Wendell Sailor: Where to now for Queensland

THE makeup of the Australian team begs the question: what happens next with Queensland’s Origin side?

NRL Rd 8 - Knights v Cowboys

IT’S fascinating that people are already asking: what are Queensland going to do now because of the makeup of this Australian team?

Justin Hodges, many thought, should have received the send-off he deserved in tonight’s Anzac Test, but Will Chambers has been close to the form centre of the NRL over the past couple of seasons.

But when your best players — no matter how old they are — are fit and firing and ready to go, you usually pick them. Tim Sheens went another way.

What does that mean for Hodges in the Queensland side?

The Maroons have been very loyal over the years to players who have done the job. But there’s a train of thought that Hodges has done his time and shouldn’t be there.

Billy Slater will be the fullback, no doubt. GI will be one centre. So there’s Hodges, Will Chambers and Dane Gagai who are the other three centres vying for one spot. Darius Boyd will also be in the mix once he returns from injury.

As good as Chambers has been, I would put him on the wing and leave Hodges in the centres. Hodges has earned the right to be in that centres spot and Queensland are a better side with him there.

Justin Hodges deserves his spot in the Queensland team, according to Wendell Sailor.

People talk about age, that the Queensland team’s getting old. But you know what? Darren Lockyer and Petero Civoniceva performed at the highest level well into their 30s.

The best athletes – think Kelly Slater and Floyd Mayweather – they can just keep competing. If you’ve still got the hunger and the drive, age shouldn’t come into it.

Queensland will be bounce back this year. We saw in game three last year what it means to the state. If it was a clean sweep, I’d be very nervous but I’ve been in and around that camp and they were hurting after game two last year. Cooper Cronk came back for game three and he is so instrumental in what they do and NSW are so undecided on what their halves are going to be, there’s no Jarryd Hayne this year, Paul Gallen’s in doubt.

Sailor says the Anzac test doesn’t compare to the Bledisloe.

WHAT’S BIGGER: ANZAC TEST, BLEDISLOE OR ORIGIN?

The New Zealand vs Australia rugby league Tests are not as big as Bledisloe and I don’t think they ever will be.

If you’ve been involved in the Bledisloe and seen how much it means, you’d appreciate that.

Australians have probably lost interest in the Bledisloe because we haven’t won it for so long, but when you’ve played in both — and I’ve also spoken to guys like Brad Thorn and Lote Tuqiri who say the same thing — the Bledisloe is something different.

A lot of players actually put Origin higher than the league Tests because of the love/hate relationship with Queensland and NSW.

When I was playing for the Kangaroos, the Kiwis would stick with us for about 60 minutes and then we’d blow them away in the last 20. Even if they did beat us in one Test, they wouldn’t beat us again for a long time.

With the Bledisloe, I hardly ever felt like I was a chance of winning because the All Blacks are just so confident in what they do and there is just this expectation that they will win. It’s a different beast.

I always compare Bledisloe and Origin, in terms of the level of play and intensity, but I don’t put Australia-New Zealand Tests on the same page.