If perfect sporting situations exist, I think last night's second Origin game at the MCG in Melbourne gave us just that. There were many questions asked before the game about how Melbourne would respond and as with every game taken outside of New South Wales or Queensland, whether it's actually beneficial to the game. Well, that was answered rather emphatically with a huge crowd and an intense atmosphere but also with what we saw from the players.

It was a pulsating game with both teams eager to shift wide early while the usual dose of big body contact was there as well. In a very broad sense, NSW fixed a lot of their problems from game one with blokes like Mitchell Pearce, Michael Jennings and Boyd Cordner having a far greater impact on the game.

The aggression and intensity from NSW set the tone for a tough night for the Maroons. Aaron Woods and James Tamou were immense, they are both extremely hard to tackle and if you do manage to wrap them up, they still pose a threat with offloads and can still creep forward. I love their subtlety as well, little bits of footwork, nice shifts wider and they were always in the right position to either run a decoy or cart the ball forward.

It must be reasonably shit to work so hard to contain those two and then have to deal with David Klemmer as well who came off the bench and was equally as impressive as the starters. There's something about Klemmer, I think it's that he simply doesn't give a fuck, he just runs hard and hopes for the best which usually works out pretty well for him thanks to his size. QLD, when playing well dominate the ruck and pile bodies into the tackle to slow things down but last night they struggled to put Woods, Tamou and Klemmer on their backs.

Trent Hodkinson didn't vastly improve on his game one effort, but he did keep his game extremely simple. Instead of overplaying his hand and trying to create opportunities when they were quite there, Hodkinson did consistently get into first receiver and shovel the ball on to the right person who was in the right spot. I think Hodkinson deserves some low key praise, he didn't do anything outlandish, but he did get his outside men, whether it was Pearce or Jennings or Dugan sweeping around the back, Hodkinson made good, sound decisions.

Niggle was the talk of the day, but NSW didn't do much differently in this department. They were however, far more intense. While uncertainty, in-decision and a lack of trust in each other hindered their attack in game one, everything they did in game two had a purpose and was matched with precision execution.

Whereas Hodkinson played his hand nicely, allowing Pearce a bit more freedom, Daly Cherry-Evans had a tough night in the number 7 jersey for QLD. When the Maroons had set up for a shift out wide with the backline nicely organised, blokes lining up ready to hit their assignment, DCE at first receiver decided to run the ball more often than not.

Granted, DCE could have felt pressure from the outside or from the ruck, but compared to Hodkinson who would just do what was required of him, DCE was caught trying to do to much. I said in my preview that the memory of game two last year was lingering in my mind, where QLD's attack was disjointed and didn't have the same sharpness as it did with Cooper Cronk partnering Jonathan Thurston. It was the same case this time around and you can definitely portion a fair chunk of the blame on the common factor - DCE.

Another similarity from last year's struggles for QLD was how they allowed NSW to dominate the middle off the field, not hugely, but just enough. Whether it's the older legs of the likes of Nate Myles, Matt Scott and Corey Parker or their lack of size, or maybe a combination of both, the Maroons weren't able to roll down the field and put in some sort of attacking kick or get a repeat set. Nor were they able to take the game physically to NSW's big boys as it felt like the Blues forwards were able to do as they pleased for the majority of the game.

NSW lacked some x-factor in game one and the Maroons suffered in not having some sort of mongrel in their forward pack. Mongrel can double as x-factor and after Woods scored his try in the second half, the Maroons didn't have a forward who they could call on to turn on BeastMode; put a shot on or make a 15 metre carry. We'll see what they do with their squad for game three, but I'd love to see Dylan Napa given a run to ruffle feathers when the Maroons needed to.

The Maroons won game one thanks to their ability to close a game out. They had a four point lead in the second half at 18-14, but they weren't able to repeat their effort from game one in keeping the Blues down their own end. Woods scored, then came the forward pass to Pearce which resulted in QLD turning the ball over as Inglis tried to pass back in-field, then Inglis' try was ruled out and NSW got the ball back 10 metres out from QLD's tryline and Dugan scored as NSW ran the ball on the 5th tackle.

It's hard to say that QLD failed to close the game out because NSW found a head of steam, they created some momentum and turned that into possession, territory, points and the win.

There were positives for QLD, these teams are very even and the Maroons were slightly off their game which is enough to swing things the other way. Inglis was fantastic and was the most involved I've ever seen him in the Origin arena. It's an ominous sign as it looks like Mal Meninga has finally figured out how to best use Inglis.

Thurston was also exceptional, he tried valiantly to spark his team into action and while we didn't really see his skill, we were shown time and time again what a little ripper he is.

Unfortunately though, the same cohesion that gave the Maroons the win in game one appeared to have jumped ship. NSW were the team who were in sync, running off of each other and putting pressure defensively on QLD. It really is perfectly poised as QLD fired a shot at NSW in game one and NSW returned fire last night, we now head to Brisbane.