Queensland coach Kevin Walters should get in first and grab Cody Walker

If Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Greg Smith and Wayne Bartim can play Origin for Queensland then the Rabbitohs’ ace should too, writes MIKE COLMAN

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Monday will be a big day for Queensland Origin hopefuls.

At one stage it looked like Maroons’ coach Kevin Walters and his fellow selectors wouldn’t have much of task ahead of them in coming up with a team for Game I of the series.

They’d just pick the only players fit and showing any sort of form.

Their only problem would be managing to come up with 17.

Things are starting to look up for Maroons coach Kevin Walters and his fellow selectors. Picture: Steve Pohlner/AAP

Happily for Maroons’ supporters the situation has improved in recent weeks with the Broncos and Cowboys climbing off the canvas and Queensland-eligible players around the country putting up their hands for selection.

Chances are there won’t be any surprises, which is a pity. If there’s one thing better than seeing a well deserving youngster get his chance at Origin it’s seeing someone that no-one thought was a hope get their name read out.

Over the years some of Queensland’s most baffling selections have proved to be their best.

Who can forget the outcry in 1987 when a little blond fella from Ipswich named Allan Langer was given the nod ahead of the more fancied Laurie Spina?

The only hoo-ha that’s come close to that was in 2001 when a little blond fella from Warrington named Allan Langer was given the nod ahead of just about everyone.

Then we had Adam Mogg in 2006. The NSW headlines asked ‘Adam Who?’ After he scored two tries in the Maroons’ 30-6 win the Queensland headlines answered, ‘Adam Mogg, That’s Who’.

Maroons winger Adam Mogg silenced his critics in 2006. Picture: Adam Head

Ben Ikin was so unknown in 1995 that even the Queensland coach Fatty Vautin didn’t have a clue who he was. When 19 year-old Ikin arrived at the team hotel in his boardshorts and thongs Vautin thought he was an autograph hunter.

It’s that sort of shock selection story that makes Origin what it is.

The last thing we want it to become is predictable or boring, which is why I have a suggestion for Kevvie and the rest of the selection panel.

Pick Cody Walker.

I’m serious. I know that there is a chance that the Blues will announce Walker in their side, but the Maroons should as well.

Matter of fact they should get in first.

Cody Walker, seen with potential Queensland team-mate Michael Morgan, would look good in a maroon jersey. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Come on, spice things up a bit. Make a pre-emptive strike. Freddy Fittler is scheduled to announce the NSW team during Channel 9’s Sunday night footy telecast.

Kevvie should get onto Fox a few minutes earlier and say, “I’ll be announcing the rest of my team tomorrow, but just for starters, we’ll take Cody Walker thanks.”

Well why not? Everyone knows the Origin selection criteria is as elastic as a rubber band and the Maroons have picked plenty of players with a lot less credibility than Walker.

Just ask a Blues supporter and they’ll list them for you. They’ll even sing you a song.

But if Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Craig Smith and Wayne Bartim could play Origin for Queensland I reckon Cody Walker is a special.

The closest Kempsey-born and raised Wayne Bartrim came to playing in Queensland was Tweed Heads, unlike Residents rep Walker.

In 2012 to tighten up the rules the NRL introduced a set of questions the answers to which determine eligibility.

These include the State in which the players played the majority of their rugby league from Under-6 to Under 18; the State where they spent the majority of their school years; the State where they first played junior representative football, and the State in which they played school representative football.

Okay, so Walker was born in Nowra and moved to Casino as a kid. He also played junior rugby league for Casino Cougars, but he then went to high school at Palm Beach-Currumbin before being signed by the Gold Coast Titans, playing in their NYC team for two years.

In 2011 he played for the Penrith Panthers’ NSW Cup team the Windsor Wolves but the next year was back in Queensland with Easts Tigers.

Queensland Cup player of the year 2013 Cody Walker in action for Easts Tigers. Picture: Steve Bell/SMP Images

In 2013 he played for Queensland Residents against NSW Residents and won the Queensland Cup Best and Fairest award before going back to the Titans and then joining the Rabbitohs in 2015.

And if all that doesn’t make him at least as much a Maroon as it does a Blue, then Fatty’s not a redhead.

So come on Kevvie how about it?

All together now, “Nowra, that’s in Queensland; Casino, that’s in Queensland; Redfern, that’s in Queensland, Queensland’s everywhere ….”

Originally published as Queensland coach Kevin Walters should get in first and grab Cody Walker