It’s a shame not all NSW Blues players have Laurie Daley’s honesty

LAURIE Daley discovered a lot about his NSW team this year. His error was his desire, which overrode common sense, to keep the same side all series.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA — JULY 11: Laurie Daley looks on during the New South Wales Blues State of Origin training session at Cbus Super Stadium on July 11, 2017 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

IT WAS all over and he stood up and began disconnecting the microphone attached to his shirt, pulling it down the inside front, and with that Laurie Daley was finished with his first interview since Origin III.

It was an event 19 days in the making, an ungodly long time in the news cycle.

“Thanks, guys,” Daley said. “I know it’s nothing personal.”

For 19-and-a-half minutes Daley had just wrestled to answer the questions on what he could speak to as well as he could.

And much was said in his 19-day absence.

The two large stories in between the Blues’ loss and Daley’s interview on NRL360 on Monday night were the private bonding session undertaken by Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson five days before the series decider and whether Daley was or was not talked into starting Andrew Fifita after telling him he would be switched to the bench in place of David Klemmer.

Daley has lost his last three series as Blues coach.

Both issues spoke to culture. Every conversation that has arisen since, about where the Blues are, end at the same point.

And culture begins with honesty.

We know Klemmer confirmed on the record he was told by Daley he would be starting in place of Fifita for Origin III.

We know Fifita told teammates he was never told by Daley he was starting off the bench.

A hurried NSWRL inquiry filled the silence and found that: “It is entirely false to suggest that on the morning of the game (or at any other time during the camp) Laurie had a conversation with Andrew in which he advised Andrew that he was starting on the bench.”

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Already the contradictions in place, with just a sliver of wiggle room for an acceptable truth.

Daley spoke to it and found the wiggle room.

“I told David he was starting then I had a conversation with Andrew — not about starting on the bench but another conversation that will remain private,” he said.

“After that conversation I knew I needed Andrew to start. I couldn’t afford to have Andrew on the interchange bench.”

Daley planned to start Klemmer over Fifita.

What they said we will never know. What convinced Daley to go back on what he had told Klemmer — which all would have been avoided if he had spoken to Fifita first — we have not been told.

So what happened in that conversation to convince Daley it would be better for all involved to start the game with? And Klemmer did not replace him, anyway.

The easy assumption is it was all about who started. What else could so severely affect a positional change?

“Andrew was disappointed that I didn’t allow him to speak to the media and we discussed that,” Daley said.

“There were a couple of other issues we discussed but no way did I say to Andrew that you’re starting on the bench. We didn’t have that conversation.

“After having that conversation with Andrew I knew he needed to start and I went straight back to David and said he was going to go back to the bench.”

Daley discovered a lot about his players in this series. He said he felt “betrayed” by the actions of some.

He was let down by others. The support and trust he committed to them did not come back.

Daley’s error was his desire, which overrode common sense, to keep the same players through all three games.

After the way they lost Origin II something had to change.

“Looking back now I think we were more scarred than I thought we were,” he said.

“In that dressing shed, that was a worse feeling after game two than it was after game three, on reflection.

“Something happened after that game and I think we lost a bit of confidence out of that performance.’’

It raises only one question: were the players strong enough to come back from that?

The answer, we now see, was no. And, some might say thoughtfully, the players provided their own evidence why.

There will be changes next year.

Originally published as It’s a shame not all NSW Blues players have Laurie Daley’s honesty