Round 19 Talking Points: No dead rubber in Origin with all the pressure on Blues, tough luck of the draw for Eels, Bunnies

There’s no such thing as a dead rubber in State of Origin, well that’s what the two teams will be telling themselves in the lead-up to Wednesday night’s kick-off.

With the series already in the bag for Queensland, the danger for them is not complacency but not quite being at full intensity because they know deep down that they’ll keep the shield no matter what.

There’s much more pressure on NSW and coach Brad Fittler to avoid the embarrassment of a 3-0 whitewash. 

While the Maroons have made two straightforward changes due to injury and suspension with Corey Horsburgh in for Tom Flegler and AJ Brimson slotting in at fullback after Reece Walsh was banned for abusing a ref, the Blues have had a revolving door of selections for Origin III. 

NSW should have more to play for when it comes to motivation, especially on their home turf. 

Bradman Best is a bit of a left-field selection at centre and I’ve watched each Knights game this year and he’s been pretty good but he’s going to have to handle the step up in class that comes when you make the leap from NRL to Origin.

Bradman Best (Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

Even in a dead rubber, the speed and execution that you need in Origin is a different beast and takes most rookies time to adjust. 

Centre is a tricky position to defend and the Maroons will target his edge – I’d say he’ll have Cody Walker next to him on the left so those two, plus probably Liam Martin and Josh Addo-Carr, will be an all-new combination and they don’t have much time to get in synch.

Queensland have been to Cairns, they’ve had their fan day and I’m sure Alfie Langer would have looked after the social side of proceedings early in the camp.

Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston will be doing their level best to ensure the players are all switched on because they’ve been part of Maroons teams in the past who could have gone 3-0 but they paid the price for taking the foot off the pedal just a touch.

Rabbitohs, Eels suffer from Origin scheduling

Souths and Parramatta have been the unlucky sides this round, losing games they probably would have won but for Origin taking away several key players. 

The under-strength Rabbitohs lost by four to a Bulldogs team coming off a 66-0 hiding with Damien Cook, Cameron Murray, Keaon Koloamatangi and Cody Walker in Origin camp while Latrell Mitchell, Campbell Graham and Jai Arrow sat out injured. 

They’d put their premiership campaign back on track the previous week with a sold win over the Warriors in Auckland but now they’re back down on the cusp of top eight. 

Parra are in the same boat – no Mitchell Moses, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Clint Gutherson in the Blues camp and Dylan Brown still sidelined after the NRL banned him until Round 23 for his court case, and the Warriors thumped them at CommBank Stadium. 

Both these losses are by no means a disaster for these teams but they’re an extra hurdle along the way. 

Finishing in the top four is so important and a loss like that could end up proving to be the difference between a second chance in the finals or going straight into a sudden-death scenario.

Souths at least have the bye next week and should have Mitchell, Graham and maybe Arrow back by the time they take on the Broncos the following Friday so they can start building some momentum prior to the playoffs.

Parra’s got a much tougher run having to back up against the Gold Coast next Sunday after Origin before then travelling to North Queensland and Melbourne. 

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

These next three weeks could make or break their season heading into their final four games. 

Origin is quite a minefield for club coaches to navigate on top of injuries, suspensions, roster changes and off-field discipline.

You’ve got to feel for Brad Arthur – he let his son Jake go to Manly mid-season because he thought he’d have Moses and Dylan Brown as his halves and the next thing he knows his halfback has been called into the NSW team because Nathan Cleary tore his hamstring and his five-eighth gets stood down after an incident at a pub. 

For Jason Demetriou, not only did he have to go into the game against Canterbury without many of his stars, but their opponents suddenly got better midweek when they signed Toby Sexton from the Titans and that allowed Matt Burton to go back to his best position of five-eighth.

Coaches have to be problem solvers, it’s part of the job, and whatever circumstances get thrown your way, you’ve got to try to get past the rough patches because they don’t last forever. 

(Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)

Warriors’ recruitment top notch

A fair few eyebrows were raised at the end of last year when the Warriors let Reece Walsh, Matt Lodge and Euan Aitken go and apart from Eels forward Marata Niukore, didn’t sign any big names to replace them for rookie coach Andrew Webster’s first year.

But they’ve been spot on with their new additions and that’s helped the existing guys like Shaun Johnson, Addin Fonua-Blake, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Tohu Harris play their best footy.

Te Maire Martin and Luke Metcalf have been great when they’ve been alongside Johnson in the halves, Jackson Ford has been a handy addition for their pack, Chanze Nicoll-Klokstad has rediscovered his 2019 Raiders form at fullback and a couple of old hardheads in Mitch Barnett and Dylan Walker have given them some more experience to help their young guys along.

You only need a few things to turn a club’s fortunes around and if your recruitment strategy is right, the pieces of the puzzle can fall into place pretty quickly.