Cleary, Mitchell named in emerging Blues squad

He did not deserve to play of Australia.. He was picked by Fulton, don't kid yourself. He did not have a stand out year, he was a consistent player in an under achieving team, far from good enough to break into Origin. We have established he is not good enough to play in the backrow, do you really think he is a better prop than Fifta, Woods, Tamou, Ryan James and Shannon Boyd !! Fulton is out, and so should be Jake.

"Jake Trbojevic ??? Can someone please tell me how this chap will be anywhere near origin.. " Well he has played for Australia, he's in the SOO emerging players squad, he captains his Club side, he can play anywhere in the pack, but my preference would be for him as a prop. Hits the ball up all day and is a very strong defender. Seems he must be pretty close to an origin spot in my mind, especially as hard working prop in the Gallen type mould.

Wade Graham, yeah threw a great pass into the 3rd row last year. These are the absolute easy picks, the rest is open 1. Tedesco 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. .........../Maloney 7............./Maloney 8. Woods 9. 10. 11. Cordner 12. Frizell 13. 14. Merrin 15. 16. 17. J Bird The other positions are up for grabs with plenty of contenders. Please no Dugan

I look at it more as a positive at the incredible depth NSW have, not only in the backrow, but also up front. Jake will be in the mix (I have him well ahead of Cartwright for one, and on par with Merrin and Graham) but no matter who is picked the pack will be several rungs above what QLD will put out. Now if only we had some halves.... oh and a hooker would be handy too. I get the Pearce thought, I've mentioned this for a few years now, my issue being lack of time in the middle at club level. As such I imagine Peats will get the gig.

Jake Trbojevic ??? Can someone please tell me how this chap will be anywhere near origin.. We have Cordner ( possible Capt) Jackson ( last series Players player), Merrin, Frizell and Cartright. Throw in Wade Graham for an argument and Jake cannot be mentioned!! Jesus, Fulton has left, hasn't he ??? As for Fullback, I cannot for the life of me, see anyone but Teddy or Hayne. If it is Teddy, then Hayne can play centre or 5/8. Latrell is a smokey for the absent spot left by the B Morris. Even as a Roosters fan, I would prefer to see Leluia and or Croker involved. Going forward, I throw in another one.. Pearce to play hooker. He has the fitness, defence, experience and relationship with Maloney to make music. Oh, and before someone replies that Pearce has never played hooker.. Please think back to when one immortal, Mr A Johns played hooker for NSW... As I recall, he went alright ...

B Morris ??? Pffffft !!!

Or : 1. Moylan 2. Tedesco 3. Leluia 4. Hayne 5. T. Trbojevic 6. Maloney 7. Cleary 8. Woods 9. Farah 10. J. Trbojevic 11 .Merrin 12. Cordner 13. Jackson 14. James 15. Boyd 16. Cartwright 17. J. Bird 18. Graham

Each team has slightly different patterns and players different tendencies. I would have thought giving guys more exposure to the game plan, structure and defensive patterns would be of some value. If this isn't the case then really each coach is perfectly interchangeable

Agree. Dugan is not in the class of others. "But he had a great 4 nations".... yep, he wasn't playing QLD folks. Cleary in next year 1. Tedesco 2. T. Trbojevic 3. Leluia 4. Hayne 5. B. Morris 6. Moylan 7. Maloney (c) 8. Woods (vc) 9. Peats 10. James 11. Frizell 12. Cordner 13. Jackson 14. Merrin 15. Boyd 16. J. Trbojevic 17. J. Bird 18. Wighton 19. Graham

Yeah, guys who would have been superstars at Origin regardless. Not saying it doesn't have some value to kids, but these guys have been around long enough. They have played rep footy at different levels. If your Origin set up is so different that BJ Leilua and his 144 NRL games has never experienced anything similar; Or if Shannon Boyd who has played in his state lower age teams and now played for Australia, is going to be totally surprised by an Origin preparation, then maybe there is something wrong with your Origin camps. If you want to have emerging squads, it should involve 20 and 21 year olds, not experienced players. They are over complicating it.

Watch what you wish for .

Some were, some werent. Its about introducing them into the set up. Love it or hate it, but there is no denying that the introduction of the QAS Emerging Origin Squad in 2001 shortly coincided with the most succesful streak in Origin history. Some of those players in the early squads include: Matt Bowen, Hodges,Corey Parker, Cameron Smith, JT, Billy Slater, Inglis, Hunt. Thaiday, Payne.

Were those players 25 years old? What is the point of an emerging squads with McLean, Boyd, Peats, Leilua James?! These blokes have all played anywhere from about 70-150 first grade games!! What is emerging about that?! Just pick them or don't. If you think you need to get these blokes together and it will make a difference, then why don't you have the whole squad together preparing? I am with you NOIP, it's three blessed games a year played by the best players. Stop trying to over think it and just go do it.

Dugan shouldn't be in the mix at all. Tedesco, Moylan, Hayne, and T.Trbojevic all in front of him at fullback. Croker, Leilua, Ferguson, Jennings and J.Morris all better centres. No place for him.

Agree, he is massively overrated. Tedesco, Moylan, Hayne or Trobojevik should all be ahead of him. I would even have Jack Bird ahead of him.

Gold. Scott Fulton?

I'm still not getting the Dugan thing. We have better fullback options ie ones that actually realise there are actually other players on his side. He is not big enough or fast enough to compensate for his lack skill/vision at centre. But he does have heap of Tatoos and looks tough despite drinking barcadi Breezers. I know he will be picked , because he is an Origin player blah blah. But hey at least the Queensland players will know that once Dugans got the ball, they won't have think to hard about what he is going to do. Perhaps that why he gets picked, don't want to confuse the Queenslanders

Haha, you Maroons aren't bad. If Jackson was a Queenslander he'd be first picked!!

Dunno the purpose but QLD doing it coincided with 3 of the greatest players and an 8year streak so was decided its a good thing.

Yeah I'm not 110% sold on this one, so I will probably change it soon anyway. I like your team but it seems to be missing a bit of flight. I'd add in Jack Bird into the bench utility position and Graham, pushing Jackson out of the team. Makes the team extremely versatile and I am still wondering how we will beat NSW again this year but I know we will.