On this edition of The Almanack Report, State of Origin II saw any thoughts of a dead rubber third game thrown out the window (to the audible sighs of Channel 9 and the NRL) with the Blues being able to turn around their performance from game one and get up for a victory on their second home turf at Optus Stadium in Perth. And through the twists and turns of the match, the positives and the negatives, the controversy and the conquest, viewers once again had to put up with the chosen few of the Channel 9 commentary team, and suffer through their supposedly unbiased angles of the game. And perhaps I am the one who is biased (not the first time I've been accused of it) but there are a few things to bring up and discuss when it comes to the ignominy of being rated as an 'expert' commentator.

Beyond that, the game had its own stars and moments, and it would be remiss of us not to mention a few of them and give them their moment in the sun.

That's coming up on The Almanack Report, on the podcast that is far less negative than a conversation with Phil Gould, Thoughts From the Metal Cavern.