With both the Queensland and New South Wales sides having been named ahead of next week’s State of Origin opener in Brisbane, this round of NRL matches will be reduced to low quality affairs.
Most teams will be forced to field some unknowns to make up for the loss of their Origin representatives.
The one match that would have otherwise attracted a large crowd is Friday night’s showdown between competition leaders the Bulldogs and defending premiers the Roosters.
Both have supplied a combined eight players to the Origin arena – including Jake Friend, the 19th man for the Maroons.
Bulldogs coach Des Hasler will be without his halves pairing of Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson, as well as centre Josh Morris and utility Tony Williams. Roosters coach Trent Robinson will definitely be without centre Michael Jennings and winger Daniel Tupou.
The Roosters will also be without Aidan Guerra, who is the only debutant in the Maroons’ side which will shoot for nine Origin series in a row. Jake Friend has been named 19th man for the Queenslanders as well.
However, the bonus for the Chooks is that James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce have not been named for the Blues, with Maloney’s form being down on last year and Pearce returning from a club-imposed one-match suspension which contributed to him losing the Blues’ No. 7 jumper.
This will be the second year in a row that the Bulldogs and Roosters have met in an Origin-affected weekend at ANZ Stadium, taking the gloss off what would have been a huge grudge match. Sonny Bill Williams is also set to face his former club for possibly the last time before he returns to rugby in 2015.
The two teams have already met earlier in the season, with the Bulldogs winning by only one point. It was the first of a string of three consecutive one-point victories the club enjoyed in the month of April.
That hat-trick of narrow victories also counts in the Bulldogs’ current winning streak of seven, during which they also thrashed the Storm in Perth and the Dragons in their “home away from home”.
However, without their halves pairing of Reynolds and Hodkinson, as well as the speed of Morris and Williams, the Bulldogs will be severely weakened. But they still have their in-form fullback Sam Perrett and their forwards to rely on against the Roosters.
Pearce’s return to the Roosters side, which copped a 44-10 hiding from the Cowboys in Townsville, will see Maloney and Williams return to their normal roles of five-eighth and second-rower.
Had Maloney and Pearce continued their impressive form from the Roosters’ run to the premiership last season, it could have been them missing from this Friday night’s showdown rather than Reynolds and Hodkinson.
Instead, their omissions from the Blues side should give the Roosters the edge in this match-up. In addition, the Roosters will be desperate to avenge the narrow loss from Round 5 and get their premiership defence back on track during this difficult period.
Elsewhere:
* The Gold Coast Titans have lost only Nate Myles (Queensland) while Greg Bird is suspended owing to the dangerous throw charge on South Sydney’s Bryson Goodwin in Round 9. Their opponents, the New Zealand Warriors, are the only club playing this weekend not to supply a player for either Origin side.
* The Wests Tigers will be without captain Robbie Farah and Aaron Woods for their Campbelltown Stadium meeting with the Brisbane Broncos (Justin Hodges, Matt Gillett and Corey Parker).
* Out-of-form forward Josh Papalii is the Raiders’ only absentee against a Cowboys side which will suffer from the losses of James Tamou (NSW) as well as Johnathan Thurston, Brent Tate and Matt Scott (Queensland).
* Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis will be absent from the last-placed Sharks’ Monday night assignment against the Rabbitohs, who have Ben Te’o and Chris McQueen missing.
The St. George Illawarra Dragons, Parramatta Eels, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm all have the bye this weekend. Only the Panthers do not have a single player named in either Origin side.
A full preview of the opening State of Origin match will be provided later in the week.
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