Heres an articel bout 1/2 position for NSW from smh :
"When two halves add up to one too many
May 15, 2004
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Half and half: Craig Gower and Brett Kimmorley wait for their NSW squad medicals at Telstra Stadium. Photo: Craig Golding
It's a toss-up. Craig Gower or Brett Kimmorley for Origin I? Jessica Halloran reports.
Players in their club polo shirts sat on plastic bucket chairs, chatting amicably - the word "mate" littering conversations. Some were coaxed away from the buzz to try on blue Origin uniforms and have media microphones shoved under their noses.
"Just great to be selected," ran the standard line. No need to be controversial or campaign too hard just yet.
Tinges of excitement did emerge as the NSW Origin warriors mustered at Telstra Stadium this week, but a sense of uncertainty prevailed in the dressing room - it's just a squad after all. Still many choices to be made.
The coach loped with authority around the room. Phil Gould, chest out, in control, firmly shaking hands, had some decisions to make - and still does. Notably the halfback position. And the choice of captain. On the latter he says he cares but has no preferred option. So, is he any closer to an announcement?
Gould puffs out air from his lungs. In that voice full of firm thought, he says: "It depends" and "Things can be changed". It seems likely whoever gets the nod between Craig Gower and Brett Kimmorley for the halfback spot will also assume the captaincy.
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"They are pretty similar. Really I've got no preference," Gould says almost breezily. "Both lead their own team, both of them play a similar sort of game, both of them kick well, both of them are tough. There's no real reason to pick one in front of the other, but come Monday we've got to make that decision, it may get down to what the rest of the team looks like, if we think there's a halfback that might suit them.
"One of them won't be captain. The competition for that [halfback] spot is so intense that you would think if NSW lost the game, there would be a push for the other one to come in . . . then you change your captain mid-stream. NSW rugby league has to make the decision whether they want to make one of those boys captain or go for someone else in the squad. They'd both make great captains, put it that way."
Gower says it would be a great honour. Kimmorley? He's just breathing a sigh of relief to be in the squad.
"I'm just ecstatic to be in the side. You've probably got a lot of players that play rep footy more than I do," Kimmorley says. "I'd just like to be part of the series this year and obviously playing good now gives me confidence I can play in the series."
He's playing "good" now - he wasn't a month ago and Gould gave it to the pint-sized halfback in his Sun-Herald column at the time, writing: "The last time Brett Kimmorley played for NSW [in 2001] we got lapped in the two games he played in and we won the game he didn't play in. I don't think his club form has been that good over the last couple of seasons, either." Ouch.
"Scathing" is the word that springs to Kimmorley's mind when asked about that column. "I was pretty disappointed, I thought it was pretty scathing, it sort of come from nowhere, too," Kimmorley says. "I realised we'd been playing bad. I thought all the problems Gus wrote about the club was more Chris [Anderson]-related. To read it about me was disappointing." He then thinks and adds: "I haven't turned around and said I'm going to play good footy because of that column."
Does he think it's been a ploy of Gould's?
"Maybe - or not . . . We won't know until next week if it's been a game or whether it's been [to] have a shot at me . . . it was probably appropriate timing."
Gould is a master manipulator. His criticism stings. For a footy player whose life can run on a mixture of ego and talent, criticism can quell the very things that make him tick, or make him a better player. But Kimmorley rejects the notion a newspaper column reversed his form - as most footballers would. And what does Gould now think?
"Well his last month's been really good, he got back into the things that I expected of him, and some of the things that made him a great player. I'm not saying that the comments had anything to do with it, maybe missing out on the Australian side had something to do with it," Gould says.
"That's not what it was designed for, it's more to remind the selectors that the incumbent situation with Test selection shouldn't affect the state side. Origin football should determine who plays for Australia. I don't think who plays for Australia should determine who plays Origin.
"This is the hardest brand of football, there's no doubt about it. I wanted to make sure everyone was on an equal footing there, that club form came into account. Brett's club form in the past month has been terrific."
Kimmorley says he handled being left out of the Australian side "pretty easily".
"I wasn't really knocking on the door and saying 'you've got to pick me'," he says dryly. "I took the opinion I've got to play good enough, regularly enough, for them to say 'we can't leave him out'."
Kimmorley points to Gower as the man to captain this Blues side. He says his time in the Australian jumper as a leader will stand him in good stead.
Gower says he would like to captain and would also like the halfback role. "I think it would be a great honour to do that . . . really my experience at Origin hasn't been up to standard so far. I think I can, I've never played halfback in Origin before," Gower says. "I've only played hooker. I suppose looking forward to that opportunity, if I get that then I'll see how I go, I think I'm up for it, I think I have matured as a player. Hopefully everything will come together for me."
Gower says he didn't read Gould's words about Kimmorley - it's "paper talk" and "selling newspapers". But he sees the competition generated with both vying for the same spot and honour as healthy.
"It's good for both of us, it's bringing out the best in both of us, the competition, the competitiveness for the spot," Gower says. "Brett's done the job before, he's done the job for his country, it's one of those things where hopefully your form holds you in front.
"It's healthy for ourselves, it's healthy for the game, for the punters out there. It's something for them to talk about who'd [they] rather see in the side."
So who would make a better captain?
Gould's stated position is the players are almost mirror images of one another, but he says ultimately he won't decide who is captain. Then again, he does decide the team.
"There's an image to go with it, there's a profile to go with it, there's handling the media . . . in the end we will pick the team and the board will pick the captain."
