Why Andrew Johns should be NSW coach, writes Matthew Johns

THERE’S a strong push for Andrew Johns to take the Blues head coaching role — the fans want it and there are people of influence who now want it, writes MATTHEW JOHNS.

Andrew Johns knew how to lead on the field — can he do it from the sidelines?

THERE’S a strong push for Andrew Johns to take the Blues head coaching role — the fans want it and there are people of influence who now want it.

Joey has two key ingredients: passion and tactical nous.

When Andrew played football, he was part-coach as well. He came up with plays, sequences and the style of football the team would play. That style had great success against Queensland.

Just two days ago I watched game three of 2005. It was bizarre. There was a young Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston in that Queensland team and it was strange to see them being completely dominated by the Joey-led Blues.

In fact they annihilated them, and at Suncorp Stadium.

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Andrew Johns knew how to lead on the field — can he do it from the sidelines?

In that game it was the Blues who had all the passion, and it was the Maroons who were the Keystone Cops, coming up with error after error as a result of the Blues’ relentless pressure. A total role reversal.

Andrew went into that game with a theory that if the Blues moved the ball from sideline to sideline early, then altered that tactic by attacking Queensland through the middle and with inside balls in the second half, then the Maroons middle forwards would burn out and be caught out.

It worked to perfection.

But could Andrew co-ordinate a team the same way from a coaching perspective where you are unable to literally push players into position?

I believe he could, and I’d love to see him have a crack.

One vitally important thing is, it must be Joey’s team. He doesn’t need a coaching director or a mentor of any sort, it has to be his side.

Joey’s team, Joey’s coaching staff. A new direction.

STORM DAMAGE HARD TO FIX

Wednesday night’s game was death by Melbourne Storm. Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater, Smith and the debutant Cameron Munster, destroyed us.

While Blues types were calling for Daly Cherry-Evans, the people who knew football knew it was going to be Munster.

It’s all about combination and the style of football you want to play. The members of the Melbourne spine were simply too smart, too fast and too good for whatever we could afford.

The trick shots they do, the game plan, too good.

The beginning of victory or defeat starts in the epicentre of the field. Queensland’s yardage game wasn’t so dominant, but their No.9 was phenomenal.

Even without Thurston, Queensland’s Storm boys were too strong. Photo: Adam Head

Smith confirmed himself as Origin’s greatest big-game player. He tormented NSW relentlessly, the bloke is a genius.

Slater is another phenomenon. God, game one feels like a lifetime ago when Queensland were kind enough to leave him out of the team. What were they thinking?

Slater and Munster took turns at tormenting the Blues through the middle. They were relentless, they made our middle defenders look clumsy and cumbersome.

With no Thurston the running of the side, it was left to Cronk and he revelled in the control. It was Cronk’s most dominant Origin performance.

NSW were outclassed and outsmarted.

The Blues didn’t play dumb this time, in fact they weren’t allowed to play at all. The only time we looked remotely threatening was from speculative kicks.