Gorden Tallis concedes picking and sticking with ageing stars could backfire on Queensland

EVEN Queensland great Gorden Tallis agrees the ageing Maroons are out of form and clumsy and, statistically speaking, way off the pace.

EVEN Queensland greats agree the ageing Maroons are out of form and clumsy.

The Raging Bull — Gorden Tallis — is first to admit that there might be substance behind Tuesday’s back page of The Daily Telegraph, featuring a grumpy-faced skipper Cameron Smith.

The story statistically revealed the recent flaws of Maroon players like Nate Myles, Aidan Guerra and Sam Thaiday.

From Guerra’s errors through to Thaiday’s poor metres and Myles’ lack of tackle busts, there is proof the all-conquering Queenslander’s are far from perfect.

Tallis wasn’t hiding from the facts when asked about Queensland’s individual form heading into the Origin opener.

“Maybe they are right,” Tallis reasoned.

“I have no doubt that Nate would be the first guy to say that.

“But I can tell you something he is not in the Queensland side to make a break.

“He knows what he is in there for, but it’s not to make breaks.

Some Queenslanders have been way out of form in the lead up to Origin. Pic Brett Costello

“Aidan has played five-eighth a bit because of the lack of Roosters, so he has tried a lot more this year because of no Boyd Cordner or Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

“So there are reasons for those, but they are still making the mistakes.

“But we’ll find out on Wednesday night whether they deserve to wear the Queensland jumper or not.”

Tallis conceded Queensland’s long-term plan of, ‘sticking and picking’ could backfire against the Blues.

He also believes NSW retaining a number of players mentally scarred from last year’s Maroon massacre at Suncorp Stadium could have a similar impact.

Leading sport in today's @dailytelegraph: The rabble QLD has put together for the 2016 #origin series pic.twitter.com/mfJDSC4vCY

— telegraph_sport (@telegraph_sport) May 30, 2016

“But that’s Origin and that’s why we love it so much,” he said.

“There is no doubt there is pressure on both sides.

“But if you need a newspaper headline to make you want to play for Queensland, then we don’t need you to play for us.

“The game is big enough. The game is the star.

“You don’t have to say something stupid to build Origin.

“The game has been the most watched game for the last 10 years and that sells itself.”

Nate Myles has come in for some criticism over his poor form of late.

Tallis still understands the importance of selling the Origin series.

This even includes Tuesday’s back page headline — “Wheely Bad” — accompanied with a picture of Smith sporting a cranky face while riding a push bike.

“I actually laughed and I thought the headline was quite clever,” he grinned.

Aidan Guerra’s error rate has skyrocketed.

“I think it’s fun and it adds to the theatre.

“I liked Cameron’s face and I liked the way it said it wasn’t digitally enhanced.

“But I’m happy that he looks a bit grumpy there, captain grumpy.

“It’s better than him sitting on XXXX Island having a Pina colada.”

Originally published as Gorden Tallis concedes picking and sticking with ageing stars could backfire on Queensland