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State of Origin 2021: NSW coach Brad Fittler reveals agile plan to combat Origin speed

The increased speed of rugby league has forced NSW into a major overhaul of their selection policy, with a new generation of agile, mobile stars set to lead the way.

Blues coach Brad Fittler. Picture: David Swift
Blues coach Brad Fittler. Picture: David Swift

NSW coach Brad Fittler has flagged an overhaul of the Blues’ selection policy following their disastrous performance in this year’s State of Origin series.

Fittler has told a NSWRL review that he will consider choosing more agile and mobile players next season to combat the increased speed of State of Origin football.

The Blues board – which includes Sydney Roosters powerbroker Nick Politis – met on Wednesday to discuss and dissect the shock 2-1 series loss to Queensland.

Fittler spoke to the directors about how NSW should move forward on and off the field – and the type of player he wants to identify.

Blues coach Brad Fittler fronted a review into NSW’s shock Origin series loss. Picture: David Swift
Blues coach Brad Fittler fronted a review into NSW’s shock Origin series loss. Picture: David Swift

“Freddie and the selectors will be watching with interest about how players adapt to the rule changes and they will be particularly interested to see whether they should be identifying players whose mobility would be suited to the rule changes,” NSWRL chief executive David Trodden said.

“There was some discussion (at the review) about the impact of rule changes. When you go through the statistical analysis of the games, as Freddie took the board briefly through, you find that ball-in-play for Origin games is significantly higher than in a normal NRL match.

“That is because, typically, the players play at a greater speed and there are also less penalties, for whatever reason.

“So in terms of identifying – and they have a selection meeting every week – they target particular players. One of the things they are thinking about when targeting players next year will be the impact of the rule changes.

Payne Haas has great mobility for a big man. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Payne Haas has great mobility for a big man. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Between this year and next year, there has and will be a large number of rules changes. The rules changes this year sped up the game and the expectation is that next year’s rule changes will speed up the game even more.

“When you overlay that with the proposition that the ball is in play for longer periods in Origin, the thinking is the players we should be targeting might be high on mobility and skills. They are likely to be the players best placed with the rule changes.

“That is going to be a work in progress. We will get eight to ten weeks of next season to see how players cope with those rule changes before Freddie and his other selectors have to pick a team.”

After starting to series at hot favourites, NSW fell away in Adelaide, hit back in Sydney but lost the decider in Brisbane.

Several difficult COVID-related issues NSW confronted throughout the series are expected to absolve in what is hoped to be coronavirus-free 2021 season.

Cameron Murray is among the new generation of Origin players. Picture: Getty Images
Cameron Murray is among the new generation of Origin players. Picture: Getty Images

“Although we called it a review, it is actually forward-looking rather than backward-looking in the sense that what we’re trying to do is work out how to do things better for next year,” Trodden said.

“This year’s review about things that worked and didn’t work is different from previous years and reasonably limited because everything we did this year we won’t be doing next year. It was one-off.

“A lot of the stuff was around the difficulties of fly-in, fly-out travel, bubbles, extended squads and having players to choose who hadn’t played for quite some weeks.

“The issues were quite different for what they would be in a normal year and quite different from what they will be next year.”

NEW GENERATION ORIGIN PLAYERS

Cameron Murray

Victor Radley

Isaah Yeo

Angus Crichton

Nathan Brown

Cameron McInnes

Dale Finucane

Tyrone Peachey

Josh Jackson

Ryan Matterson

Curtis Sironen

Payne Haas

Jake Trbojevic

Originally published as State of Origin 2021: NSW coach Brad Fittler reveals agile plan to combat Origin speed

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/nrl/state-of-origin/state-of-origin-2021-nsw-coach-brad-fittler-reveals-agile-plan-to-combat-origin-speed/news-story/a45ec26adb5afaf6db794089f0dc90df