Glenn Stewart’s chances of playing in Origin were always slim. With the back-rower trying to rush back from a serious injury; Ricky Stuart deemed it too big a risk to play Glenn Stewart in the Origin decider.
Stewart suffered the knee injury against the Melbourne Storm the Monday after the second State of Origin match.
The original diagnosis was Stewart would be sidelined for about a month.
Ricky Stuart elected to name a 19-man squad instead of the straight 17 line-up, giving Stewart until the last minute before making his decision. However, Stewart was always little chance of playing.
Dragons back-rower Beau Scott is set to replace the injured Manly star.
Naturally, after injury players come back underdone – but there are exceptions.
Manly back rower Tony Williams is one of them who put in a man of the match performance on his NRL return to book his place back into the NSW Origin squad.
Williams was outstanding in Manly’s demolition of the Roosters.
‘T-Rex’ ran for over hundred metres, made eight tackle busts and set up a brilliant try for Steve Matai.
The Roosters are ranked 14th on the ladder and have struggled with consistency through the 2012 season, and with all do respect: the Roosters are not the Maroons.
Combinations are big things in Origin.
Stewart was just beginning to show glimpse of his right side play for Manly in the Origin arena.
Beau Scott, Stewart’s replacement, is a ball runner. Stewart is a ball player who is able to make big plays in offence and defence
The different style of back-rower may hurt NSW’s attacking potency which is detrimental given the Blues will need to score points if they are to end the Maroon dynasty.
With the Blues starting down the barrel of a record seventh straight series defeat; they need all their players fit and healthy.
And with potentially the biggest game in Origin history on the line, Glenn Stewart would have been too much of a gamble.
Razza
Guest
Spot on Tony, about players coming back after injury and being "underdone". This has been a head scratcher for me for sometime. When a player is ready after being injured he will start training with his team to bring his fitness up to his peak. He is selected to play a club game and if he gets an interview after the game, he is often heard to say, i pulled up alright after the game, but i have to get match fit, ( this is done by playing future games). How in hell does a player get match fit for Origin ??, two totally different levels of footy and only club games in between, this is my head scratcher. This is why i am against picking players coming back off injury for State of Origin.
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
Your right Bearfax but if they are going to score those much needed points Stewart would have been much more of an asset than Beau Scott.
Bearfax
Guest
Hope Beau Scott meets the expectations. Thing is about Stewart is that not only is he an extra five eighth in attack, he has an ability to close down attacking raids especially in the centres. He is one of the primary reasons Manly have been so successful in recent years. He and Watmough make a formidable pairing. But hey, one player a rugby league side does not make. This NSW side has greater confidence this year, should have won the first game and has been the better side in both matches for the majority of those contests. It is just that they must get those points on the board from their dominant play, something they are still scratching to do.
tonysalerno
Roar Guru
Dane25 and Adam_Vaughan you guys both make good points. This was the debate i was having with myself yesterday when i wrote it lol. Both back-rowers have such different styles which could disrupt the Maroons set up but i feel the right decision was made. The big thing is, the injury would have been too severe and risky for Stewart to sit on the sidelines for the majority of the match. Scott will add his own flavour to the game- it is very different to Scott's so it shapes as an interesting movement. It's like the QLD fullback change. They could have brought in Bowen as a straight swap but they chose to shuffle Inglis to fullback and bring Nielsen into the centres. Personally, i think Nielsen's inclusion with disrupt the flow of a QLD back line movement- but QLD will be getting a very sound defensive player.
Adam Vaughan
Roar Pro
Queensland fear Beau Scott. His defence is brutal and he doesn't take any crap unlike his Dragons teammates. He may not have the ball playing ability that Stewart has, but he has played centre a fair bit and may be able to pop the offload to a Morris twin on the right flank. With Inglis moving to fullback, I like having Scott and Josh Morris defending on the right for the sweeping backline move the Maroons love so much. We may not be swapping like for like, but we could do a hell of a lot worse.
Dane Eldridge
Expert
Agreed! Losing 'Gift' is a scary change to the Blues side. He's a real circuit-breaker and I reckon we will miss his ball-playing more than people expect. I'm sure I know who QLD would prefer to be taking on out of him and Beau Scott.