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WIZ: Blues must gamble on T-Rex for Origin I

9th May, 2013
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Tony Williams was at the centre of the latest NRL refereeing controversy. (AAP Image/Action Photographic, Robb Cox)
Expert
9th May, 2013
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With the year’s first State of Origin teams announced in just over two weeks, I thought I’d have a crack at playing selector.

Naturally, the Queensland team was fairly easy to pick; when you win seven series straight, you don’t need to change very much. Your big guns are identified and you just know they will fire when the time arises.

Without further ado, here is Maroons combination I think they’ll come up with:

Queensland: Billy Slater, Darius Boyd, Greg Inglis, Justin Hodges, Brent Tate, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Corey Parker, Nate Myles, Sam Thaiday, Matt Scott, Cameron Smith (c), Ben Hannant. Bench: Matt Gillett, Corey Norman, David Shillington, Martin Kennedy.

When you look at this team, you will notice just about every member is a ‘go-to’ player at his particular club.

All are big occasion performers with proven skills, extremely reliable under pressure. In other words, each has the perfect Origin temperament and will do the job Mal Meninga expects.

The NSW Blues, however, are nowhere near as settled and recent injuries to fullback Brett Stewart and winger Brett Morris have thrown a spanner in new coach Laurie Daley’s plans.

After giving the balance of the team plenty of thought, The Wizard has come up with the following Blues team.

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It is the one I would like to see selected, not necessarily the one that will be announced on Sunday, May 26.

NSW: Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Merritt, Josh Morris, Michael Jennings, Blake Ferguson, Todd Carney, Mitchell Pearce, Glenn Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Greg Bird, James Tamou, Robbie Farah, Paul Gallen (c). Bench: Kurt Gidley, Luke Lewis, Aiden Tolman, Tony Williams.

Now, before you jump down my throat about choosing ‘T Rex’ Williams in my line-up, I did so to give the side some serious impact from the bench.

He hasn’t set the world on fire this season but there were some definite sparks from the big guy in Canterbury’s big win over the Tigers last week.

Coach Daley is sweating on Williams to time his run for Origin selection. Fit and firing, there is no more damaging forward in NSW and, even though picking him would be considered a gamble, the Maroons would be uncomfortable to see him enter the fray against a tiring defence.

The Blues are going to need impact from the bench. Every man there must get on and bend the defence backwards.

Tolman has been doing this all season for the Bulldogs and I am an unabashed fan. To me, he seems the perfect substitute if any of the Blues’ big men need a breather.

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It is time NSW finally plumps for the ultra consistent Merritt as one of their wingers. This guy has scored 146 tries in 208 NRL appearances and is as good as any winger I can name in defence.

With Hayne switching from the flank to cover Brett Stewart’s vacant fullback spot, I went for Canberra’s X-factor, Blake Ferguson, as the other winger.

He is creative, can score tries from anywhere and has a utility value that cannot be ignored. Ferguson looks every inch a big match performer and remember – he slayed a full strength Melbourne in Melbourne last weekend.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the teams for Origin I.

Over to you now, Roarers!

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