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GURU: My Blues - The 'mongrel mob'

18th April, 2014
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Greg Bird may have played his last game. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Grant Trouville)
Expert
18th April, 2014
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2353 Reads

It’s almost that time of year: State of Origin.

The talk about who will be chosen to wear the recently downtrodden sky blue jumper is coming in thick and fast.

I want to talk about the type of blokes I’d pick if I was a selector for the Blues.

They’re not necessarily the NRL’s most naturally gifted, or even always in form right now. But those who have an Origin mentality should, in my opinion, should be picked for this year’s State of Origin series before anyone else.

Yep, I’m talking about a genuine ‘Mongrel Mob’.

We’ve tried everything else for crying out loud! So I reckon, this year, we forget about current form, forget about the big names, and forget everything and anything other than selecting a bunch of absolute mongrels!

Obviously, we need some smarts in our pivotal roles, but this year, I’d be more inclined to pick a bloke with a little less upstairs and a whole lot more under the bonnet.

It’s time the Blues selectors rattled the cage, and did a U-turn on the selection strategies they’ve run with over the last eight years.

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The first bloke I’d pick? Josh Reynolds at five-eighth. He typifies Origin. He’s tenacious, gritty, and a relentless competitor for the full 80 minutes, every single week.

I’d select Nathan Peats at nine. Yes, before any other hooker in our game. He’s a mongrel. The type of mongrel us Blue Bloods have been missing in recent history.

An obvious choice would be good old Gregory Bird. Always and forever up for the tough stuff.

I believe these three were born with a mongrel gene that 90 per cent of other humans were not.

I understand that not all players are born with this mongrel gene as part of their make up, but I do believe that it’s highly contagious. It will almost certainly rub off on a bloke when he’s surrounded by those who ooze it.

The above three blokes will infect the entire team with their contagious enthusiasm. I think it’s a great spine to start building a Blues team upon.

The NSW selectors absolutely have to start picking players who other players hate to play against.

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Selectors: please stop picking players on a bit of current form or on their names alone. Suss out the NRL’s toughest, most tenacious, super competitive and arrogantly confident bunch of rough heads, and give them a shot in an arena where anything less just simply won’t do.

I need you guys to play the role of the selector. Who’s in your top 17 ‘Mongrel Mob’ for the 2014 State Of Origin series?

Eric Grothe Jr plays wing with the Cronulla Sharks this season in the National Rugby League, having previously played with the Eels and the Sydney Roosters. He has has also represented New South Wales, Australia and City, and has scored 67 first grade tries.

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