Here’s an idea to spice up next month’s State of Origin dead rubber: Queensland should field a B team in Brisbane. That ought to breath fresh life into the series.
Seriously, the Maroons are so utterly dominant, with half the team sick – and the Blues so out of their league – that they’d probably still win.
Talk about an embarrassment of riches.
Queensland have so much class at their disposal that, in addition to already possessing an all-Australian backline, save for the injury-enforced withdrawal of Justin Hodges on Wednesday night, they could field a second-string side complete with Test, Origin or premiership-winning stars.
Consider this for a line-up, comprising only players who sat out the series-clinching game two at ANZ Stadium: Matt Bowen, Wendell Sailor, Brent Tate, Justin Hodges, Shane Walker, Scott Prince, Cooper Cronk, Carl Webb, Matt Ballin, Antonio Kaufusi, Corey Parker, Neville Costigan, David Stagg.
Bench: Rhys Wesser, Mat Rogers, Jacob Lillyman and Shane Tronc.
There’d still be some unlucky omissions.
No room for the likes of Ty Williams, PJ Marsh and Brad Meyers, all players who have been there, done that and still doing well enough for their NRL clubs to be worthy of consideration for a recall.
The Blues, on the other hand, don’t look like winning a series even with their A team.
Pardon the pun, but Blues selectors are at sixes and sevens. They don’t know who to pick.
While Queensland have had the luxury of using just five halves – Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer, Karmichael Hunt, Prince and Cronk during their four-year reign, NSW have tried and mostly failed with 10 different halves.
Yet Matt Orford, the reigning Dally M Medallist and leading NSW halfback in this year’s poll, has not been one of them.
And Brett Kimmorley, arguably the competition’s form player having transformed the Bulldogs from wooden spooners to league leaders, cannot get a look in either.
As if the talented Maroons are not enough to deal with, the Blues are having to contend with their very own selectors as well.
It’s panic stations in the selection room.
Laurie Daley, Bob Fulton, Geoff Gerard and chairman Bob McCarthy seem to have one eye on the future and the other on the now.
They don’t know whether they are picking a team to win this year’s series or trying to rebuild for the years ahead.
The first thing McCarthy and co. need to do is work out exactly what they are trying to achieve and stop dilly dallying and using more combinations than Israel Folau and Greg Inglis score tries.
It should be pretty simple.
With this year’s series gone, they must look to next year.
And that involves identifying the best young players, playing them at Suncorp Stadium on July 15 and sticking with them, come what may, for games one, two and three in 2010.
If they still lose, Blues selectors may have to face up to the fact that the all-conquering Maroons are a once-in-a-generation dream team and simply too good for the best NSW has to offer.
Surely building some cohesion and camaraderie, even in defeat, would be a better option than continuing to shatter the confidence of one-game wonders like Jarrod Mullen, Terry Campese and Mitchell Pearce.
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