Queensland Origin coach Kevin Walters makes the tough call and the right call

QUEENSLAND coach Kevin Walters has made some tough calls to benefit the side as a whole, but there’s one area of concern for the Maroons, writes Peter Badel.

QUEENSLAND have got it right.

Coach Kevin Walters and his selectors Gene Miles and Darren Lockyer have largely succeeded in delivering the best Queensland team for Origin I as the record-breaking Maroons chase a 12th series win in 13 years.

Picking Origin teams is never an exact science for there are myriad theories and millions of armchair experts but the Maroons’ class of 2018 has the right fusion of youth, experience and scoring power to stave off a NSW uprising.

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Walters is often viewed as a fun-loving, practical joker but he is nobody’s fool. Behind his jovial, likeable larrikinism lies a man of honesty prepared to make tough calls and he has done it once again with the omission of long-serving duo Matt Scott and Darius Boyd.

The easy option was to select Scott. No Queensland fan would have batted an eyelid if the Cowboys enforcer was there for Game One but Walters knew in his heart the Maroons’ best prop of the past decade was in danger of being caught out by the speedy Blues.

It was a brave call to overlook Scott — and the right one.

Holmes ran in four tries in three Origin matches last season.

The 22-game Origin stalwart has been a wonderful servant for Queensland but Scott didn’t appear in last year’s series due to a knee reconstruction and the shockwaves of that injury have been felt this year.

A forensic analysis of Scott’s NRL performances this season will show his lateral movement has suffered around the rucks. Against a fast, dynamic, powerful NSW team, Scott risked being found out in an arena that can turn golden warriors into weary performers overnight.

Walters deserves credit for heeding the painful lessons of last season, when he was too loyal to warhorse prop Nate Myles, who was so off the pace in a 28-4 Game One drubbing he was subsequently axed, never to be seen again.

Boyd and Greg Inglis have forged the most lethal left-side alliance in Origin history but Maroons hierarchy could not ignore Valentine Holmes, who scored a hat-trick in last year’s Origin decider.

Boyd has been a Queensland mainstay for the past 10 years. Holmes is Queensland’s winger for the next 10 years. Walters could not go back to the future. The present had to trump the past.

Matt Scott isn’t the player he once was.

My only concern is the selection of Queensland’s halfback and the potential ramifications that leave the Maroons without a recognised goalkicker which could cruel them in the event of a tight series.

New Maroons No. 7 Ben Hunt has been superb for the Dragons this season, but Daly Cherry-Evans has been equally dominant, while also offering a crucial trump card — a matchwinning boot.

Hunt’s inability to kick a field goal in his 199-game NRL career must ring alarm bells for the Maroons if the game is tied entering the final 10 minutes.

Going into an Origin game without a bond-fide sharpshooter is a huge gamble, especially when the Blues have not one, but two outstanding goalkickers in James Maloney and Nathan Cleary.

Cherry-Evans had a late push for selection that fell short.

Cherry-Evans is kicking at 77 per cent this season and the Maroons can only hope they will not require the type of booming sideline conversion Johnathan Thurston landed in Origin II last season to save the series.

On the score of playmaking alone, Hunt has improved his general kicking and last-play options this season and must stamp his authority on this Queensland team.

Greg Inglis is a fine choice as skipper. Billy Slater was also discussed but Inglis, a 30-game Statesman’s Club member, has a Mal Meninga-style aura, gravitas and respect.

In the pack, back-rower Gavin Cooper might be considered fortunate given the Cowboys’ dismal season but the Maroons have a dearth of left-edge options and his experience will help front-row youngbloods Jarrod Wallace and Dylan Napa.

Walters made the tough call but the right one.

Off the bench, Coen Hess needs to lift his game after a patchy season at club level, but the blooding of Jai Arrow is an inspired choice. The Titans ironman is the quintessential Queensland player — tough-as-nails, passionate, committed and possessing the work ethic of a Baghdad bricklayer. The 22-year-old will relish the Origin occasion.

The Maroons may struggle to win this year’s series given the loss of Holy Trinity heroes Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk.

But Walters and his Queensland selection cohorts have given the Maroons every chance. They have challenged their young guns to step up. Let’s see what they have got.

Originally published as Queensland Origin coach Kevin Walters makes the tough call and the right call