After a surprisingly conservative team selection in Origin I, Laurie Daley finally showed his credentials as a New South Wales coach with the decision to bring back Josh Dugan at right centre.
“Despite the eight consecutive defeats, New South Wales have always been able to pride themselves on being creative in defeat. That’s something my predecessors had and something Bob Fulton has really been pushing for me to bring to the table. Not replacing a centre and a winger with a centre and a winger was the perfect opportunity”, explained Laurie Daley.
From generally hopeless players like Jason King and Steve Turner to unique positional failures like a captain on the bench, strange selections have been a long standing part of New South Wales tradition.
>> Expert reaction the Queensland’s Origin team for Game 2
>> Expert reaction the New South Wales’ Origin team for Game 2
“One good club game is plenty to crack the New South Wales team and succeed, as evidenced by Peter Wallace, Jarrod Mullen, Ben Creagh, Dean Young, I could list examples all day”, said selector Bob Fulton.
“That Cronulla side he scored three tries against had some of the best players the NSW Cup has to offer. It’s safe to say he’s been a revelation for us”, announced St. George Illawarra Dragons and NSW Assistant Paul McGregor, who was taught everything he knows by Steve Price.
“We think Jarryd Hayne is the best option at fullback, that’s where we think he plays best and there’s where we want him for the Blues. He was man of the match in Game 1 and he just can’t have that impact if he isn’t in the number one”, added Daley. “Which is partially why we’ve picked Duges at centre, so we can shift Hayne there if Queensland somehow manage to exploit Joshy in defence”.
Try scoring machine Darius Boyd has reportedly been practicing his patented routine of running over the try line untouched day and night in an effort to deal with the new pairing. “It’s important to do the extras even when you don’t think you need to,” said the Newcastle fullback, “getting tackled really isn’t part of my game, so I’ve got to practice avoiding it all costs.”
None of the above is true, except the most ridiculous part unfortunately – Josh Dugan has been selected at right centre.
Twitter: @The_Hoss12
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