- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
How many NSW players would it be the end for at State of Origin level if the Blues lost to Queensland on Wednesday night?
Robbie Farah, at 32, would surely be in the firing line. Greg Bird, another player who is in his 30s and has been going around at this level for a long time now, would have to be on the edge as well.
Paul Gallen, the oldest player in the team, would appear an obvious candidate, but knowing what Blues coach Laurie Daley and the powerbrokers at the NSWRL are like they would be very tempted to still give the captain a farewell in Game 3 back in Sydney.
Personally, if NSW did lose Game 2 I reckon that would be the time to make the cut on Gallen.
Question mark over Blake Ferguson. Ditto Michael Jennings. It would depend on what sort of game it was, whether it was highly competitive or a blow-out, and how they went.
Dylan Walker is lucky to be in the team in the first place, but given that he is young he could survive a loss as long as he didn’t have a bad game.
The halves, James Maloney and Adam Reynolds? Again, it would depend on what sort of game it was and how they went. It would probably take a lot to go wrong for either to be dropped.
Daley himself would obviously see the series out if the Blues lost Game 2 on top of being beaten in the opening game, but surely he would be at risk of not keeping the job for next year. Particularly if it ended up a series whitewash.
It has been well documented Daley has a contract to coach the Blues again next year, but defeat this year would make it three series losses in four years as coach for him.
There was a recent suggestion in the media that Daley was guaranteed to keep his job regardless of the result of the series, but I still haven’t seen any NSWRL powerbrokers come out and say that publicly.
James Tedesco should have been picked as NSW fullback for Game 2 since he was back and playing well after recovering from the injury that made him unavailable for Game 1, but Matt Moylan held the spot.
I’d like to see Tedesco there for Game 3 regardless of the result of the second game, although if the Blues win and Moylan plays well I can accept that possibility as being unlikely.
But my wish to see Tedesco there isn’t meant as a criticism of Moylan, whom I’m a fan of as well. I prefer Tedesco as fullback, but hope to see the day when they are both in the NSW squad.
The enforced change to the NSW side caused by the injury to centre Josh Morris probably improves their chances of winning Game 2.
Not because they’re better off without Morris, but because it gets Jack Bird into the 17-man squad on the bench.
Bird is going to be easier for Daley to get into the game than it was for him to get Walker into Game 1 off the bench.
Walker may have played a bit of five-eighth, but he’s a centre. Even at Cronulla they still haven’t figured out what Bird’s best position is yet. He’s just a terrific footballer and could come on in the back-row, the halves or at centre if necessary.
Bird would be much better at filling the roving role Craig Wing used to perform off the bench for NSW, if that’s how Daley wants to use him.
Walker is much better off at centre. He’s more likely than Morris to score a try off a half-chance and NSW are probably going to have to come up with a minimum of 20 points at Suncorp Stadium to be a chance of winning.
Regardless of what the Blues do, though, it’s still unlikely to be enough. Queensland to win.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.