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Naming his players for State of Origin before the official squad announcement will come back to bite Laurie Daley and his team.
Never in the 20 years of watching sport have I ever seen a coach anoint their players before the official squad announcement. What is Daley thinking?
The Blues coach – a brilliant football player in his own right – had the strange idea to insist Mitchell Pearce was his preferred halfback last week. On Monday before the official announcement, he declared Jarryd Hayne would play fullback.
I guess he doesn’t believe in “Don’t Come Monday” calls to any of the players who missed out from last year’s series then.
How would you feel if you were Josh Reynolds, Trent Hodkinson or Adam Reynolds, hoping to make the NSW squad as the halfback or five-eighth? How about Josh Dugan, last year’s fullback for Games 2 and 3?
All second-rate players, this lot. Well, that is the message that Daley is sending with these ludicrous public naming sessions.
Queensland coach Mal Meninga penned an article on Saturday that spoke of the belief in the Maroon system – of the players and what they know they can do. He spoke about putting his faith in the players that have performed in the past, but didn’t even hint their identities. Meninga certainly didn’t tell us that Billy Slater would be fullback or Cooper Cronk halfback.
That’s because despite winning eight series in a row, Meninga knows the value of competition within his squad. No one has a right to any jersey. There isn’t one player who knows his spot is secure – not publicly anyway.
Slater, during the week leading up to the World Cup final last year, was asked how he felt about Greg Inglis potentially playing at fullback that weekend. His answer: no-one has a permanent hold on a spot in any team, they need to earn it through performance.
This attitude runs deep throughout the Kangaroos and Queensland teams.
I can only think of how long the New South Wales team will take to develop this type of culture. When it does, we might just see the Blues grab a series off the Maroons.
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