Opinion: Daley should hold sway in NSW camp but Blues turmoil boosts Maroons fans

IF Laurie Daley can’t get the Blues to row in the same direction, who can? Daley carries authority with him. Or, at least, he should, writes Paul Malone.

New South Wales Blues coach Laurie Daley. Photo: AAP

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IF Laurie Daley can’t get the Blues to row in the same direction, who can?

As one of NSW’s blue-chip Origin players, a three-time captain of a series-winning side, and one of the best blokes in the sport, Daley carries authority with him.

Or, at least, he should.

Blues coach Laurie Daley looks dejected after State of Origin Game Three. Photo: Getty Images

But respect for authority is something not all sportsmen have for their coaches in an era in which their tyres are pumped up by family, agents, friends and club insiders who don’t tell them what they are unlikely to want to hear.

Blues prop David Klemmer and Daley’s team adviser, Peter Sterling, have confirmed this week that Klemmer had been selected to start at prop for the deciding Origin game last week.

The inference is that Andrew Fifita kicked up such a stink with Daley when told of his selection on the bench that the coach ultimately relented and decided to start the match with Fifita.

Andrew Fifita. Photo: Getty Images

The Blues have done what’s hard to achieve — they’ve made Queenslanders even happier in the days after an Origin series win.

Good luck to whoever coaches the Blues in 2018.

Quite why two players, Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson, felt a need to leave their teammates behind and travel an hour’s drive from the Blues’ base at Kingscliff to have a drink only they could try to explain.

The NSWRL will have to sort fact from fiction in investigating how much they had to drink and what condition they were in.

It’s 44 weeks before the Blues enter camp for the next match in Melbourne. That’s a long time for unrest to fester.

The straight-shooters among Fifita’s NSW teammates will be appalled that a large personality in their team has taken on their coach’s decision.

Both Kevin Walters and his predecessor, Mal Meninga, have consulted senior players widely over the years about selections, but in those dozen years it’s hard to think of a player who questioned why he was out of the side.

Queensland coach Kevin Walters. Photo: AAP

Sam Thaiday, when dropped for Origin II after 29 games for Queensland, said precisely nothing to the media.

Nate Myles kept own his counsel when jettisoned after 32 games.

Michael Morgan said before Origin III that he had never for one second considered himself set in the Maroons side during his three-year run.

Daly Cherry-Evans was most low-key in his reaction when half of the Sydney media wanted him to go off like Krakatoa about his non-selection for Origin III.

In January 2016, Walters stamped his authority by standing down curfew breakers at the Emerging Origin camp, six whom played for the Maroons this year.

NSW would be wise to retain Sterling as the coach’s adviser next year if Daley walks off with one series win from five campaigns as coach.

Peter Sterling during NSW State of Origin training. Photo: Brett Costello

In a radio interview on Monday, Sterling was willing to nail his colours to the mast on the Klemmer-Fifita issue. I’m interpreting that he was trying to stand up for the NSW team culture. A lot of Blues players and former NSW players have talked plenty about the team’s culture in recent years.

“That had been the plan, yes, that David Klemmer would start and Andrew Fifita would come off the bench after 20 or 25 minutes,’’ Sterling told Triple M radio.

Sterling said he “wasn’t privy’’ to why the players were switched by Daley.

“I rang Laurie on the Tuesday evening and asked him about Andrew and he said he was going to start with Andrew,’’ he said.

“I don’t know about any blow-up or any reaction. It wasn’t for me to know.

“In retrospect, who knows? One thing it didn’t hurt was David Klemmer. He was a machine. He was our best forward.’’

David Klemmer during State of Origin III. Photo: AAP

Fifita ran for 54m in Origin III. Klemmer covered 166 from 17 runs in his reduced minutes.

Sterling said he figured Daley, who did not appear as usual on his regular Fox League 360 panel spot on Monday night, would comment later.

Daley was in a vexed position as a player with the Blues in 1996 and showed his capacity to take the rough with the smooth.

He’d come back into the NSW team after making himself unavailable for the 1995 Origin series like almost all of the players at Super League aligned clubs.

Brad Fittler, an ARL loyalist, was retained as NSW five-eighth and captain. Daley, one of the best five-eighths Australia has produced, played centre.

In 1999, Daley played his last game for the Blues ... as five-eigith and captain when Fittler was unavailable for the last two matches of the series.

See what can happen if a man is a team player?