Blues may beef up bench
NSW are considering employing a tactic they have never used before in Origin - four forwards on the bench.
Selector Laurie Daley admitted yesterday the panel would discuss the prospect with coach Graham Murray, following the injury to utility Kurt Gidley in the game-one defeat last Wednesday.
While Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah is favoured as the bench option, with Rooster Craig Wing in the running as well, selectors will also discuss picking a back-rower who could shift to the back line if a player is injured.
That would bring the likes of Greg Bird, Reni Maitua, Ryan Hoffman and Ben Creagh into strong contention.
While it is clearly only a matter of time before Farah becomes a NSW player, his inexperience outside of hooker may cost him at this stage.
All four forward options can play in the back row or centre, and in the case of Maitua and Bird, have played five-eighth in the NRL.
Wary of the punishment dished out by the Queensland forwards in game one, Daley admitted the option would give NSW extra grunt, only half-jokingly saying they might "look to bash them" at Telstra Stadium.
"That's something we could look at," Daley said. "It's something we'd like to discuss - do we look for a Gidley-type player or go for another forward? That'll be something I'd have to discuss with Muz and the other guys."
Under the four-man interchange rule, which came into effect in 1989, no NSW side has ever entered a game without a back or a hooker on the bench in a State of Origin contest.
What also needs to be considered is whether Murray wants incumbent hooker Danny Buderus to play an 80-minute role. One thing that seems clear is that the selectors are looking for more aggression from their players, although Daley made it clear it needed to be controlled.
"You've got to be careful with so-called aggression," Daley said. "You can't be giving away penalties all the time. You've got to be controlled in everything you do."
Murray added: "Back at home, we have to show a bit of that passion early in the football match."
Selectors also look likely to persist with Newcastle's young halfback Jarrod Mullen, although a calf injury has him in doubt for Saturday night's clash with the Roosters. Daley said Mullen had responded well to his horror five days, which included a loss in his first Origin and a record defeat against Brisbane for the Knights at the same ground last Sunday.
"I remember my first Origin, I got smashed 36-6 and I thought, 'I don't belong here'," he said. "But the second game was better, and then the third game was better again."
