Queensland must choose loyalty or regeneration

WHERE does loyalty stop and cold, clinical reality step in? It's time for Queensland selectors to wrestle with retention versus revitalisation.

Justin Hodges

WHERE does loyalty stop and cold, clinical reality step in?

Australia's cricket selectors addressed it with Ricky Ponting, who jumped of his own accord last summer after hearing the echo of knives being sharpened in the background.

Rugby union tackled it with George Gregan, who stayed longer than he probably should have.

And now it's the turn of State of Origin selectors to wrestle with the incompatible forces of the present and the future, retention versus revitalisation.

For Queensland, it's a rare challenge.

Pick and stick, rather than pick and flick, has always been their mantra.

Queensland have been blessed in recent times that many of their greatest have managed to exit stage left with grace and dignity.

Darren Lockyer memorably left on his terms, in triumph. Tackling machine Dallas Johnson left for England.

Steve Price was injured.

Allan Langer retired - then returned for an epic comeback.

Petero Civoniceva's timing was so exquisite that if there was a fourth State of Origin game last year, it might have been a bridge too far. But he left a winner after Game Three. Perfect.

Given the ruthless nature of the sport, there have been surprisingly few times when the selectors have had to be ruthless as well.

The omission of Maroons legend Paul Vautin in the early 1990s stands out as one of the few times state selectors have made a decision that left them feeling like businessmen who had just had to make their own sons redundant.

But now, 1-0 down in the series with the oldest side in history, Queensland have some talking to do.

Not simply at the selection room meeting before Origin II but for the next few winters. Is Ashley Harrison's time up? Is prop David Shillington not the player the Maroons thought he would be?

At what point do you put in young flyer Justin O'Neill ahead of the great warrior Brent Tate? Will Justin Hodges retire from representative football at season's end?

How many years can Queensland squeeze out of their Melbourne Storm champions?

The challenge for Queensland is not having a group of players exit together which can spell doom and despair for the greatest of teams.

Australian cricket took five years to recover from the joint retirements of Rod Marsh, Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell in 1984 and swore it would never happen again.

And it didn't - until 2007 when champions Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and, to a lesser extent, Justin Langer, retired after the same Test.

Six years later there is no sign to an end of the pain.

By contrast, the Geelong Cats have stayed near the top of the AFL ladder for a decade by at first growing, and then subtly staggering, their player departures.

Champions such as Gary Ablett, Cameron Ling and Matthew Scarlett have departed but fresh names have risen and blossomed to carry the torch.

They say no one stays on top forever in sport. That doesn't mean you can't try.