As the rumours had suggested, Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson have been named as the halves pairing for NSW in Game 1 of State of Origin. This means that Mitchell Pearce has missed out as we expected.
Laurie Daley came out at the start of the season and confirmed he would be sticking with Pearce as NSW’s halfback for the series. This would suggest that Pearce was dropped due to his indiscretion a few weeks back, where he was arrested after a night out in Kings Cross, and not due to his current form with the Roosters.
Laurie Daley also expressed his intent to have a halves pairing from club level. This would suggest James Maloney would have also been picked even though his form this year hasn’t warranted selection.
If you put two and two together, Maloney missed out on an Origin spot due Pearce’s poor behaviour. There’s two ways Maloney could look at it – if his form was good enough, he would have been selected irrespective of Daley’s wish to have a halves pairing that operated together club level. Or he could blame Pearce for missing what seemed to be a certain selection for the Blues.
If Maloney blames Pearce, this could spell disaster for the Roosters. Surely there would be tension between the two and eventually that will spill out on the field. It could also put Pearce on the outer within the playing group if people pick a side.
Hopefully for Roosters fans, Maloney blames his own form for being dropped this year. If he was having a blinder this year, Daley would not be able to ignore him.
Let’s hope for Roosters fans that there’s no bad blood between the two!
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