An avalanche of criticism is pouring down on the Blues after they were badly beaten in State of Origin II — and among the answers being demanded following the series defeat is why Damien Cook was Brad Fittler’s go-to man when Tom Trbojevic went down.
When the New South Wales superstar tore his right pectoral muscle while tackling Queensland fullback Reece Walsh just two minutes into the Suncorp Stadium clash, won by the Maroons 32-6, bench forward Cameron Murray was undoubtedly the most logical option to slot into the centres.
Lock Isaah Yeo was also available for the Blues brain trust.
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But Fittler and his helpers made a call that’s copping a fierce lashing, shifting Stephen Crichton from left centre to right centre and throwing in Cook at left centre.
Murray has won games playing in the centres for South Sydney and is being courted by the Wallabies to play at inside centre in green and gold, while Yeo has had success in the centres with the Panthers.
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So the decision to pull Cook off the bench and drop him in at left centre left onlookers astounded.
Legendary NSW coach Phil Gould was among those baffled by the call.
“That’s unfortunate,” Gould said of the Trbojevic injury on Nine’s half-time coverage.
“But I don’t know why that was the option if an outside back was to go down. I mean, you’re really looking for a back-rower who can handle it out there. In the old days it was a Steve Menzies or an Angus Crichton back in the day. You’ve got Hudson (Young), you’ve got Yeo, Cameron Murray can cover those positions.
“I would have thought Damien Cook was one of their big attacking players coming off the bench. That’s why they started with Reece Robson. Get Damien Cook onto the field and then start playing through the middle. Well that’s now gone; Damien Cook’s been out there tackling in the centres.
“I felt sorry for Damien Cook, having to play all that time in the centres,” Gould added on Nine’s post-match show.
“They were put under stress from the time Trbojevic got hurt.
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“But that wouldn’t have changed the result.”
Former Queensland coach Paul Vautin was also scathing of Fittler’s decision on Nine’s post-match show.
He said that by playing Cook in the centres, Fittler squandered an opportunity for the fleet-footed dummy-half to take advantage of Queensland’s tiring forwards in the middle of the park.
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Fittler defended his decision in his press conference.
“I spoke to Cookie (and said) that he would have to play centre if we had someone go down,” Fittler explained.
“I thought he did a great job, Cookie.
“It changes the way your interchange (works) and what you’re trying to do.”
Fittler then snapped when asked about the criticism regarding his use of Cook.
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“I’m not going to talk about interchanges, I’m not going to talk about who we chose,” said the NSW mentor.
“At the end of the day, Cookie did a pretty good job at centre. He beat Val Holmes a couple of times, once I think he got beaten on the inside.
“You can’t cover every position. It’s impossible. We don’t have those players to cover every single position.”
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The Maroons ran in the first two tries of the game, scoring controversial four-pointers through Valentine Holmes and Murray Taulagi.
Holmes scored his try with a dubious put-down, before Taulagi crossed on the back of a questionable pass from David Fifita to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
But so dominant was Queensland in the second half that the questionable tries quickly became moot points.
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Holmes bagged a second try early in the second half and Tabuai-Fidow dotted down shortly after, giving the Maroons a 20-0 lead.
Cook dashed over in a scrappy passage of play to give the Blues a glimmer of hope just before the hour mark, but the Maroons piled on another two tries, through Xavier Coates and Jeremiah Nanai, as they rounded out a thrashing.
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