NSW Blues yet to find recipe for Origin success

Bravo Mr Fowler

Some interesting insights, Thomas. I'm keen to hear more.

This is my favourite topic to discuss, we may not be winning (we will) but at least we get to discuss our team. It must be boring this time of year for a queenslander. I live in both states FIFO and the paper in QLD barely even talks about origin team it's so much more exciting reading the Sydney paper. My team 1. B.Stuart 2. B.Morris 3. J.Morris (good to have twins work together 4. Hayne (I don't rate Jennings as an origin player) 5. Uate 6. Carney 7. Pearce 8. Gallen 9. I still like bederus solid and wil get the job done Farrah is not origin tough Ennis out of form 10. Weyman solid origin performer no frills 11. Bird 12. Watmough 13. G.Stuart 14. Hinchcliffe 15. Tamou 16. Sims 17. Williams if fit or for origin 2 creagh is a solid origin performer

Where is Hayne???

MATE THAT IS A GOOD SELECTION FOR ALL THE BLUES SUPPORTERS BUT S FOR ME I AM A MAROONS DIE HARD SUPPORTER SO I RECKON THAT BLUES NEED TO PLAY STRONG TO MAKE THE GAME MORE LIVE.

The Blues squad is starting to take shape, I think there 9 or so positions already settled barring injury. I think the reason Soward has been discarded is Suart wanted Carney last year but Carney was not in the right head space for club footy let alone Origin but this year is different. Qld will be favourites to win again but i am sure the Blues are quietly confident. 1. B Stewart,2. Morris.3Morris.4Jennings.5. Uate.6.Carney.7.Pearce. 8. Gallen. 9?. 10. Tamou. 11. G.Stewart. 12?. 13. Lewis

I do not think that Farah is tough enough for origin he might spend more time off the field than on it, and smith will make him look like a fool. Also, G.Stewart/Watmough 17th and 18th man is a bit of a joke and Tony Williams is a risk. Tim Mannah has been average at best at origin level, in game 3 last year he was worse then Jason King. Lastly, Hoffman is not as good as G.Stewart/Watmough and picking Minichello over Brett Stewart is questionable.

This is what I reckon will be the best team for NSW against the Maroons this year. Would love to hear thoughts back on the team I have selected. 1. Minichello (Great series last year, has proven he's an Origin player) 2. Uate (Obvious) 3. Jennings 4. Morris (Just edges out Leiluia/King for me, not too big on Lawrence being there) 5. Hayne (Needs to be in the side somewhere, I think he's most suited on the wing for Origin) 6. Carney (I think he's the thing NSW has been lacking for some time) 7. Pearce (Good form, and I don't see Peter Wallace as an Origin player) 8. Gallen (Obvious) 9. Farah (A week earlier I would have said Buderus but he's not 100% and I liked Farah/Pearce's combination in City v. Country) 10. Tamou (Solid in the Test Match, if not starting definitely somewhere on the bench) 11. Bird (Need some mongrel in the starting line-up) 12. Hoffman (Always great on the rep stage, we also need some Storm mobility in the pack) 13. Lewis (Obvious) 14. Ennis (Is the incumbent hooker, and still believe he should be in the squad. People may=say we need more of a utility player but with Lewis in the squad we have an option if one of the halves are injured) 15. Williams/Sims (One of these two can be a huge factor in NSW's bid to win. Both big impact players who could play a huge role off the bench) 16. Mannah (2nd best prop behind Gallen in NSW) 17. G.Stewart/Watmough (One of them, really like the idea of Sims or Williams which cancels out one of these 2 Manly players) 18th man: Watmough/G.Stewart (One of those 2 players. Really am undecided as to who I'd have over the other at this stage) Others who just miss out: Creagh Mateo Weyman Merrin Galloway Morris Dugan

That's the problem for NSW over the years-chopping and changing the team whereas Queensland stuck with the 'tried and true' brigdade that has served the Maroons so well in past Origin campaigns. For example, in the mid 1980s, Parramatta's Peter Sterling would play a couple of games for NSW at halfback, then Steve Mortimer would play a couple, but Mark Murray was always the Queensland halfback, until the arrival of Allan Langer.

