I know it's fruitless because our selectors are guaranteed to do something stupid, but here's one last go at pissing in the wind:
1. Jarryd Hayne
2. Brett Morris
3. Michael Jennings
4. Josh Morris
5. Jorge Taufua
6. Jarred Mullen
7. Todd Carney
8. Paul Gallen (c)
9. Robbie Farah
10. James Tamou
11. Luke Lewis
12. Anthony Watmough
13. Trent Merrin
14. Aaron Woods
15. Tim Grant
16. Tim Mannah
17. Nathan Peats
I'd also consider Hopoate either in place of Jennings or Taufua or Mead in place of Taufua. You could also start with Gallen at 13, Merrin on the bench, and probably Grant up front. I'm just thinking we want Gallen leading the way in the middle for the first 20, then shift him wider and start rotating the other front rowers. I went for Peats because I prefer an actual hooker to give Farah a rest over a utility.
Edit: f**k it, forgot Tariq Sims. Possibly include him in place of either Woods or Mannah.
Edit edit: if you consider the forwards we have available, if they were all fit: Gallen, Tamou, Fifita, Lewis, Watmough, Bird, Merrin, Woods, Grant, Mannah, Sims, Cordner, even blokes like Tolman and Graham, it's actually rather encouraging. Our pack is not the worry. Nor is hooker if Farah is fit. Nor is our backline. It's 2 things, and 2 things only that are against us: our halves, and the sheer weight of talent in Queensland's spine, coupled with their experience of playing and winning together. To win, we need to pick the right halves (which we won't), hope our forwards can win the battle in the middle (which is very possible, as we've seen over the last couple of years), and hope our key players have the games of their lives, and that Queensland's have an off night. It's just maddening that our selectors continually hamstring us at the first hurdle.
) they will go on a run with a new set of halves and team that has got the monkey off the back.
