Even though the Knights are sitting near the bottom of the ladder, Newcastle trio Jarrod Mullen, James McManus and Joseph Leilua have been in outstanding form and are just what NSW need to seal State of Origin.
Jarrod Mullen finished in the top five for the Dally M last year, showing off how well he can run the ball, defend, pass and especially how strong his kicking game is.
Mullen racked and outstanding 26 assists in the season and gained 13,000 kick metres, miles ahead of second placed Cooper Cronk with 9000 metres.
We have also seen a glimpse of how Jarrod Mullen can run the ball even though he did not get many tries in 2013. Trent Hodkinson or James
Maloney will work extremely well in tandem with Jarrod, who is left-footed, while Hodkinson and Maloney are both right-footers.
The combination of Leilua and McManus has been phenomenal, with McManus scoring 19 tries last year (top try scorer) and Joey 13 tries. James is great under the high ball and makes very few mistakes, which is just what the blues need.
Leilua is very strong and a great defender. No doubt Greg Inglis is strong but BJ would be able to handle him on that left side just as well as Josh Morris did.
This Newcastle trio would be deadly for the Blues as they all know each other’s game, along with second rower Beau Scott. Laurie Daley should keep a very close eye on them.
Kazzie
Guest
He didn't chicken out. Due to the fact that they believed Manly would put a lot of pressure on him in that situation they trained for Darius Boyd to take a field goal attempt. Personally I think they could have used a couple more tackles up before making the attempt to cut down Manly's time with the ball if it went wrong but they didn't. If it had come off it would have been a great result. He does have the ticker, won a couple of tight games in the past season. He plays with a lot of pressure every game due to the fact that he takes on more responsibility in the halves than he should. If anyone needs to step up a lot more consistently it is young Tyrone Roberts, he has been in first grade long enough to have improved his kicking game and decision making to take some of the responsibility of Mullen. I wouldn't have been upset if Mullen had been selected for SOO but I am happy that he only has to focus on the knights.
Matthew Buxton
Roar Pro
I love Mullen as a player. But BJ and McManus, please!
Knightblues
Roar Guru
Mullen hasn't got the ticker for origin, he could have won a game for knights against manly when he was given the ball for a fg attempt, but he chickened out and passed the ball to boyd who missed.
Chappy
Guest
We can always do with more repeat sets. But the new NSW halves combo did produce 2 forced dropouts and 2 repeat sets from kicks, where Qld players were forced over the sideline. That's 4 more repeat sets in 1 game then Mitch Pearce did in his whole 12 game Origin career. It's from this sustained pressure from NSW which we've been missing, which played a huge part in our victory.
The eye
Guest
I don't think we did pick our best team..we won because the entire squad played at their optimal abilities and the Qld backs didn't...but, wouldn't change anything unless its an injury..would kill for more repeat sets,though
James brown
Guest
I'm a die hard knights fan and I wouldn't pick anyone of them for reserve grade let al
Chappy
Guest
This article is a great example of someone picking players for the NSW team, based soley on the love of there own club team, i.e Bozo with Burher, king etc. And not picking the best possible team to beat Qld, which is what the NSW coach and selectors have been doing for years. Except for game 1, Daley and Bozo finally picked a team that can beat Qld. Which is what they should do for game 2, which means no changing the current halves combo, no Luelia, no McManus and no Mitchell Pearce please for gods sake.
Mac
Guest
This is way off the mark...
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Sadly, not as silly as it sounds. This morning's Tele was running the story that Hayne be moved to centre with fullback and wing to be between Stewart and Dugan. My view. What rot! Hayne was the best on the field. He was playing fullback and they want to move him. Sadly, what wouldn't surprise would be for Richards to come in on the wing as for Morris and Pearce to come back. Remember, Daley did say he was back in the loop after he served his term.
Parrafan
Guest
I love your passion for the Knights mate but you can't really be serious. Halves pairing will back up for SOO 2 (Reynolds/Hodkinson) Daley has a choice to make with Josh definitely out and Brett most likely out. He has two real options. 1. Hayne stays at FB, bring in Hoppa at centre and either Tafua/Dugan/Mansour at wing (my pick would be Mansour he has been in phenomenal form and is a real hard runner of the ball bringing it back from a kick). 2. Move Hayne to centre and push Hoppa to the wing. Bring in Stewart or Dugan to FB. Not sure what it will be but you can be certian Mullen/McManus/Leilua arn't in the equation.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Every fan write an article about why your teams three best players should be transplanted into a victorious NSW team. Please base your arcticle on last years statistics.
James Cairns
Roar Guru
sorry, but the knights are terrible, if these players were that good in form they would be helping their team win a game. i saw mullen do something so stupid yesterday against the warriors i broke into tears.
Xnowmann
Guest
I'm sure Daley will take advice from a fan of a club who is dead last and in disarray in the NRL. Yeah ok.
peeeko
Roar Guru
i would bring in Leilua for Morris for origin 2
Suyash
Guest
Why exactly did you write this article? You know the halves pairing won't be changed right?