Mal Meninga column: Kevin Walters confirms Greg Inglis for Origin, Val Holmes put on notice
KEVIN Walters’ announcement that Greg Inglis is a guaranteed selection for Queensland this year has put pressure squarely on the shoulders of one man.
Blues
Don't miss out on the headlines from Blues. Followed categories will be added to My News.
KEVIN Walters’ announcement yesterday that Greg Inglis is a guaranteed selection for Queensland this year has put pressure squarely on the shoulders of one man. And it’s not Darius Boyd.
Valentine Holmes should be taking Kevvie’s plans for GI as the wake-up call he needs to ignite his season, because if he doesn’t get back to his best soon, that Maroons team bus could be leaving without him.
On face value, it is easy to think that the return of Inglis has put Boyd in the crosshairs.
If everyone is fit and available, Billy Slater will be the fullback, Will Chambers in the centres, and last year’s player of the series Dane Gagai on the wing.
FINALLY: Jack Bird to make Broncos debut
INJURY: Kahu’s gruesome broken jaw
GF REMATCH: Taumalolo wants redemption
In the game of musical chairs that is the Queensland Origin selection process, it seems like Boyd is the one left without a seat when the music stops.
But what he has up his sleeve is history – a great track record of 28 Origin games that have netted 17 tries.
Crucially, the vast majority of those tries have come via Boyd playing left wing outside of Greg Inglis. It is a ready-made, successful, fully-tested, and very experienced combination – and in Origin, those are like gold.
While it would be a big call to drop Holmes, given his most recent foray into rep footy saw him win a World Cup and score 11 tries in two Tests, his patchy form to start the season with Cronulla would be a cause for concern.
It would be just as big a call to dump Boyd, who has never let Queensland down and – were it not for Billy Slater – would be the Test fullback if Australia had a Test to play next week.
Throw in Corey Oates and the ultra-impressive Kyle Feldt, and all of a sudden the queue for the Queensland left wing spot is four people deep.
PODCAST: Mike Colman and Greg Davis talk the bounce back Broncos and Jarryd Hayne’s new dream.
Listen to the NRL Inside Mail podcast on iTunes and leave a review
It’s a similar story to the halves, where Michael Morgan, Cameron Munster, Ben Hunt, Daly Cherry-Evans and Anthony Milford have all made early bids for a spot in the halves.
It was quite an astute move from Kevvie yesterday. Not only did he rightly reaffirm his faith in Inglis but he has subtly put the rest of the backline on notice that the pressure to perform is as high as it has ever been.
SADNESS OF INGLIS ABUSE
I THINK my overriding emotion when I heard that Greg Inglis had been racially abused at Penrith last weekend was sadness.
Sadness firstly for my friend, because I know how much those senseless words would have hurt him.
Greg is very proud of his indigenous heritage and equally sensitive when ugly issues like racism and abuse are directed towards him.
I also felt sadness that something like this would happen in modern society. It just seems so jarring because I think, generally speaking, we as a country have moved beyond that sort of behaviour.
When I travel overseas and talk to people who have never been to Australia, the vast majority hold the impression that ours is a racist country. That is the perception.
I am proud to tell them that it is not.
Modern Australia is made up of people who are from, or are descended from, all corners of the globe.
And that is what makes it great – this amazing mix of cultures and identities coming together in a beautiful part of the world to make an amazing country.
Incidents like the one that happened to Greg in Penrith create major news because they are now thankfully rare.
The life ban for the perpetrator being proposed by the NRL is a good one, as a lesson to the person involved and as a deterrent to anyone else that might be thinking of acting so foolishly in the future.
The person that abused Greg does not represent Australians, or rugby league fans.
If someone that holds those beliefs is lost to rugby league forever, I think the game will be better off without them.
The VIP lunch that could deliver a new Blues captain
At a special lunch on Friday, Ricky Stuart pulled up a seat next to Nathan Cleary. What happened next could change the course of history for NSW, writes DAVID RICCIO.
Blues’ next-gen to be unleashed in NRL trials
Almost 30 years after Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley and Brett Mullins helped NSW to Origin victory, Canberra will field the Blues’ generation next on Saturday night.