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With the announcement of the NSW team by coach Laurie Daley, a number of emotions have been shared by supporters. Like, haven’t I seen this team somewhere before?
To which the answer would be yes, yes you have, as it’s exactly the same as the one printed in a Sydney paper the other day.
MORE:
NSW State of Origin 2013 team announced; expert reaction
NSW Blues 2013 State of Origin squad: who missed out?
While this might seem a trifling concern (hell, the entire world’s more or less known the Queensland game one team since July 2009), it is something of a less than stellar start to new coach Daley’s career in Origin espionage.
It is widely known coaching a representative team differs significantly from coaching a club side, and this is particularly true for State of Origin.
For what ultimately constitutes four hours of football, the State of Origin series is an arduous campaign, as the extraordinary interest it provokes invites intense media scrutiny.
Because of the fact all the players are supreme athletes to start with, the role of handling (and manipulating) the media is one of the coach’s key responsibilities, yet – at the very first opportunity – coach Daley has been gazumped by the press.
My apologies if this sounds paranoid, but if a team list is being leaked, what else likely to be leaked? Game plans? Roommate lists? Pub golf scores? Anthony Minnicello’s phone contacts?
And, more importantly, who is Leaky McLeak-Leak?
Former NSW coach Phil Gould used to warn his players about the Queenslanders in their club sides, and remind his men how they were ‘spies’ who would stoop to any low (XXXX probably) if it meant an eventual Maroon victory come Origin.
As a man who hass attempted to warm the seat in Gould’s NSW coaching teams of the past, you would think Daley would be well across this, but herein lies another concern.
Where Gould is bullish and forthright, Daley comes across as affable and, well, slightly dithering.
The mind games Laurie the Learner is about to go through are unrivalled in rugby league, and anyone who thinks his old mate Mal is going to go soft on him obviously cannot remember the sight of the big man steamrolling Daley repeatedly in their first Origin encounter.
The choice of Daley, who has spent a far greater number of hours in broadcast roles than on the training paddock post-playing days, was always going to be huge gamble for the NSWRL.
Now that proceedings have passed beyond the prolonged ‘yeahhhh he might be a shot at a bench spot’ phase, things are about to get real.
Daley is suddenly facing footy’s equivalent of scaling Mt Everest in bed socks with a rookie five-eighth, a lock playing in the front row and a backup captain on the bench.
If Daley thinks his media work is going to get him an easy ride through the Origin wringer he is mistaken, and far more accomplished coaches than himself have been broken by the interstate series.
The time is now for him to take ownership of the Blues campaign, and that’s got to mean no more bloody leaks to the media.
And, for the next couple of months at least, no more Mr Nice Laurie!
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