Gal: Worrying sign in selection for burned Blues

NRL great PAUL GALLEN will appear on Nine’s 100% FOOTY every Monday night of the NRL season, debating rugby league’s hottest topics alongside Phil Gould and James Bracey. Tune into 9Gem tonight at 9pm (AEST) following a bumper round 18!

Just like everyone else, I was caught by surprise by some of the NSW selections for Origin III.

The Blues are a team under pressure, so changes were always coming, but I thought one or two of the players left out were pretty unlucky and the balance of the side isn’t what you normally see with an Origin team.

I can’t remember too many Origin teams that have carried two spine players on the bench but that’s what Brad Fittler and the selectors have done with this side, picking Clint Gutherson as a ‘just in case’ player who will cover injuries across the backline.

READ MORE: Videos expose fuming England’s ‘spirit’ hypocrisy

READ MORE: Blues pick Gutho, Walker in surprise shake-up

READ MORE: Khawaja rips Lord’s members after heated clash

Normally in the past if you chose to pick a player like Gutherson on the bench you’d either be asking your starting hooker to play 80 minutes or you’d use a Cameron Murray type to pinch hit at hooker when needed. With this team they’ve got Reece Robson to come on at hooker, so it looks like Gutho will only get a run if a half or one of the outside backs breaks down.

To me it looks like the NSW selectors have been burned by the first two games with centres finishing the game on the sideline. In game one you had Tom Trbojevic off for the closing stages for a HIA and Queensland took full advantage of Nicho Hynes playing out of position, with Cameron Munster fending him away and then putting Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow into space. That cost the Blues a win.

Then in game two, poor old Turbo’s gone down again with that pec injury in the opening exchanges and Freddy has had to be creative with a Plan B. Damien Cook’s a very good player but he’s not a centre, so twice in two games the Blues’ plan went up in smoke.

When that happens to you twice in two games it’s probably fair enough to press the panic button and pick a bench player who fits that scenario. Freddy would have been called a genius if Gutherson was on the bench in those first two games because he would have been able to slot straight in at centre. Who knows, maybe NSW win those two games if Gutho was in the mix?

It does leave the interchange looking light though. It means Jake Trbojevic, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Jacob Saifiti are all going to have to play big minutes in the middle – and don’t forget Trbojevic is only one game back from injury.

None of those three guys have played a minute of Origin this series so far and come into the side on the back of Payne Haas’ injury and the decision to leave out Junior Paulo and Stefano Utoikamanu.

I can understand the Paulo decision. He’s a great player for the Eels but he’s had a fair few chances at Origin level and hasn’t quite come through. His teammate RCG deserves his chance. I would have almost picked him for game two, he’d had that one game back from injury and was pretty good, so if they’d picked him for game two I wouldn’t have looked sideways at it. He’s been there before and he’s been very consistent at club level over the last couple of years.

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and 9Now

The other casualties in the forward pack were Tyson Frizell and Hudson Young and I can understand those calls. Frizell has been an outstanding servant for a long time and has won a couple of series but it’s probably not a bad call to blood one of the rising stars in the back row, and I have been a fan of Keaon Koloamatangi for a long time.

It didn’t quite work out for Hudson Young, he just didn’t quite look at home at this level. I’m not saying he can’t do it, he’s outstanding for Canberra and he’s fit enough and strong enough, so if he can use being dropped as fuel he could get back into a blue jersey and be better for it. I got dropped from the NSW side more than once, you’ve just got to make sure you make your next opportunity count.

I actually think NSW has finally picked the best back-row available. We’ve got Origin players in there in Liam Martin and Cameron Murray – they’re there, they’re starting, and I think they’re capable of being a real strength for NSW.

Isaah Yeo’s been there in the past and done a good job but I think Murray deserves his shot in the 13 and Yeo’s a good player to call on from the bench because he’s got that versatility and can play on the edge or in the centres if he needs to.

With Yeo out of the starting side and Nathan Cleary still out injured, it seems as though Freddy had a good think about Jarome Luai’s role and decided to go in a different direction. I actually feel for Luai, he’s copped a lot of criticism but I don’t reckon NSW have had too many players who have looked more dangerous in this series. He was pretty hard to handle in both games and he takes it up to the Queenslanders, which shouldn’t be held against him.

Walsh, Luai sent off, JAC binned for ugly clash

Cody Walker’s a very good player and wouldn’t have been far off selection earlier in the series, so he deserves an opportunity but I was surprised the Blues didn’t stick with Luai after sticking with him since he was first picked in the side in 2021.

That’s three halves combinations in three games and with fairly short preparations that doesn’t make life easy. Will Walker and Mitch Moses gel together? We’ll have to wait and see.

While there’s no guarantees when you go 2-0 down and change your team, one thing Blues fans should see is a hunger from the new players to prove that their worthy of the Origin arena and try to cement their spot for next year. That’s how I saw it when I was picked in dead rubber games, and it happened to me a couple of times where I wasn’t picked early in the series and then I was called up for the game three with the result already decided.

I played a dead rubber in 2007 and hadn’t been picked for game one and two, so I had something to prove. I played well and we won that game up at Suncorp so that probably contributed to me being picked in the side the next year.

The other dead rubber I played was in 2010, and again I hadn’t been picked in game one, so I needed to show the selectors that I deserved to be in that side.

When next Wednesday’s game comes around, there’ll be some players in the side who have played both games and some who are coming into the side for the first time, so they’ve got to go out there and rip and tear and put NSW back in the winner’s circle and hopefully pencil their names in for next year because they’ve gone out and got a good victory.

I never thought of a 2-0 game as a dead rubber and I don’t think any player does, every Origin means just as much. Every player will be out there doing their best and hopefully a good crowd turns out to support the Blues and they can get a win.

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!

The Mole’s round 18 team of the week: Dearden rockets himself into Maroons’ squad with ‘best’ performance