019 and 44-12 in 2022).
For Queensland's spine, they need something like a platform from their forwards that they just didn't have in game one, but they also need to get on the same page.
If Harry Grant takes off for dummy-half, Dearden and Munster need to be right there with him pushing up around the ruck. He needs more support.
Kalyn Ponga also needs to be looking for the footy and be brought into play by his halves. Ponga saw no ball at all in Origin I, and neither his nor Munster's running games were a factor at all.
But with talk of wet weather, the long kicking games of Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses, and then the Blues dominant yardage game, this is such a big test for Queensland. And their new No. 7.
Half measures: how do you spark the Sharks spine?
In similar fashion, the Dragons and Sharks are coming off big losses – St George Illawarra were pumped by the Dolphins and Cronulla lost by 26 points to the Roosters and 30 to Warriors at home.
For the Warriors to thump them on their home track, beating the Sharks at the effort areas that are built into Cronulla's DNA, would have driven Craig Fitzgibbon absolutely mad.
With no Origin players, this is the time of the year the Sharks should be banking those wins that have shored up their top four spot in previous seasons.
Consider the draws for both sides. After Thursday's clash, the Dragons have the bye and then Parramatta (home) and Canberra (away). The Sharks have Brisbane (away), Storm (away) and then the bye. These are both tricky periods that will only get tougher for whoever loses this one.
For mine, Cronulla need to attack more out of dummy-half – and that could be as simple as Blayke Brailey really upping his run threat.
Last year when Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall were both out injured, the Sharks pulled off a 25-18 upset win over the Storm in Melbourne – which is unheard of for a lot of teams.
Brailey was named at halfback but played hooker, and he ran all night with Daniel Atkinson coming into the halves and really supporting him around the ruck.
Does Atkinson need to come into this Sharks side again for Nicho or Trindall? I don't know what their best spine looks like, but Atkinson definitely straightens their attack up and gets Cronulla going forward.
For Dragons fans, it's tough to hear, but there really are some good young players coming through if they can stay patient.
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Dylan Egan is out with a ruptured ACL, but he, the Couchman twins Ryan and Toby, and Hamish Stewart are all local juniors and guys you can build a forward pack around.
The big front-rower Loko Pasifiki Tonga, he will take a few years, but he already looks like a topline player up front. So too their young five-eighth Lyhkan King-Togia.
But again, with rain forecast, I think the wet weather footy suits Cronulla, – especially with the dummy-half running they get from wingers Sione Katoa and Ronaldo Mulitalo. The blueprint tomorrow? Complete high. Kick early and tackle everything that moves. Win ugly.
Joey's tip: Sharks by 10