Opinion
The time of the year has arrived and after last year’s series was played wholly in Queensland, New South Wales fans will be treated to their first home match since November 2020 when their Blues hope to make it four series wins from the past five years.
Despite not being able to play in front of its fans last year, the Blues still managed to get the job done interstate, winning the series by 2-1 with 50-6 and 26-0 triumphs in Townsville and Brisbane respectively, before the Maroons pegged back a 20-18 win on the Gold Coast.
It was the perfect way for Brad Fittler and the Blues to bounce back from their shock 2020 series defeat, which took place following the end of the premiership season after the NRL calendar was rejigged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the side that were beaten in Game III last year, there are several notable changes, including the injury-enforced absences of Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic, the latter ruled out for the season due to a shoulder injury he suffered last month.
Among the notable unforced changes include Mitchell Moses and Josh Addo-Carr, with Blues officials quickly dismissing the latter’s move from the Storm to the Bulldogs as a reason for his omission.
Moses makes way for Nathan Cleary, who missed the dead rubber match last year due to a shoulder injury, thus partnering him with his club five-eighth Jarome Luai, who have both anchored a Panthers premiership defence which has seen only one defeat so far this season.
Roosters winger Daniel Tupou comes in for Addo-Carr, while Kotoni Staggs has been named to make his debut for New South Wales, joining his Brisbane Broncos teammate Payne Haas in the Blues squad.
Meantime, after last year’s disastrous series defeat, which resulted in Paul Green relinquishing the Maroons’ coaching job after just one season, the northerners have a new coach in tow, with playing great Billy Slater tasked with attempting to restore the state’s dominance.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Christian Welch, AJ Brimson, Moeaki Fotuaika, Francis Molo and Thomas Flegler are the omissions from the third game side last year, with Welch the only forced omission due to an Achilles injury he suffered in round one.
Into the side for Slater’s Origin coaching debut come Selwyn Cobbo, Reuben Cotter, Harry Grant, Lindsay Collins, Patrick Carrigan and Jeremiah Nanai, with Tom Dearden named the 18th man.
Cobbo has become a revelation for the Broncos this season and his blistering form has been the reason why the men from Red Hill have re-emerged as genuine finals contenders in 2022, following several years in the wilderness.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Cotter, Carrigan and Nanai are the other debutants, while Grant returns after a hamstring injury saw him miss the final two games.
It will be the first time Fittler and Slater face each other in State of Origin in any capacity since 2004, when the former was coaxed out of his representative retirement while the latter was only a rookie playing his second season in the NRL.
Many of the older rugby league fans will remember that it was in Game II, Fittler’s comeback Origin after initially retiring from the arena in 2001, where Slater scored one of the greatest ever Origin tries you will ever see.
Three years after being denied his fairytale farewell, Fittler would inspire the Blues to a final-game thumping at Accor Stadium, smothering a kick from his Maroons counterpart Darren Lockyer and running unopposed to score the final try of the match, and series.
Nearly two decades on, the two men are now coaches of their respective states and Slater is now tasked with looking to rediscover his state’s once former glory which saw them win eleven out of twelve series between 2006 and 2017 inclusive.
Fittler, meanwhile, will look to brush aside the criticism surrounding the several key omissions from the Game III side last year, not least that of Josh Addo-Carr, and give his side a 1-0 lead in their home leg of the Origin series.
Here are how the two teams will line up on Wednesday night:
New South Wales
James Tedesco (c), Brian To’o, Kotoni Staggs, Jack Wighton, Daniel Tupou, Jarome Luai, Nathan Cleary, Payne Haas, Damien Cook, Junior Paulo, Cameron Murray, Tariq Sims, Isaah Yeo. Interchange: Stephen Crichton, Liam Martin, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Ryan Matterson. 18th man: Nicho Hynes.
Queensland
Kalyn Ponga, Selwyn Cobbo, Valentine Holmes, Dane Gagai, Xavier Coates, Cameron Munster, Daly Cherry-Evans (c), Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Ben Hunt, Josh Papalii, Kurt Capewell, Felise Kaufusi, Reuben Cotter. Interchange: Harry Grant, Lindsay Collins, Patrick Carrigan, Jeremiah Nanai. 18th man: Tom Dearden.
The verdict
It would be hard to predict a winner with any real confidence, with the Blues side stacked with six players from the Penrith Panthers side that is currently dominating the competition at will, while the Maroons have at several young guns making their mark in the NRL.
The Blues will be determined more than most to perform in front of their home fans, after being denied the opportunity to do so in Game III last year when a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney forced it to be relocated first to Newcastle, then to the Gold Coast.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
As for the Maroons, Billy Slater would love nothing more than to get his Origin coaching career off to a good start with a win behind enemy lines, which could potentially set up either a decider or the chance to clean-sweep the series at Suncorp Stadium in Game III.
However, the home ground advantage should play into the Blues’ hands here, with the home side having not been beaten at Accor Stadium since the second game of the 2017 series.
Prediction
New South Wales by eight points.
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