Ricky's quest for Blue blood culture

RICKY Stuart talks of culture so often he is in danger of turning into a petri dish.

RICKY Stuart talks of culture so often he is in danger of turning into a petri dish.

When he took the job as NSW coach last year it was the first thing out of his mouth. It'll be the last, too, when he eventually walks out of the job.

Every day in every camp Stuart reminds his players of the Blues culture, and what Origin requires, and it is fair to say that they are finally starting to get it.

Everybody knows Origin football is different from NRL football. Stuart is showing them why.

It is fair to say, though, that when Stuart first took back the job as NSW coach the landscape was downright ugly.

Former coach Craig Bellamy has privately conceded he didn't properly understand Origin until his third year, when there was too much work to be undone in one campaign.

Bellamy coached his first two seasons like the Blues were an NRL side, concentrating on shape and defensive structures and all those qualities that win premierships but are not so important in Origin, which is about tribal warfare. At times it included selections that were a little puzzling, to be polite.

Before Bellamy's three series losses Graham Murray was coach and he lost both series he coached.

Again, there were players picked that can probably consider themselves fortunate now to have a blue jersey hanging in the closet.

The difficulty for Murray and Bellamy was that the decline happened in increments, often so small it was hard to identify until losses down the track were stacked on top of each other, and until they had drifted so far off track it was now too hard to right it again.

The last time the Blues held their nerve and failed to tinker with the team was in Games I and II in 2006, when an injured Luke O'Donnell was the only change for Luke Bailey.

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Every other game saw selection changes as they searched for the right formula. That's what Stuart faced when he came to the job last year, and it wasn't easy.

Still searching for the right answers, even Stuart used 30 players during last year's series, compared to 19 for Queensland. Forget about form, by any standards it was, for the Maroons, an extraordinary run free of injury.

Now, for the first time, Blues fans can see a future.

James Tamou came into Origin I this year and played like he was born for it.

Before this series some questioned the form of Greg Bird. He had Origin experience, and had played well whenever there before.

But Bird's performance underlined what Stuart always knew. He was an Origin player. Club form didn't matter once he pulled on the NSW jumper.

And as you look around the Blues' team there are more and more examples. Michael Jennings and Jarryd Hayne both quietened criticism with strong Origin performances in game one.

Glenn Stewart is hard and talented. Luke Lewis has shown he can turn a game and his worst game is never far below his best. Robbie Farah removed all doubts.

Even Tim Grant, still untried, has a presence that is far from fleeting.

Most importantly, there is a core group of players emerging that a future can be built on.

It is comforting after so many lean seasons.

The Blues lost their way.

Where Queensland was investing in pre-season squads and working hard on youth development, the NSW Rugby League was slow to react. Little was done in the way of development or any other planning for the future.

One of Stuart's first decisions was to reintroduce Phil Gould's Blues In Waiting camps, which had drawn criticism when first formed some years before.

Now, though, there is a new hope within the Blues camp.

Nobody is saying they are more talented than Queensland, or better than Queensland, because they are not. The Maroons still fill the bulk of the Australian side, and rightfully so.

They are the best at what they do.

The Queensland team of now was built in the dark days of 2006, when the Maroons were facing four straight series defeats. But the Blues are taking shape, in a way it is easy to see the core of this side together in years to come.

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