Selecting a winning Blues squad for 2011

shame for carney's absence but this is my team as of 29/4/2011 1. ** J. Dugan (canberra raiders) 2. B. Morris (St. George Illawarra Dragons) 3. M. Gaznier (" ") 4. J. Morris (Canterbury/Bankstown bulldogs) 5. A. Quinn (Melbourne Storm) 6. J. Soward (St. George Illawarra Dragons) 7. M. Pearce (Sydney Roosters) 8. M. Weyman (St george illawarra Dragons) 9. M. Ennis (Canterbury Bulldogs) 10. K Snowden (Cronulla/Sutherland Sharks) 11. N. Hindmarsh (Parramatta Eels) 12. B. Creagh (St. George Illawarra Dragons) 13. P. Gallen (c) (Cronulla/Sutherland Sharks) Interchange: D. Young (St george illawarra dragons) T. Leroyd Lahrs (Canberra Raiders) A. Tolman (Canterbury Bulldogs) K. Gidley (Newcastle knights) and R. Farrah (wests tigers) as 18th man **lack of Hayne due to injury, but he would be chosen as a priority to josh dugan at number 1

my blues squad is awesome this will do it! aku is elegible now! brett got picked and josh didnt in 2010, so josh deserves to get picked and brett doesnt in 2011. 1. Jarryd Hayne 2.Michael Gordon (goal kicker) 3. Josh Morris 4. Michael Jennings 5. Akuila Uate 6. Jamie Soward/Todd Carney/Jarrod Mullen (Playmakers?) 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Kade Snowden 9. Robbie Farah 10.Michael Weyman 11. Nathan Hindmarsh 12.Ben Creagh/Glenn Stewart 13. Anthony Watmough Interchange: 14. Kurt Gidley (captain) 15. Jamal Idris 16. Luke Lewis 17. Brett White 18th man. Mark Gasnier this is the squad to say bye bye to the maroons! Captain is kurt gidley goal kickers michael gordon/todd carney playmakers jarrod mullen/todd carney/jamie soward/mitchell pearce.

Jarryd Hayne and Jamie Soward should be there...

Pretty close to the mark. Except Gallen in the starting line-up instead of watmough and maybe even minnichello in the side instead of lewis with lewis on to the bench. Hindmarsh has to be in there as well, but I also believe we have too many forwards on on bench at times, have two speedy, fit utility backs on the bench to come and wreak havoc at different times - anybody but please not Kidley Gidley!!!!! He should really be lucky to make the Stratford Wanderers third grade side after his form in recent times....

Did he make in meters? he hardly has a impact Douglas, King are actual go forwards

Some very good points raised, Hayne should be persevered with at full back, (Don't like the man but he is a good attacking full back.), Morris twins should be selected and your thoughts on Props and forwards is as good as I have seen, We have to get rid of this 'bashem off the field" mentality, it is winning games for Queensland!, from what I saw on Wednesday Queensland won the 'bash' as well. and SOWARD, What does HE have to do to convince people that he can turn a game!. Yeah Inglis knocked him flying two year ago, I haven't seen him do it since and I have seen him dish out the same treatment to many players. give the guy a go!!!!..

Agree totally

Please NO, Gasnier is another vintage NSW player, he is injury prone and not as technically good as Jamie Lyon.......

There's a few too many old heads in that mix for my liking, too many blokes who think grubby play will win games, arguably the two most erratic halves in the game, and not enough front rowers. I think the the front row is one area where NSW should be able to match QLD, as we've got some great young prospects. QLD have done well in establishing Matt Scott and Dave Shillington as Price and Civoniceva's successors, but we've got Aiden Tolman, Tim Mannah, Tim Grant, Kade Snowden and Luke Douglas, and potentially they've all got 10 years in them. And as you've pointed out, Dan Hunt is in the mix as well, when fit. So god knows why we're persisting with King, Perry and White. Weyman hasn't been bad, but given his injury history I'd be inclined to look elsewhere just for the reliability. We also hear constant praise for NSW's great pool of back rowers, but I don't think Gallen, Bird and Watmough should be allowed anywhere near the side until the prove they can knuckle down and get the job done without the niggles and fumbles. Laffranchi is a better option, but he's also pushing 30. If we're going to look to experience, Nathan Hindmarsh is the right man for it. He's got plenty of Origin footy under his belt, is still an 80 minutes player, captain material and loved by everyone. He should be retained along with Learoyd-Lahrs, and to throw some more young blood into the mix, Cory Paterson and Mitch Aubusson wouldn't disappoint. At lock, Shaun Fensom is the future. He's very much the same sort of player as Alan Tongue, Dallas Johnson or Ashley Harrison, but has a bit more bulk and would really help to clean up around the ruck. Halfback presents a very real problem, but there's a handful of five-eighths who deserve their chance. Both Sutton and Campese can be a bit rocks or diamonds, but are exceptional on their day. Soward has more consistency to his performances, but that's as part of a team who prides itself on consistency. It's hard to know just how well he'll travel in big games, especially since the Dragons as a whole seem to crumple under pressure, but there's no reason why we can't give him a shot. He couldn't be any worse than the string of lock forwards and centres we've run there since Fittler retired. At the back we're again spoiled for choice. Hayne is capable of very special things and has proven himself at this level, but Josh Dugan is a better fit for the fullback position and at 20, could make the position his own for the next 10-15 years. On the wings we've got the Morris twins, Aku Uate when he's eligible, Jarryd Hayne, or if we want to throw some experience in there, Luke Burt or Nathan Merritt. In the centres, I think we really need to move away from this defensive bias. It's clearly not working. So lets get some attackers. Beau Champion, Chris Lawrence or Joel Thompson have all been very good at club level this year. Jamal Idris is another bloke who could make a very good Origin centre once he irons out a few kinks. Jennings has his fans, but I don't think he's cut out for Origin due to his tendency to be lazy off the ball. In short, we just need to look to our talented young blokes, not the same jaded old campaigners who have been there for the last five series losses. Our only real gap is halfback, and that's only down to a lack of experience. There's about four or five blokes in their early twenties in Pearce, Walsh, Maloney, Mortimer and Hodkinson who could all mature into very good halves - and a bloke I'd have ahead of all of them if he was fit in Tim Moltzen.

Weyman is the best prop in NSW - was their best in game one and had a reasonable game two. Who would you have instead? Perry? White? I havent seen those guys do anything on a football field for a long time.

True.... every word!!!!!

Whilstever NSWRL chooses to pick thugs to try to upset QLD and win by intimidation and not matching it with skills so rare by comparison, they deserve to lose and will continue to do so. Prior to the SOO 1 the comments by the NSW current coach about the possibilities of a flare-up were obviously what he hoped for and intented to be intimidatory. Incidently, Ghoulish Gould and Yester-Daley are not the answers as replacement coaches.

Lost me at Weyman...

On what basis are Weyman and Gallen there - I love the argument that Gould et. al say that Gallen is built for Origin, what has he achieved, the bloke is basically a grub and a thug.

So to win we take out our best player, select a rookie fullback, pick someone who doesn't care in Lyon, kick Hindmarsh out for Laffranchi for some reason, and have three backrowers on the bench like we did last time? How will that work?

Gasnier will be back, and take Lyon's spot in the centres

I agree with the overhaul. I think you need 2 props on the bench and i'd find a place for hindmarsh in the pack.