Former South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has delivered an ultimatum to the NSW Blues ahead of State of Origin II, declaring they haven’t been “prepared to make” tough decisions in the past.
With Nathan Cleary out for six weeks, the Blues will be forced to make a change in the halves after losing the opening fixture at Adelaide Oval.
Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds – who played under Bennett at Souths – has been tipped as a possible replacement and the Dolphins coach believes he’s the man for the job at Suncorp Stadium.
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“I’d certainly take him, they’ve got to win this game, there’s no ifs or buts, there’s no fall back position, there’s no excuses,” he said at North Sydney Oval ahead of the Dolphins’ Friday night clash against Manly.
“With Cleary’s injury it’s opened up another opportunity for a player, probably what they didn’t want but it’s happened, now they’ve got to make the best choice.
“He’s the best game manager in rugby league at the moment in my mind, Adam Reynolds, he brings his kicking game, he brings everything they want, he’s calm, he’s not someone that’s going to be intimidated by the position.
“You can talk about the other halfbacks but both of those boys (Nicho Hynes and Mitchell Moses) haven’t played in Brisbane in State of Origin, it’s not a place to go without your best players that can handle that as well, you’ve got to be able to handle the night, the moment, otherwise it’s all over for them.”
Before endorsing Reynolds though, Bennett laid down the gauntlet for NSW, challenging them to make the tough decisions.
“Series after series, it’s been going on for 40-odd years now, NSW are in a very tough place right now and they’ve got to make the right decisions, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
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“I don’t think there is no other option for them and they’re going to Brisbane, everyone knows how intimidating Brisbane is, Queensland in Brisbane, they’re one down, the series is over if they don’t get it right and I think they’ve got to make a few tough team selections that I don’t think they’ve been prepared to make in the past.
“(Previously they) thought they could get away with some stuff, they’re not getting away with this one in Brisbane if they don’t make the right team selections.”
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Bennett also put his support behind Latrell Mitchell if fit before further challenging NSW to simply “pick the best team”.
“If he’s fit to play I’d be picking him … they’ve got to pick the best team, they’ve got to forget about ages, past, whatever, they just want the best 17 players in Brisbane,” he said.
“It’s a tough enough job to go to Brisbane to play with your best team let alone second guessing what you’re going to take.”
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Along with calling for the return of Reynolds, Bennett also believes his former teammate and halves partner Cody Walker would be an ideal selection to partner the Broncos captain.
“The difficult part is to come in halfway and play with a five-eighth that’s already there and he’s a wonderful player (Jarome Luai) but the bottom line is he and Cleary have a wonderful combination and that’s what they’ve stuck with, the combination,” he said.
“If you’re going to bring Reynolds, you’ve got to bring Walker because they’ve got the combination and they’re going to worry the hell out of everybody.”
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Reynolds’ selection for NSW has been suggested alongside Mitchell Moses, Luai, Walker and game one debutant Nicho Hynes.
Hynes won the Dally M medal last year at halfback for Cronulla, but there has been a theory that he’d be thrown to the wolves at Brisbane.
Bennett believes NSW need to lean on someone they trust.
“NSW lost the first game, this is do or die, there’s no fallback position here, you’ve got to either do it or you don’t and I’m going to go with the players that I trust to do it and I trust Adam Reynolds above everybody else that’s available for them,” he said.
“He lives up there now, he knows the place really well, I brought Allan Langer back in 2001 because it wasn’t as if we didn’t have any other halfbacks, I just knew we couldn’t win that third game without him and that’s what Origin’s about.
“There’s no fallback position, you either do it or you don’t.”
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