State of Origin 2016: NSW must select James Tedesco for game three
THE Blues’ loyalty program demands a player kick the doors down to be selected. James Tedesco has knocked it off its hinges, writes PAUL KENT.
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LAURIE Daley has a dilemma, which is not altogether a bad place to be considering where Daley is coming from.
Daley has always met the annual debate over team selections for NSW with a simple rebuttal, difficult to argue and harder to defeat.
Origin jerseys aren’t for charity, it goes. He wants potential players “kicking the doors down” to be selected. Until then he will make do with what he already has, thank you very much.
Well, consider it kicked in.
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James Tedesco has come back from injury and kicked it off its hinges. Anybody would think Des Hasler had just been through the room.
Tedesco is the form player for NSW ... only he is yet to be playing for NSW. The argument over whether Tedesco deserves to be there for Origin III is now dead.
“He had done enough to warrant an Origin call up a few weeks ago,” Tigers coach Jason Taylor said after Sunday’s loss to Melbourne. Taylor was sowing frustration on Tedesco’s behalf.
For 40 minutes he’d watched Tedesco be the most dangerous player on the field against the Storm. He was strong the week before the same as he has in every game he has been back since going down injured.
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“He wasn’t in Origin one because he was injured and he should have been in Origin two and now he should be in Origin three,” Taylor said.
“It’s pretty simple, it’s clear to see and I don’t understand why he is not there. He should be there for game three.”
Should be.
Tedesco is in exactly the kind of form Daley has long wanted to see. He is dangerous and nobody in the opposition wants to see him get the ball or even be near it. Yet whether he is selected is another matter.
The other part of Daley’s problem is the Blues Loyalty Program.
It was determined some years back that part of the solution to ending Queensland’s dominance in Origin was a pick and stick policy, the Blue Loyalty Program. It’s harder to break free from than gym memberships.
This way, reasoning went, they would have no fear of being sacked and so would play with the freedom required to attempt to win the game. It worked to a point.
The Blues certainly improved and combinations were established. This was necessary against Queensland. The Maroons have had such a dream run of injury the key players come together like a club side. NSW needed to get it right.
The difficulty is when players are being shown loyalty beyond performance. It is a subjective argument and Daley always had last right of call. That’s where the debate began.
Not everybody agrees with his choices, although Daley is considerably more qualified than the majority of his protagonists. It’s on again now, with NSW down 2-0 in the series with a game to play. Stay loyal or choose for the future?
Former NSW captain Steve Mortimer says the key to NSW claiming its first series in 1985 came in game three 1984. The Blues had lost the series 2-0 so they selected new blood, with a mind to winning the next year’s series.
Queensland did the same after defeat in 2000, picking 10 debutants.
It is much gentler coming in to a game three dead rubber than a series opener, with it all at stake. The game is played differently.
Tedesco would be on debut. He was the frontrunner for the fullback job until he fractured his shoulder against South Sydney in April. Ruled out with injury, Matt Moylan was brought in for NSW and played strongly for the Blues.
When Tedesco returned before Origin II Daley stayed solid and insisted Moylan would stay. Moylan had done everything to justify remaining in the team, and did so again for Game II.
Tedesco, Daley qualified, had still not quite taken the jersey for himself for Game II. Again the debate stirred.
Tedesco stayed modest and said nothing. He let his performance make the argument and he has done it again and again.
Now, heading in to Game III it’s over. In Daley-speak, he has kicked the door down.
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Originally published as State of Origin 2016: NSW must select James Tedesco for game three
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