The best recipe would be to pick the best players and go and win the series...Keep P Gallen, L Lewis, A Watmough, G Stewart and G Bird in the forwards and add J Tamou, T Williams, R Farrah and either T Sims or R Hinchcliffe and Keep M Pearce, M Jennings, J Hayne, A Uate and B Morris in the backs and just add B Stewart, T Carney and possibly J Morris at the expense of someone and there you go. Problem solved and I don't see how that would stray too far from the foundations set last year when the series was taken to a decider and the final points tally for both teams was QLD 58 NSW 54.

So tell me why he did not give Jamie Soward an opportunity to prove his position in the Country game when he is the incumbent 5/8. What do you think Jamie would feel if Ricky is signalling a change is needed by trialling Jarrod Hayne?

It seems a bit strange to say that Rick Stuart is 'undermining players confidence' when he hasn't actually selected the side yet. As far as I know he hasn't actually done anything.

Gee, not many replies on here for you Thomas, looks like everyone down south is struggling to find the recipe for Origin success, whats it been? 6 years now going onto 7. Its alright mate, i have a answer to help NSW out, move Gallen from front row to Utility on the bench. ? Why not, Ricky seems to think he can play frontrow, why not have him as utilty, or even better, maybe halfaback. :0 :) Good old pick and sticky Ricky. Wonder who he has lined up at Hooker now Bud is out, surely Ennis and Farrer will be happy to know their second best is now good enough. :) Oh Ricky, what a tangled web we weave.

There is a lot of debate to what constitutes an Origin player and this is where the problem lies for NSW. Some say there is no such thing but I disagree, it is another level to club football Basically, it is a player that can go full speed for 80 minutes, has all the skills in both attack and defence, can read the play, gel with his team, willing to go that extra mile and lay his body on the line no matter how much it hurts. On top of that he has to be mistake free and does not give away penalties, all which is a tall order. In other words the player has to win, no matter what, within the true spirit of the game. NSW has those sorts of players yet we are so quick to discard them, especially if they are getting older. Luke Bailey is a typical example! He is still one of the best forwards in the NRL, he has played Origin, and our forwards in previous games have gone backwards. So you use him as the yard stick for the forwards and ask yourself, armed with facts and figures and not emotion, who is it that is doing better than him. Luke Lewis, an Origin player, has played ½ back and won man of match awards in that role including as 5/8. So you use him as the yardstick, weighing up all the stats and how you can best utilise him. If you have no one that measures to his standard then you use him as ½ back, it is that simple. Who is better and why? Not playing ½ back for so long may be against him but not if there is no one better. For example, the current incumbent Mitchell Pearce or Luke Lewis as ½ back. On emotion, I would go for Lewis; I know he can do more. Facts may say different! Todd Carney may offer more than both? So many are calling out, for Josh Dugan to be fullback as opposed to Anthony Minichiello, Brett Stewart and Jarrod Hayne. Let the facts and figures speak for themselves and keep the emotion out of it. Certainly he should have to prove himself with statistics before he can go in front of these three players alone. So far he cannot play in the NRL without getting constantly injured; Origin is even harder so I would say on that his stats should rule him out. I disagree about players being out of position. It all depends as to how you can strengthen a team. For example, Jarrod Hayne best position is fullback without a doubt. Yet NSW origin could be better strengthened by Brett Stewart at fullback and Jarrod Hayne in right centre, in my opinion. It is how one can best utilise the skills of Origin players. In regards to Jamie Soward who is the incumbent 5/8, he has been completely discarded by Ricky Stuart, who instead has tried to manufacture Jarrod Hayne in the role. In both these players he has ignored what they had to offer and how to utilise their skills best. For example, the amount of tackles Jarrod would have to do at 5/8 would nullify his attacking skills. Ricky Stuart keeps undermining player’s confidence, which is detrimental in the long run, to creating a competitive team!

The reason for Queensland's success has been their spine, props, and outside-backs overall have been better for a number of years when compared to their opposition in the NSW jerseys. The only way i see NSW winning is if they pay the refs off and QLD team members so they play poorly.

Queensland picked the right players and stuck by them. There's no pointing in NSW shamelessly aping the loyalty portion of QLD's selection policy unless they can get the right guys for the job to begin with - particularly given the form of the incumbents in NSW's spine.