Bomb that just exploded under Blues could save them

Now that the Koroisau pick has been taken from Fittler it might force him back to the drawing board for a complete rethink, with Rabbitohs on his mind.

Origin series rocked as Koroisau heads to hospital

THE HOOKER CANDIDATES

With Koroisau out, there are three prime candidates to replace him – Damien Cook, Reece Robson and Blayke Brailey.

If this was the start of the series and the next game was being played in neutral territory or in Sydney, you could make a considerably stronger case for Robson or Brailey, both 24.

Both are rising stars, with Robson coming into calculations for the first time last season as he became a key member of the Cowboys’ dynamic spine.

Brailey is perhaps the most naturally talented of the lot. He gives superb service to his halves with his bullet like passes out of dummy half and he’s crafty around the ruck, if not quite to the level of Koroisau.

Yet the case against both is as simple as circumstance. An Origin debut at Suncorp Stadium is brutal for a NSW player at any time. An Origin debut at Suncorp when your team is down 1-0 and faces a street fight to keep the series alive is just plain ill advised.

That point will almost certainly propel Cook back into the sky blue jersey that he’s worn 15 times since Fittler took over as NSW coach in 2018.

Thankfully for Fittler, Cook plays relatively early in the weekend, with the Rabbitohs meeting the Dragons in the 3pm Saturday game.

Assuming he gets through and is fit and available to take his place for NSW, the Blues brains trust will have 48 hours to mull the combination best equipped to join him for a hit and run job at Suncorp.

THE LATRELL FACTOR

Complicating matters at the selection table is Latrell Mitchell’s availability. The superstar centre was a key cog in the planning that went into game one and nothing much has gone right since he injured his calf at Blues training in Bondi days out from the series-opener in Adelaide.

His replacement Stephen Crichton was one of the better players on the field for NSW that night but he doesn’t take the attention of the defence in the same way that Latrell does, with the Rabbitohs gun exceptional at creating time and space inside and outside him by occupying two and three defenders at a time.

It’s that special quality that would make life considerably easier for the likes of a Liam Martin or a Hudson Young, not to mention James Tedesco out the back and potentially a roaming Tom Trbojevic.

Which is why the Latrell injury hurts NSW so much and it’s why he still must be a strong contender despite the fact that the calf injury is serious enough to keep him out of Saturday’s club game.

‘It’s a big loss’: Latrell Mitchell out of Origin Game I with calf injury

If Latrell is fit enough to train at full gallop in two or three sessions before the Blues run out onto Suncorp, he will likely get the nod, especially if Fittler was listening to Wayne Bennett, who spoke candidly about NSW’s selection headaches in a press conference on Thursday.

“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.”

LUAI v WALKER

If Cook and Latrell are on the team sheet before Fittler picks his halfback and five-eighth, Cody Walker would zoom into the frame.

Walker is in arguably career best form and at 33 it’s now or never for him at representative level.

Picking Walker in the No.6 jersey may be a harsh call on Jarome Luai but in some ways Luai has had a charmed run in the NSW team due to his role in a Panthers side that has dominated the NRL for the last three years.

If not for Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo being dominant presences in the Blues set-up, Luai (six appearances) may have played less Origin games than Walker (four).

Without Cleary inside him and Crichton outside him, the case for Luai is far less compelling. The opposite is true for Walker if Cook is the hooker and Latrell is the focal point of the left side attack.

And if that leads Fittler to pick Walker at five-eighth, the halfback pick also gets a different complexion.

Hynes v Reynolds v Moses

Ask Bennett and he’ll tell you the job at Suncorp Stadium is perfect for Adam Reynolds. In the same way that Bennett knew he could rely on Allan Langer when Queensland needed him most for a do-or-die game late in his career, Bennett believes Reynolds is at a point in his career where he would relish the big moments in the Suncorp cauldron and would give the Blues the best chance at an unlikely victory.

Ask NSW’s best ever coach Phil Gould and he’ll tell you Mitchell Moses is the man. The Eels star has been one of the best halfbacks in the competition for the last three years now and at 28 he knows his game and has experience on the biggest stage having tasted Origin and a grand final.

“My personal choice would be Mitchell Moses, that’s just my personal choice, but people are going to be divided on all aspects of this,” Gould said on Nine’s 100% Footy this week.

“I just think that you need to consider where we’re going and what the atmosphere and football is going to be like and I guess either one of those fits that bill: Adam Reynolds or Mitchell Moses.”

Gould would leave Nicho Hynes out because he knows how different a Suncorp Origin is. The Sharks gun is the reigning Dally M Medallist and very much deserves his chance to put his stamp on the representative scene but he seems to have very few backers to take Cleary’s jersey due to the difficulty of the circumstances, although the lack of Cronulla players in the Blues side must also count against him.

In a column for The Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Webster argued that if Hynes wasn’t picked for Origin II it would only add to the case that NSW’s selection policy was broken.

That may well be the case but that in itself should not dictate the selectors’ thinking.

Their only job is to pick a team that will win against the odds at Suncorp Stadium. If that means an unlikely Origin recall for Reynolds in order to get the band back together with Cook, Walker and Mitchell then let it be so.

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