MEN’S 30’S GAME 1 NSW 9 DEFEATED QLD 8 GAME 2 NSW 7 DEFEATED QLD 11 GAME 3 NSW 3 DEFEATED BY QLD 6 SERIES WINNERS: QLD A hard fought contest for NSW on day 2 and unfortunately the Men’s 30s couldn’t bring it home in Games 2 or 3. “We gave it our absolute all but Queensland is a fantastic side, very physical and determined,” said Coach Jason Martin. “I’m super proud of the boys because they really gave it their all out there.” WOMEN’S 35’S GAME 1 NSW 3 DEFEATED BY QLD 4 GAME 2 NSW 3 DEFEATED QLD 1 GAME 3 NSW 6 DEFEATED QLD 0 SERIES WINNERS: NSW PLAYER OF THE SERIES: KYLIE STEWART, NSW Women’s 35 Coach Glen Flanagan said not much changed from Game 2 going into their decider against Queensland. “We didn’t start well last night in Game 1 we knew we didn’t need to change much it was just a little bit flat, but when you have such quality players powering through the middle it is hard to stop,” said Glen Flanagan. “Every player from 1 to 14 was just brilliant out there and the guts and determination they showed was outstanding.” The NSW Women’s 35s took out their division 2-1 with a convincing Game 3 score line of 6-0. MEN’S 20’S GAME 1 NSW 2 DEFEATED BY QLD 4 NSW 5 DEFEATED QLD 9 NSW 4 DEFEATED QLD 5 SERIES WINNERS: QLD Coach Dave Nolan was super proud of the effort from the boys; even though they went down in all 3 games. “Game 1 we were super passionate and probably lacked a little bit of smarts. Whilst Game 2 was the opposite where we lacked the passion but were a lot smarter,” said Dave Nolan. “I think those two converged there in the third game but we did make some silly errors and that really hurt us.” Despite the results throughout the series Nolan was incredibly proud of the boys and the results weren’t reflective of their performance and attitude during the series. “This Touch Football calendar has been very packed for the boys, matching with players from all over the state was difficult but the guys we had certainly did us proud,” said Dave Nolan. WOMEN’S 20’S GAME 1 NSW 7 DEFEATED QLD 3 NSW 3 DEFEATED BY QLD 6 NSW 5 DEFEATED QLD 3 SERIES WINNERS: NSW PLAYER OF THE SERIES: BRITTNEY CLIFFORD, NSW Game 3 was a tough contest, but the NSW Women’s 20’s team kept a cool head, stuck to their game plan and took out the series 2-1. Everything Assistant Coach Matt Scranage said after Game 2 was put into action and he couldn’t be prouder. “I am stoked with that performance,” said Matt Scranage. “We stuck to our structures and got the series win.” WOMEN’S 30’S GAME 1 NSW 8 DEFEATED QLD 5 NSW 10 DEFEATED BY QLD 11 NSW 2 DEFEATED QLD 6 SERIES WINNERS: QLD Coach John Dalton says not much changed going into Game 3 and series decider. “Game 2 was a close game but we need to fix a few things in defence obviously given we let in 11 tries which isn’t good enough and won’t win us game 3,” said John Dalton. The decider was another closely contested game. “It was such a cracking series and a credit to Queensland, they came out hard and we just had to defend too many sets of 6 in the end, but an absolute credit to the girls they busted their backsides off and were very good.” MIXED OPEN GAME 1 NSW 8 DEFEATED BY QLD 9 GAME 2 NSW 7 DEFEATED QLD 6 GAME 3 NSW 7 DEFEATED QLD 5 SERIES WINNERS: NSW PLAYER OF THE SERIES: DYLAN THOMPSON, NSW Coach Manu Wakely is the king of video analysis and that homework is exactly what he relied on to secure a Game 2 victory. “We analysed QLD’s attack and defence, which resulted in us making some adjustments accordingly and I think we utilised our players skill set a bit better,” said Manu Wakely. “They’re always going to be a tough hit out against Queensland but what we are going to do is try and get as many variables in place to help us win by 1 or 2 in that final game.” NSW Mixed Open cruised through Game 3 rarely faulting to a face paced Queensland offence. “We learnt a lot from Game 1, progressed it for Game 2 and corrected again for Game 3. That is what secured the series for us,” said Coach Wakley. NSW wins back the Mixed Open State of Origin crown following a three-cycle drought. 26 | Keeping In Touch 2018