Weekend Read: NSW coach Laurie Daley’s refusal to make changes to his Origin II team may be his undoing
The biggest risk heading into Origin III isn’t a 26-year-old debutant or a veteran pulled out of rep retirement. It’s NSW coach Laurie Daley’s commitment to selection loyalty, writes BRENT READ.
The biggest risk heading into the third and deciding State of Origin game isn’t the 26-year-old Maroons journeyman who has been charged with keeping a handle on the best centre in rugby league.
Nor is it the 33-year-old powerhouse pulled out of representative retirement to have one last glorious shot at shoving it up a whole heap of blokes in sky blue jerseys, not to mention the 80,000 or so supporters in the stands at Accor Stadium.
No, the biggest risk heading into Origin III at Accor Stadium on Wednesday is Laurie Daley’s loyalty, a commodity that he has in spades but may come back to haunt him next week as he goes in search of Origin redemption.
Daley watched his side get out-gunned in the first half a fortnight ago at Optus Stadium in Perth, held a meeting with referees boss Jared Maxwell to gain some clarity over some of the calls, and then did nothing.
He could have called in South Sydney forward Keaon Koloamatangi, who until last week had been one of the form players in the competition. He could have looked again at Wests Tigers forward Terrell May, who has seemingly been on the outer since day one.
He could have cut loose either Max King or Stefano Utoikamanu, two players who had minimal impact in Perth. Instead, he opted to stick with what he had, the same pack that found itself behind by 20 points at halftime a fortnight ago at Optus Stadium.
Loyalty went out the window where Billy Slater was concerned.
Slater shocked many with the selection of Gehamat Shibasaki, who has been a revelation for the Brisbane Broncos this season but wasn’t even on the Origin radar when the season started.
Nor, mind you, was Canberra prop Josh Papalii, who walked away from the Origin arena a few years back when he was overlooked.
Now he’s back at the expense of Moeaki Fotuaika after the Gold Coast prop played the opening two games of the series, including that win in Perth.
Slater could have stuck solid and kept Fotuaika given the Maroons won in the west. He could have recalled Reece Walsh, a player he has championed in recent seasons.
Instead, he was ruthless. Loyalty went out the window in the pursuit of a win in Origin III. Which brings us back to Daley. He resisted the urge to make changes and threw his bundle in with the guys who did the job for him in the second half at Optus Stadium.
The first half was seemingly an aberration.
Certainly, no shortage of pundits have been happy to suggest all the Blues need to do is fix their discipline and get a fair rub of the green from referee Ashley Klein.
It’s that easy, they will tell you.
If only.
Daley isn’t silly enough to believe that, particularly given his history as Blues coach. He knows as well as anyone how things can go awry in the deciding game of an Origin series.
Amid all the talk about Nathan Cleary needing to own a decider to stamp himself as an all-time great, plenty of people have overlooked the fact that game three was Daley’s Achilles heel in his prior incarnation as Blues boss.
In his previous stint at the helm of the Blues, Daley presided over three series deciders.
He lost them all against a side featuring some of the greatest players in the game’s history. The worst of those defeats was an embarrassing 52-6 loss at Suncorp Stadium.
Eight different Queensland players scored that night as the likes of Inglis, Thurston, Smith and Cronk ran amok. The Blues were battered.
In his final season in charge in 2017, he coached the Blues to a series decider again. On that occasion, the Blues were beaten 22-6 at Suncorp Stadium. Val Holmes had a field day, finishing the game with three tries while an ageing veteran by the name of Billy Slater played fullback for the Maroons.
Now Slater is in the opposition coaching box, having dispensed with loyalty and taken a pragmatic approach to the final game of the series.
He saw some inadequacies in the Queensland side and decided to act.
Crichton needed to be stopped, so rather than recall Walsh and retain his centres, the Hammer was moved and a bigger body was called on.
Fotuaika did his job but no more so he was dispensed with as well.
Daley held his nerve and backed the blokes that got him this far. The only change he is contemplating is how the Blues arrive at Accor Stadium.
There has been talk that they will dispense with the traditional walk through the underground tunnel that connects the NSW Centre of Excellence to the Olympic venue.
The walls of that walk are adorned with images of Blues legends, Daley among them.
Daley is ready to dump the four-minute walk as he finetunes the Blues’ preparations. It’s a minor tinker but it is one of the few he has considered.
Daley has been loyal to a fault and it may cost him another series decider. Or it might break the hoodoo that has overshadowed his coaching career with the Blues.
Either way, we’re about to find out.
*****
Wayne Bennett and Cameron Smith should lead the Kangaroos coach to England for the Ashes. The greatest coach in the game’s history and one of the greatest players should form the greatest coaching tandem the game has seen.
The clock is ticking on the Roos. Brad Fittler’s decision to knock back the national job caught everyone off guard. Fittler had begun speaking to people on the Kangaroos staff. There was talk that he had already lined up assistant coaches.
Then Fittler decided to opt out and the ARL Commission was back to square one. Bennett has plenty on his plate at the moment with South Sydney as he looks to avoid the first wooden spoon of his career but he has made it clear that he is interested in taking over the Roos.
The only hurdle is a rule that prevents club coaches from being in charge of the national side. Then again, the ARL Commission has bent rules before.
Remember Joseph Suaalii, who was granted permission to play in the NRL as a 17-year-old when the rules stated you needed to be 18.
Only a few weeks ago the ARL Commission changed the rules to give them the power to charge players if incidents were missed by the match review committee.
So the rules really shouldn’t matter. If the commission wants it to happen, rules be damned. That should be enough given Bennett wants the job.
So does Smith, whose tactical acumen and footballing nous are unparalleled. While Smith’s coaching experience has been limited to being part of Billy Slater’s staff with Queensland and looking after his son Jasper’s side at Currumbin, that shouldn’t be an impediment to him becoming Australian coach.
His resume speaks louder than anything else. Only Darren Lockyer played more games for Australia. Only Lockyer captained the national side on more occasions. He did it all during one of the most remarkable representative careers the game has seen.
So why not blood him now. Head to England to work alongside Bennett with a view to taking over in a permanent capacity next year.
Mal Meninga did a remarkable job during his tenure with Australia. Pulling on the green and gold was a source of immense pride on his watch.
His departure leaves a void but Bennett gets it better than most. So does Smith. Now that’s a dream team.
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