This was published 8 months ago
Opinion
Sack the half. Bring in the out-of-form star. Bag the coach. Just another day for the Blues
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports WriterSack the halfback. Bring in the ungracious superstar. Change half the team. Bag the coach.
When NSW lose the first match of a State of Origin series, you can set your clock to how fans, former players and the media will react.
We wonder why Queensland look down their rum-red noses at us from afar, laughing at how NSW devours itself time and time again with the series still alive.
The hysterical reaction to the Blues’ 38-10 loss to Queensland at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night is nothing new, but how coach Michael Maguire absorbs that external pressure in his first series in charge will be telling.
Poor Madge. He’s been thrown enough curveballs already this series: the vast injury toll headed by his halfback and likely captain, Nathan Cleary; the last-minute call-up of James Tedesco for Dylan Edwards; then the Joseph Suaalii send-off after just seven minutes.
Pressure does funny things to NSW coaches. They have one eye on keeping their jobs, the other on the values and principles they set for their team at the start of the series.
The day after the night before … Michael Maguire fronts the media after the Origin I loss.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The scrutiny becomes so intense after just one loss, they start panic-buying solutions by tearing up their team and starting all over again.
If Maguire makes sweeping changes for game two at the MCG in Melbourne on June 26, all the rhetoric in the last six months about building a team-first culture may as well get binned, too.
That’s not to say he doesn’t make any changes. He’s well within his rights to drop halfback Nicho Hynes, who unfortunately blinked again in the headlights of a headline match.
When Suaalii was marched, the Blues needed a game manager.
Five-eighth Jarome Luai, prancing about more like Spider-Man than the Batman-figure he cast himself as before the game, couldn’t be trusted to control the tempo.
For whatever reason, whether it was nerves or his troublesome calf, Hynes failed to deliver. It’s a great reminder that dominating the Dally M leaderboard doesn’t mean you belong in the Origin arena.
The obvious replacement is Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses, who Maguire would have selected at halfback – with Hynes possibly playing five-eighth – if he was fit.
Most anticipate Moses to replace Hynes now he’s returned from a broken foot.
Mitchell Moses is the obvious replacement at halfback.Credit: Getty
But what other changes should be made?
Some are calling for Souths fullback Latrell Mitchell to play in the centres if Suaalii accepts his four-match ban.
Mitchell didn’t play in Origin I because Maguire didn’t think he fitted into the cultural rebuild he’s undertaking. His form has also been patchy.
He was toying with the idea in late April of making himself unavailable for representative selection, preferring to concentrate on club footy for Souths.
Latrell Mitchell wasn’t selected for game one because Maguire didn’t think he fitted into the culture he’s building.Credit: Steven Siewert
It left the Blues confused about whether he wanted to play for them or not, although Mitchell has rejected such claims.
With NSW headed for defeat on Wednesday night, Latrell posted a typically Latrell image of himself on the couch holding a finger to his lips and looking pensive.
The post didn’t go down well with some at the NSWRL.
Would a Queenslander partake in these social media shenanigans? Would Billy Slater pick him if he did? Your team needs to stand for something.
It will surprise if Maguire recalls Mitchell to a team for which he hasn’t played since 2021.
Apart from having options at centre – Matt Burton, Jesse Ramien and possibly Bradman Best – picking Mitchell in the same team as prop Spencer Leniu would be problematic.
Mitchell repeatedly slammed Leniu on social media for his racist slur directed at Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam during the season-opening matches in Las Vegas. Leniu has apologised repeatedly since, claiming he didn’t know the term was racially charged.
Outside of halfback and centre, Maguire should keep the changes to a minimum.
If he does, the last 10 days of building rapport and combinations in the Blue Mountains will count for little. It will reek of the same panic that almost every NSW coach experiences at some point of their tenure.
His side played with 12 men for 73 minutes. At 20-10 for much of the second half, the Blues were still alive and kicking until Ben Hunt scored.
Maguire has lost one game. It’s not the end of the world, even if the rest of NSW is acting like it is.
Suaalii’s going or coming
Suaalii deserves praise for fronting the media at the Blues team hotel on Thursday morning to talk about being sent-off. Others usually run a mile in such situations.
