Billy Moore a big fan of Maroons pack - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Billy Moore a big fan of Maroons pack

By Wayne Heming 23/06/2009 06:25:28 PM Comments (0)

Billy Moore, the player best remembered for his bellowing "Queenslander" call during the 1995 State of Origin clashes, believes Mal Meninga's current forward pack may be the best balanced in the history of the series.

Moore - one half of Queensland's dynamic back-row with Gary Larson during the 1990s - believes a desperate NSW will struggle to find a way through the middle on Wednesday night against a pack which has few if any weaknesses.

"They've got the two best yard getters (Steve Price and Petero Civoniceva) arguably in Queensland's history," Moore told AAP on Tuesday.

"You've got one of the smartest dummy halves ever in Cameron Smith, there's really not much between him and Steve Walters.

"Then you've got a back-row of Dallas Johnson, who's Gary Larson-like who'll do 40 tackles every game, an impact player in (Sam) Thaiday who plays like a (Gorden) Tallis and a ball player in Ashley Harrison who camps on either side of the ruck like a five-eighth.

"Add the toughness of (Michael) Crocker and Nate Myles and it's a complete group.

"On paper it's just a magnificently balanced back-row of players who collectively as a unit are arguably the best scrum we've got together, ever."

Official statistics from Origin I reveal NSW went easy on Queensland's backs in Melbourne, forcing them to make just 45 tackles and only 20 at skipper Darren Lockyer who made 13 of them.

They opted to direct most of the efforts into attempting to crack the Maroons up the middle.

By comparison Queensland took the ball wide at every opportunity, forcing the Blues' backs to make almost 100 tackles.

Moore, who played over 200 premiership games for North Sydney, played his 17 Origins in the 1990s alongside "Larson, forming one of Queensland's best ever defensive partnerships.

In one Origin series the pair averaged more than 90 tackles a game in the back-row.

Moore said on Tuesday if NSW adopted similar tactics and took Queensland on up the middle it could result in an historic fourth straight Origin series win for the Maroons.

"It's a pretty good forward pack, I don't know where NSW are going to get them," said Moore.

"But the thing about Origin is you never say never and you never give a sucker an even break."

Moore had a word of warning though for the Queensland pack he rates so highly, don't count on the backs to win the game.

"Everyone talks about the backs and they are fantastic, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"But if they don't have room to operate, they won't fire a shot."

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