Mal Meninga stays loyal for trans-Tasman Test, but how far should that loyalty run?

MAL Meninga has stuck solid to the players who have done the job in the past, but how far should that loyalty run?

Image ©Licensed to i-Images Picture Agency. 24/10/2016. Liverpool, United Kingdom. Four Nations launch. Australia's Coach Mal Meninga joins other players from the Four Nations Rugby League teams during a press conference at Liverpool FC, Anfield, Liverpool, before the tournament starts on Friday 28th October. Picture by Andrew Parsons / i-Images

AS expected, Mal Meninga has stuck with players who have done the job in the past for next Friday’s Test against New Zealand.

Trent Merrin, Justin O’Neill, Blake Ferguson, Michael Morgan and Shannon Boyd have had varied starts to the season, ranging from difficult to inconsistent to, in Merrin’s case especially, close to diabolical.

Despite the struggles of some of the incumbents, players who have been in the kind of extended form that deserves a shot at Test football, like Wade Graham, Jack De Belin and Joey Leilua, or players worthy of a recall, like Brett Morris, have been excluded.

When he’s firing, Merrin is close to the best lock forward in the competition not named Jason Taumalolo.

His footwork, offloads and work rate make him tough to contain at any level of the game. But the Penrith forward is in the worst slump of his career.

Trent Merrin has been retained despite some poor performances at club level.

Merrin is currently averaging 109 metres per game, his lowest total since 2010, and has failed to crack 100 metres gained in a match four times this season.

To compare, he failed to hit the 100 metre mark four times in total in the last three seasons.

But he’s there, as we knew he would be, and he’ll likely be there again for the Blues in Origin I.

Nobody can dispute Merrin’s quality as a footballer but it does raise an interesting question in regards to just how far selection loyalty should run.

“As I’ve always stated, I’m loyal to players who have done the job for me in the past,” Meninga told The Daily Telegraph last week.

“I’m also loyal to players that are successful as well and that’s regardless of where they are at with club footy.

“Trent is one of those players that we are very happy with and I know how he performed on and off the field over at the Four Nations, so he’ll be rewarded for that.

“How the club is going is no reflection on how Trent is going,” he said.

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“I think Trent has been performing really well, so I’m comfortable in our selection thought process if he is available.

“There is still another game to go (before the Test), but most times a player that’s playing in a club that is not doing so well excels at the representative level.”

This isn’t a situation where Merrin is the only quality option available either. Jack De Belin, Jake Trbojevic and Dale Finucane have all had outstanding starts to the season and have proven themselves to be quality lock forwards over an extended period.

Queensland are famed for sticking with players who have done the job in the past, a policy Meninga continued during his reign in charge of the Maroons. Such intense loyalty to his players is no doubt part of what makes Meninga such a popular and successful coach at representative level.

But consider the cases of Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson, who were both selected after excelling on tour last season.

Dugan played well in the Four Nations tournament last season.

The duo were selected at right centre and right wing respectively in the May Test last season despite indifferent form to begin 2016.

Ferguson in particular was in questionable form as the Roosters got underway with their difficult season. Dugan was again shoehorned into a rep team at centre despite rarely playing in that position at club level for an extended period.

Both players have done well at Test level. Ferguson has five tries in six caps, including at least one four-pointer in each of the Four Nations matches last season, and was named the Harry Sunderland medal winner as best player on tour.

Dugan was one of the Kangaroos most damaging players in the 34-8 victory over New Zealand in the final, scoring a double.

Meninga has long been loyal to players at rep level.

They will benefit from Meninga’s loyalty for some time to come and by virtue of their status as Test players they’ll be walk-up starts to Origin for New South Wales (and while we’re talking Origin, that same loyalty will soon get us in the bizarre situation where Darius Boyd is the fullback for Australia but not the fullback for Queensland).

At the same time, Dugan and Ferguson, were given a questionable run into the team which continued due to fortuitous circumstances — if fit, Will Chambers, Jarrod Croker and Joey Leilua were far more qualified for spots than Dugan in that Four Nations squad last season.

Brett Morris has the absurd strike rate of 23 tries in 18 Tests, making him the sixth most prolific tryscorer in Australian history. Injuries meant his last Test was in 2014 but apart from the Four Nations at the end of that season he has missed just two Tests for Australia.

Despite a brilliant strike rate, Brett Morris may not play another Test.

He was available for the Four Nations last season and finished the year for Canterbury strongly. Morris had done more than enough to earn that loyalty. Now he might never play Test football again.

Through circumstances that are not replicable for other players, Dugan and Ferguson have received a benefit of the doubt that will not be afforded to other players competing for their spots.

To reiterate, this does not denigrate Ferguson’s, Dugan’s or Merrin’s performances at Test level or the thinking behind selection. Meninga’s loyalty policy steered him to untold Origin glory and a runaway Four Nations title last year.

But the question does remain — just what would need to happen for a player to get dropped?

We’re too early into Meninga’s tenure as Kangaroos coach to know just how he’ll react when things get a little spicy, but we might be able to glean some examples from his Maroons years, in particular 2013.

When the time came, Meninga did not hesitate to make the changes the Maroons needed.

The Blues won Game I 14-6 at ANZ Stadium and Meninga brought the axe out. David Shillington, who had been part of the team since 2009, was out. Ashley Harrison, a veteran of 15 matches since his debut in 2005, was out. Neither pulled on the Maroon jersey again.

History shows that Meninga made the right call. Nate Myles and Corey Parker replaced the duo at prop and lock respectively and Queensland won the final two matches to claim their 127th series win in a row.

If New Zealand can pull off an upset, and given the players at their disposal they are a real shot, it will be interesting to see which players receive Meninga’s loyalty for the end of year World Cup squad.