Nevertheless, his comments in the Sun-Herald to colleague Danny Weidler denying he had promised Roosters chairman Nick Politis that he’d return to them when his $5 million contract with Rugby Australia ends in 2027 raised a few eyebrows.
Joseph Suaalii deserves credit for fronting up to the media the day after his disastrous Origin debut.Credit: Getty
“I honestly have not said anything,” Suaalii told Weidler. “Nick says that all the time, which is good to hear that he wants me at the club. He is a good man and I respect everything that he has done for me and the club – but I honestly have not looked that far ahead.”
That’s at odds with what Suaalii recently told Roosters board members, according to sources speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation.
Stay tuned until 2027 to see how it all plays out.
Dry night at Matildas
The running joke around the corporate suites at Origin was how the real football had already been played at Accor Stadium earlier that week: the Matildas’ win over China in their pre-Olympic friendly on Monday night.
Apart from Nathan Cleary and his family being there to support his partner, Mary Fowler, as well as members of the Blues team, it was a distinctly different crowd — as evidenced by the fact almost nobody was at the bar during the match.
The Matildas game attracted a crowd of 76,798, although Football Australia says it can’t reach the magical 80,000-mark because dugouts for the respective teams restrict spectator viewing.
Nathan Cleary was in the stands to support partner Mary Fowler as the Matildas took on China.Credit: SMH
A slightly better crowd of 77,214 was in attendance for Origin I.
But remember: the Matildas’ match was a friendly played on a Monday night. It was the 14th sold-out match in a row on home soil for the team, including four at Accor Stadium, since July last year.
Johns brothers take a stand
It’s more than a year since Matty and Andrew Johns fell out over Origin live on SEN Radio. Andrew felt his brother was lavishing too much praise on Queensland.
They’ve since patched things up, so much so that Matty has leapt to the defence of his little bro over comments from Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien.
Andrew and Matthew Johns have patched up their differences.Credit: Getty
Having finished as the Knights halves specialist at the end of last season, Andrew savaged the Knights on Channel Nine following their 32-2 loss to Canterbury.
He urged O’Brien to pick English import Will Pryce in the halves for Sunday’s match against Melbourne.
“They have to pull the trigger next week,” he said. “They have to make a decision because Jack Cogger and also [Jackson] Hastings have had no speed in the way they have played. There is no strength or running threat, and all the movement and the passing has been sideways. They have to put Will Pryce in next week. There might be deficiencies in his game, but they have to do something.”
Knights coach Adam O’Brien wasn’t impressed with Andrew Johns’ comments about his halves selections.Credit: Getty
Told at the post-match media conference about Johns’ remarks, O’Brien wasn’t overly impressed.
“Will’s still learning the game,” he said. “I don’t know how many games Joey’s watched of [NSW] Cup, but he hasn’t played too many back-to-back good ones … Now’s not the time to be executing players.”
Fair enough, although as Matty pointed out about his brother in his Fox Sports podcast with Cooper Cronk earlier this week: “You know, the grandstand is named after him up there.”
THE QUOTE
“The reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too. I want y’all to realise that.” — Chicago Sky power forward Angel Reese in a not-even-thinly veiled swipe at WNBA opponent Caitlin Clark, who plays for the Indiana Fever.
THUMBS UP
The Australian women’s sevens team is cherry ripe for Olympic gold after claiming the World Sevens Series, beating France 26-7 at Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. The win over New Zealand in the semi-final was just as impressive. “We always have a ding-dong battle with them,” captain Charlotte Caslick said.
THUMBS DOWN
Which boneheaded bureaucrat figured it would be wise to close all but one city-bound lane of the Anzac Bridge for roadworks at around 11pm on Origin night? Like a fat sportswriter squeezing into skinny jeans, it wasn’t pretty as four lanes of traffic became one. When will this city learn how to hold a major sporting event?
It’s a big weekend for … the French Open, as the tournament reaches its exciting conclusion, although without Australian Alex de Minaur and, if you’re sitting in the stands, alcohol. Officials slapped a booze ban on spectators for being too rowdy. Drinking isn’t for everyone.
It’s an even bigger weekend for … Australia’s swimmers as they prepare for the Olympic swim trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, starting Monday. All the big guns will be poolside, including Ariarne Titmus, Kyle Chalmers, Kaylee McKeown, Gina Rinehart, Tom Decent …
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