Is there a utility value for NSW?

‘Twas ten days before Origin when all through the state, eager Blues awaited their favourite players’ fate, the cockroaches moaned as the toads leaped with glee, ‘and in jersey 14 will be the Knights Kurt Gidley’.

There are very few guarantees in life, and even less in rugby league. While life might guarantee us death and taxes, rugby league only provides one such certainty: Kurt Gidley is going to be named for the Blues.

Each year, pundits outline their teams, ranging from the likely to the ludicrous. Not too many include former New South Wales captain Kurt Gidley, a lightning rod for controversy come representative season.

So as the burrow bellow for Merritt and the peninsula screams for the Stewarts, the Novocastrian faithful form a nervous huddle as they await having to sheepishly defend the inevitable selection of their much-maligned skipper.

For Gids’ many doubters, the announcement that he would not be taking his place in the New South Wales side for Origin I would have been a pleasant surprise. The next thing to consider for coach Laurie Daley was of course, who should replace the irreplaceable?

The decision was made to add South Sydney five-eighth John Sutton and the Bulldogs’ five-eighth Josh Reynolds to the squad, one of whom will take Kurt Gidley’s position on the interchange bench.

For this long suffering Blues fan, the decision wasn’t satisfying in the least. This is because of two key questions I asked myself after hearing the news; does New South Wales truly need a bench utility, and is that the best use of the final bench position?

I do not believe so.

So first of all, does New South Wales require a bench utility?

At first glance, it makes sense. Utility is injured; he is replaced with a utility.

On closer inspection, neither Sutton nor Reynolds offers enough to justify selection in this role. And that’s because New South Wales already have a utility and his name is Luke Lewis.

The one-time Penrith cult hero covers every position that Sutton offers, with the added bonus of being a battle-hardened premiership winner and Test and Origin veteran.

This is the first grade position breakdown between the two, Lewis the former and Sutton the latter: wing (51-0), centre (62-10), five-eighth (20-144), halfback (14-0), second row (13-8), lock (49-28), bench (8-3).

Looking at those numbers, it is hard to justify having Sutton in the team as any kind of utility – Lewis has it well and truly covered.

I can already see the ‘Bah Hossack, what about Reynolds?! He is an Origin style player’ leaping out at me vindictively from the comment section, but he is a different issue all together.

Reynolds can cover the halves and hooker. Now, the halves aren’t too hard to account for, with Lewis’ aforementioned abilities and Greg Bird, who has won man-of-the-match honours playing five-eighth for New South Wales. It’s Reynolds ability to play in the dummy half role that sets him apart from Sutton and Lewis.

Which leads us into question two, is this the best use of the Blues final bench position? As injury cover for Robbie Farah? Robbie proved last year that he is an automatic selection in the nine and one of the Blues’ most important players, claiming the Brad Fittler Medal in the 2012 Origin series.

In Game 2 and 3 there was nobody to relieve him and he proved he can be a dominant force playing 80 minutes. Hooker is an extremely important role in any footy side and Farah is the best in the Blues by a mile.

He should be encouraged and expected to be on the field the entire game, like Maroons linchpin and the perennial fly in New South Wales’ ointment, Cam Smith.

What use will Reynolds be if Farah goes the distance (as he should barring injury)? This leaves the Blues with a sixteen man team or taking one of our best and brightest off the field so Reynolds can have a run.

I disagree with the second option – this is State of Origin, not under six’s. You do not get a run just for the sake of getting on the park.

With that being said I do not want a shortened bench either, so on behalf of all the big boppers of the NRL I’ll ask, Laurie, what does a front rower have to do to get a run?

For the past seven years, many NSW props have been exposed as powder puffs in the wake of the mighty Maroons intimidating rotation of big men.

From the old guard of Webcke, Price and Civoniceva to the new generation of Scott, Shillington and Hannant, the men from the north of the Tweed have always maintained a strong advantage in having big men who could get over the top of our smaller pack and get a significant roll-on.

In 2013, the pendulum finally has the potential to swing in the Blues favour. The Maroons carry no specialist props on their bench, preferring a rotation of lock forward Corey Parker and edge forwards Matt Gillett, Ben Te’o and Chris McQueen.

One could extrapolate that Mal intends to utilise Nate Myles and Sam Thaiday in the role of front rowers, a big ask for two men being called on to start the game and play big minutes.

Andrew Fifita is exactly the type of player to take this opportunity with both hands in the back end of each half – a big, hard running, rampaging body who can wreak havoc with the tired and undersized Maroons pack.

Trent Merrin and Anthony Watmough, although they occupy the role of ‘middle forwards’, prefer to employ some fancy footwork to advance the ball at a retreating line and even sneak an offload out the back, but they do this off the back of the work done by the genuine props like Fifita and Tamou.

High impact, high work-rate players who can move the ball and get the defence on the backfoot.

So to truly attack Queensland’s one true weakness, the Blues need to employ one more prop who can provide the platform for the rest of the side to do their jobs. The evergreen Willie Mason comes to mind, as well as the young mountain man Tim Grant who played very well in the back end of the 2012 series.

But alas, Laurie has stuck to his guns. A utility it shall be, although I am wary of just how much value shall be gained from another one. Regardless of who is selected, congratulations to them and I hope they rip in. Carn the Blues!