Queensland Origin coach Kevin Walters kidding when he says Maroons halves not set in stone

THE English have a great expression: ‘You ‘avin’ a larf?’ It was the first thing that came to mind when I read Kevin Walters’ comments about the Maroons halves, Mike Colman writes.

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THE English have a great expression. The way they talk, it sounds like this: ‘You ‘avin’ a larf?’

It’s their way of saying, ‘Mate, are you fair dinkum?’

It was the first thing that came to mind when I read Kevin Walters’ comments about the Maroons halves combination for this season’s Origin series.

According to a piece Kevvie wrote for the FOGS magazine he isn’t sold on Michael Morgan to replace Cooper Cronk at halfback.

Cooper Cronk. Photo: Getty Images

“It’s a bit sad Cooper won’t be there but this just opens up an opportunity for one of our younger guys to step up,” he said.

“I’ll certainly be looking at Michael Morgan, but the spot is wide open.

“We have some good depth at halfback. Ben Hunt, Daly Cherry-Evans, Corey Norman, Ash Taylor and Morgo are all in my sights for next season. It all depends how they start.”

Kevvie, mate, seriously, you ‘avin’ a larf?

To even put those other four in the same category as Morgan is the biggest joke since Junior Pearce came up with that old Origin side-splitter: “what do you get when you mix a New South Welshmen with a horse?”

Morgan’s form for North Queensland at the back-end of last season in Johnathan Thurston’s No. 7 jersey was beyond sensational. It took the Cowboys all the way to the grand final.

Would they have got there with Hunt, Cherry-Evans, Norman or Taylor feeding the scrums?

They probably wouldn’t have made it to the finals.

No disrespect intended. They’re all good players, but Morgan is in a different class. No matter where you play him, he’s a matchwinner.

Michael Morgan. Photo: Alix Sweeney

Halfback, five-eighth, fullback — even centre in Origin III last year — the flick-pass, the 40-20, the field-goal, you name it, Morgo can deliver.

Which, Kevvie might argue, is the whole point. Cronk isn’t the only Maroons’ maestro whose giant boots need filling this season. A certain Johnathan Thurston has also pulled the pin and Morgan could easily slot in at five-eighth as well.

That is, of course, if the Maroons didn’t already have a ready-made replacement in Cameron Munster, whose performance in last year’s decider was the most assured Origin debut since a young bloke named Artie Beetson trotted onto Lang Park in 1980.

Even without the Maroons’ selection policy of sticking with the players who have done the job in the past you’d have to think setting up second half tries to Valentine Holmes and Jarrod Wallace would be enough for Munster to hang onto the maroon No.6.

Cameron Munster during State of Origin Game 3 last year. Photo: AAP

All which makes you think that Kevvie isn’t fair dinkum at all.

He knows that Morgan at seven and Munster at six are his halves for this season and seasons to come.

He knows that they have the makings of a long-term combination that could one day be spoken of in the same terms as Thurston-Lockyer, Cronk-Thurston, Langer-Lewis ... and what was that other pairing? Oh yeah, Langer-Walters.

He knows that barring injury there won’t even be a discussion about it around the selection table.

And most of all, he knows that NSW haven’t got two halves good enough to tie their bootlaces.

In other words, he’s just ‘avin’ a larf — at the Blues expense.

Originally published as Queensland Origin coach Kevin Walters kidding when he says Maroons halves not set in stone