Stuart not waiting to start Blues revolution
Chris Barrett
January 10, 2011
NSW coach Ricky Stuart is only just settling into the job, but already he is casting an eye to the future.
On Friday week at Homebush Bay, Stuart will assemble 53 mostly emerging players he regards as being likely Blues representatives in coming interstate campaigns, some as soon as this year's series. The super camp, which will run over two days, has been dubbed ''Blues in Waiting'', the Herald has learnt.
The concept has been for much of the past decade a feature of Queensland's Origin planning, with their annual emerging player camps run by Wayne Bennett and Mal Meninga attributed by many as a catalyst in their run of five straight series wins.
Stuart, appointed in November as the Blues' first full-time coach, is not exactly taking a leaf out of the Maroons' playbook but has made planning beyond 2011 a key priority of his role. The gathering of 53 NSW-eligible, predominantly younger stars of the NRL is the first initiative in that process, aimed at generating an ''enculturation'' of the attitude and professional approach Stuart believes is required to succeed at Origin level.
Among the players set to be called upon for the off-season session are a mix of established first-graders, senior players and those on the cusp of or having already begun their representative careers. They include: Josh Dugan, Blake Ferguson, Jarrod Croker, Alan Tongue (Canberra), Josh Morris, Aiden Tolman (Canterbury), Kade Snowden (Cronulla), Kevin Gordon (Gold Coast), Akuila Uate (Newcastle), Tim Mannah (Parramatta), Lachlan Coote (Penrith), Jamie Soward, Matt Prior (St George Illawarra), Mitchell Aubusson (Sydney Roosters) Keith Galloway, Simon Dwyer, Tim Moltzen and Andrew Fifita (Wests Tigers).
A selection of leading NYC Toyota Cup players from last season have also been invited by Stuart including 2010 under-20s player of the year Tariq Sims (North Queensland), William Hopoate (Manly), Mitch Johnson (Melbourne), Dane Chisholm, Dylan Farrell (South Sydney) and Boyd Cordner (Sydney Roosters).
The most recent coach to lead NSW to an Origin series win, in 2005, Stuart was insistent upon his acceptance of the job about instilling an ''enculturation'' - getting younger players accustomed to Origin well before they are actually called up to the fierce interstate contest. His signing on a two-year contract came after an extensive review of NSW Origin operations conducted by Brian Canavan following the 2010 series defeat.
Another task in Stuart's full-time role is the establishment of a high-performance program, to be managed by former North Sydney fullback Wayne Portlock using NSW Institute of Sport facilities.
Coincidentally, Queensland's emerging players will come together under the eye of Bennett and Maroons coach Meninga on the same weekend that Stuart assembles his young stars. Their 14-man squad for a three-day camp in Brisbane includes Ben Barba (Canterbury), Daniel Vidot (Canberra), Robert Lui (Wests Tigers), Martin Kennedy and Jake Friend (Sydney Roosters) and Brisbane's NRL rookie of the year Matt Gillett.
with Steve Kilgallon
