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New South Wales has a bloke in their ranks who has scored more tries than Queensland great Billy Slater and in fewer games, but can’t get a look in for State of Origin.
South Sydney winger Nathan Merritt has crossed the chalk 145 times in 205 games, but was told last night that he is the third best winger in the state.
Billy Slater has scored 144 tries in 229 games for the Melbourne Storm and Queensland coach Mal Meninga would never even think about leaving him out of his side.
Speaking on Monday Night with Matty Johns on Fox Sports, new Blues coach Laurie Daley said that Parramatta’s Jarryd Hayne and St George Illawarra’s Brett Morris were ahead of Merritt in the race for a sky blue jumper.
“To be perfectly honest I’d love to find a spot for Nath,” he said.
It was at that point you knew some bad news was going to follow. It’s the equivalent of the “it’s not you, it’s me” break up speech.
Daley tried to let Merritt down easy by praising his performances, “but I would think that there’s probably maybe another one in front of him,” he continued before naming Brett Stewart, Hayne and Morris as his back three.
Merritt has every right to feel hard done by. He was quoted last month as saying that if he wasn’t selected this year then he never would be.
It’s a sign of a player who doesn’t know what else he can do to prove to selectors that he is ready.
He has scored eight tries in five games to once again mark himself as one of the most dangerous attacking weapons in the competition.
The critics say that he sits on the end of a pretty good back line being fed by the likes of Greg Inglis, but Merritt was scoring bagfuls before the Rabbitohs underwent their makeover.
His latest effort against the Warriors on Sunday afternoon in Auckland was nothing short of spectacular.
Morris has scored twice in five games.
His case hasn’t been helped by playing in a Dragons side that has only scored more points than four other teams in the league, but that’s not Merritt’s problem.
There’s no doubting that Morris is a quality winger. He’s tough and quick, but through sheer weight of points, surely Merritt deserves his chance.
How can the Blues afford to leave out someone who has been the former winger of the competition when the Maroons are shooting for an eighth straight series win?
They need points and Merritt knows how to find them.
Daley has stuck to his guns under questioning and seems to be content with trusting his gut.
Mitchell Pearce will get another crack at halfback despite a push for Adam Reynolds to be thrown into the furnace and the call for Merritt’s inclusion has been just as deafening.
It seems neither man will feature during the series unless injury strikes.
Merritt can continue to state his case with a big performance against Melbourne on Saturday night in Sydney, but it seems the ink is already dry on the selection sheet.
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