Opinion: With NRL Round 10 done, Origin guessing game begins

WEEK 10 of the NRL is over, and that means one thing: Origin speculation. It’s fun to watch clubs do their best to stake a claim for September, but as far as TV commentators go, all that matters is June.

Souths’ Damien Cook has come into NSW Origin consideration. Photo: Brett Costello

• Titans end contract saga with star prop
• AIC schools to give league a try
• Cherry-Evans shows Broncos brutal truth

WEEK 10 of the NRL is done and dusted, and that can mean only one thing: Origin speculation.

Oh sure, it’s fun to watch club teams running around doing their best to stake a claim for September, but as far as the TV commentators are concerned, all that really matters is June.

If I heard the word Origin once on the weekend I heard it a thousand times.

If every player who was tipped to get an Origin start is actually handed a jersey over the series, there is going to be a worldwide shortage of polyester.

Not that I’m complaining. I love Origin speculation almost as much as I love Origin controversy, which is only an Origin conspiracy or two short of how much I love a good old-fashioned Origin selection shock. Which, needless to say, is heaps.

Now while it’s still only early days — Origin speculation period traditionally doesn’t reach its peak for another week or so — there was plenty to like on the weekend.

I’m particularly impressed with the amount of speculation over whether Souths’ Damien Cook will be Blues’ hooker.

So much so if that if Cook doesn’t get the nod it will almost qualify as an Origin selection snub.

I’m also liking the speculation over the Blues picking Reagan Campbell-Gillard, and not because, in the words of Gus Gould, “he’s an Origin player”.

I just reckon that any rugby league forward who has the guts to model his appearance on Freddie Mercury deserves everything he gets.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard of the Panthers. Photo: Getty Images

Meanwhile, speculation over whether Darius Boyd will win the race to partner Greg Inglis on the Maroons’ left edge (or “the left-hand side of the field” for older readers) is fast approaching the level of an Origin selection conundrum which, as we all know, is just one week off developing into an Origin selection headache.

And given the way that the Broncos crashed against the previously underwhelming Sea Eagles, coupled with the two-try performance of Valentine Holmes for Cronulla, it could even reach an Origin selection deadlock before it’s over.

Back in the Blues camp, speculation over the contentious No. 7 spot has turned out to be the biggest Origin non-event since Anthony Mundine.

With Mitchell Pearce ruled out for the season, Brad Fittler will have no choice but to pick Nathan Cleary if he’s fit, saving himself from making a possible Origin selection blunder.

Which brings us to the Maroons’ halves.

This is what makes Origin speculation great. Four players, two spots, 50,000 opinions.

This time last week you would have said Ben Hunt was a certainty for the No. 7 with Michael Morgan on the bench, but the way Hunt played for the Dragons against Souths on Sunday, he wouldn’t get a start for the Broncos, and that’s saying something.

Trouble is, Morgan hasn’t been going much better. It’s like he went to bed after last year’s grand final and woke up someone else. Someone like, say, Mitchell Pearce.

Happily Cameron Munster seems to have stopped annoying everyone long enough to work himself back into some form, but the question over who to play inside him could lead to the biggest of Origin bombshells.

On the weekend’s form the player who should be wearing the Maroon No. 7 jersey is Daly Cherry-Evans.

But of course that’s not even worth speculating about.

Originally published as Opinion: With NRL Round 10 done, Origin guessing game begins