State of Origin 2016: Wade Graham’s Origin dream on the line at NRL judiciary

THE dream Wade Graham has held since he was 11 will be on the line on Wednesday night when the Cronulla back-rower faces the NRL judiciary.

A suspension for Cronulla back-rower Wade Graham at the judiciary would not only rob the NSW Blues — but also a little boy’s dream.

Graham, picked to debut in the NSW side next Wednesday night, incurred a grade one careless high tackle charge for his hit on North Queensland’s Johnathan Thurston on Monday night.

Carry-over points, and a 50 per cent loading from a similar high tackle charge last year, pushed Graham past 100 judiciary points — equal to one match.

A young Wade Graham’s dream could be denied by the NRL judiciary.

A guilty verdict before a three-man judiciary panel at League Central on Wednesday night would cruelly deny Graham his debut match for NSW.

It’s a game he has dreamed about since he was an 11-year-old NSW public schools representative.

“I’m looking forward to playing Queensland. It will be like State of Origin,’’ a proud Wade told the Blacktown Advocate in 2002.

Graham was also a ball boy in the 2002 Origin series, and said he was “heaps excited” about helping his NSW heroes.

Graham has been on an emotional rollercoaster since learning of his selection on Monday night.

“It’s a cruel, cruel world,” Sharks coach Shane Flanagan told The Daily Telegraph.

“Wade’s dealt with a lot in his career. Origin is his childhood dream. He would be gutted and shattered if someone took that dream off him. I don’t think he slept with all the emotion and the dark cloud over him.

“I feel sorry for him. He makes 40 tackles a game. There was no intent, no malice and we play a tough, contact sport. Thurston was slipping. I would hate Wade to miss his Origin debut. We will challenge it - if we go down, we’ll go down fighting.”

The players that have missed Origin through suspension.

Graham, 25, will complete a walk-through at NSW team training on Wednesday morning before catching a flight back to Sydney to attend the hearing, due to start at 6pm.

Cronulla spoke with Sydney lawyer Nick Ghabar on Tuesday about representing Graham. Cronulla’s defence will centre on Thurston slipping before being hit and that Graham’s first contact was with Thurston’s arm.

Thurston won’t give evidence at the hearing.

NSW coach Laurie Daley will decide whether to bring in another back-rower as cover for Graham. The Daily Telegraph understands St George Illawarra’s Tyson Frizell and New Zealand’s Ryan Hoffman are favourites. Parramatta’s Beau Scott won’t be picked.

Penrith’s Bryce Cartwright is in camp as a NSW development player but it’s unlikely he would be considered.

NSW have shown their hand by twice naming Cartwright as a development player.

“It’s been a bit of roller-coaster, the last 12 hours,” Graham said. “Firstly getting selected and now being charged. It’s kind of hard to process at the moment but we have 24 hours to get through it. I’ll take a breath now we’re in camp.

“I was obviously disappointed. I have to go back to Sydney now and fight it. Cronulla has been in contact already and they’ll be working with NSWRL, and me, to fight the charge. We’ll see how we go.”

Graham is hoping for the best while in Blues camp.

Asked for his thoughts on the tackle, Graham said: “I haven’t really looked at it too much but I will look at it over the next 24 hours. We will get our case sorted.”

Daley added: “Obviously we feed for Wade, fingers crossed he gets off and away he goes. You’d hate to see anyone miss an Origin game, he’s a good kid so hopefully they will put a good case together and he gets off.

“No one wants to see the best players miss out. It’s not ideal and not what you want but, at the end of the day, it is what it is and we can’t control it. He will stay with us and we will give him the support he needs.”

Originally published as State of Origin 2016: Wade Graham’s Origin dream on the line at NRL judiciary