Noddy should do ok at worst on his own when it comes to kicking, plus we (probably) will have Ennis at hooker and he is a handy kicker too, plus his combination with Noddy.
If we have 9. Ennis 7. Noddy 6. Bird 1. Gids/Hayne we should be ok
PS: I think Bird has won some MOM's at 6 for NSW...the guy has excelled there in the past, and if they pick him with some reasonable amount of form on the board for the Titans I will be ok with that.
You're probably right, but I don't know if NSW can afford to go into the series with only an "ok" kicking game centered around the one player. You only need one kick to get charged down, or one bloke getting tackled on the 5th, to give Qld great field position followed by a try.
In the NRL you might be able to get away with that, but not in Origin.
I just don't think it's worth it playing Bird at 5/8 when we have other options who can actually kick (Carney, Soward, etc.), who are in good form, and who are genuine halves who have played in that position for most of their careers.
If Bird had actually won a series for NSW playing at 5/8 then I would feel differently, but that's not the case. If I remember correctly, the last time Bird played 5/8 for NSW we lost 30-0. Obviously, that wasn't his fault alone, but I do remember that the NSW halves looked completely ineffectual in that game.
The 5/8 position is too important to just shove somebody in there because you can't squeeze him into the lineup in his proper position.
Having said all of that, no doubt the selectors in all their wisdom will just pick the players they love (Bird, Lyon, Gidley, etc.) and then try to find a position for each of them, so we'll probably end up with a non-specialist 5/8 yet again.
