Five things we learned from the New South Wales team announcement for Game I
THE Blues new era has begun with Brad Fittler naming a staggering 11 debutants for the series opener at the MCG next week. Here’s five things we learned from the team announcement.
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THE Blues new era has begun with Brad Fittler naming a staggering 11 debutants for the series opener at the MCG next week.
With a record number of players to wear the sky blue for the first time, the team hasn’t been this exciting or fluid in many years.
Here’s five things we learned from the team announcement on Monday night.
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1) Blues wild horses have to run
We can make rugby league more complicated than it needs to be sometimes. For all the technical talk, all the jargon, all the things we say to ourselves to make footy sound more difficult than it really is, sometimes all you need is speed.
Forget the rest, if you can run like buggery you’ll end up being alright more times than not. For years the Blues have tried to contain Queensland, to shut them down and tackle them out of the match and the return rate on that strategy is one series win from 12 attempts.
It was time for a change and Brad Fittler has done that. This is a story with a fair bit of statistical analysis, so here’s a stat for ya – the Blues are really goddamn fast. In Josh Addo-Carr and James Roberts the Blues boast the fastest and the second fastest men in the game and God only knows which is which.
No more backrowers in the centres, no more wingers getting picked because they’re safe – the Blues have a loaded gun and bullets to fire. It might not pay off, but it won’t be for lack of trying and you can’t ask fairer than that.
Of course, such a strategy has other risks. Roberts and Addo-Carr are solid defenders, Latrell Mitchell has been caught out several times recently and Tom Trbojevic is a fullback in a different position. The Maroons will no doubt look to target the extremities of the field as much as possible.
2) Fittler is putting a lot of faith in Latrell
Of the 17 Blues players selected, Mitchell is the only one selected based not on the player he is but the player he may one day become.
Nobody can doubt how good Mitchell is with ball in hand, he’s a truly devastating presence on the left side and can break any defensive line wide open. He also struggles to get involved more than any other outside back of his caliber in the competition.
Mitchell scored a try in the Roosters win over the Titans, but only had one hit up for the rest of the match. Mitchell has just two matches with over 100 metres gained this season and has had five hit ups total in the last two weeks. Just once this season has he had more than 10 carries in a match.
James Roberts isn’t known for his yardage work, but he’s better at it than Mitchell – he has four games of more than 10 carries. The overlooked Euan Aitken has 12.
Roosters fans like to blame Trent Robinson’s game plan or the club’s halves for not getting Mitchell the ball and there may be elements of truth to that, but there comes a point where he has to go get the ball. Mitchell’s work on exit sets, an essential part of modern outside back play, is non-existent most weeks.
That’s not an especially serious problem on the whole – Mitchell is only 20 and his NRL career is still just beginning – but coupled with his defensive issues it’s a real gamble by Fittler to back a player to do something at the game’s highest level that he doesn’t do week to week. If he can’t get involved against the Titans or Knights, why should we expect him to do it against Queensland?
More touches for Mitchell gives him more chances to do the things that make him such an exiting prospect. Getting cold out wide doesn’t help anyone.
3) The Blues have a unique weapon in Damien Cook
Damien Cook was second to Mitch Rein at the Dragons, then he was second to Michael Lichaa at the Dogs, then he was second to Cam McInnes and Robbie Farah at Souths. Now they’re somewhere else, he’s in the Origin side and second to nobody.
Cook is the kind of dummy half that Origin football has rarely seen and it’s not a stretch to say he’s the quickest hooker in Origin history. The players who have held a vicegrip on the Origin hooking roles for the last decade are Cameron Smith, Robbie Farah and Michael Ennis.
All three had good running games, but none have the speed of Cook. The players before that, the likes of Danny Buderus, the Walters twins, Jason Hetherington, Ben Elias, Wayne Bartrim, none of them could run like Cook.
Perhaps the closest comparison to Cook’s style are Craig Wing and Shaun Berrigan – both of them were dummy halves who built their game around speed and acceleration.
But neither of them started a match at hooker. The Blues haven’t had a running threat like Cook in a long time and how much of a license to run they give him will be fascinating.
His numbers are off the charts so far this season – nine line breaks, 41 tackle busts, four try assists and 94 metres per game – there are fullbacks who don’t post attacking stats like that.
4) James Maloney has everything to gain
Here’s something that will sound crazy at first but less crazy when you think about it – since Andrew Johns retired, James Maloney has been the best half from New South Wales.
Not the best New South Wales Origin half, that title is still held, improbably, by Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson. But James Maloney is the most accomplished, decorated and successful New South Wales eligible halfback or five-eighth of the past 12 years.
Maloney played a leading role in three grand final runs for three different clubs, won two premierships and has made the finals eight of the last nine years. Nobody else from New South Wales can match his consistency or longevity.
Todd Carney flamed out, lightning couldn’t strike twice for Trent Hodkinson, nor could it for Adam Reynolds. Jamie Soward comes close but his resume is not as strong. Mitchell Pearce has a premiership of his own but his Origin record is one of the defining features of his legacy and cannot be overlooked.
Maloney’s own Origin record is patchy. He partnered Pearce in 2013, a series that was there for the taking for New South Wales. He returned in 2016 to partner Reynolds and while the Blues went down again Maloney became the first Blues half since Johns to win man of the match. Last year was another series gone begging, and if Pearce cops the blame for letting Game II slip away then so must Maloney.
The 31-year old has helped transform Penrith into a true title contender and has his running mate alongside him with Nathan Cleary. He’s spent enough time at this level to understand what’s required.
An Origin series win is the last thing left for Maloney to accomplish and he will not see a better chance.
5) The forward mix is perfect on paper
Jake Trbojevic was widely tipped to start at lock with Jack de Belin to come off the bench, but Fittler has pulled a fast one and will start with the Dragons man.
This is a sharp move according to the roles the two players can fulfil. De Belin is by no means a tackle bag, he can be creative with the ball and carries it well, but his best attribute is his thunderous defense and he’s better suited to starting and playing longer minutes.
Trbojevic is also known for his fine tackling, but the attacking attributes he does possess (namely his mobility, footwork and ball skills) can make an impact at any point in the match and are heightened once the sting goes out of the game. Witness his excellent form off the bench in last year’s series, highlighted by his fine inside ball for James Tedesco in the lead up to the Mitchell Pearce try in Game II.
With Paul Vaughan to debut as the other bench prop, the Blues have blood and bone with the starters with a little more speed, skill and craft off the bench. That same kind of attacking impact may be behind the selection of Rabbitohs backrower Angus Crichton over Tariq Sims. It’s an excellent mix all told and the forwards is an area New South Wales should back themselves to win.
At the very least it promises to be a great improvement on last year – the Blues sold themselves short in all three matches when they continually switched Josh Jackson to the middle despite him being better suited to an edge. He may have won man of the match in Game II for reasons passing understanding, but the Blues did not press their advantage as much as they should have.
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