NSW coach Brad "Freddy" Fittler focused on the one quality a coach cant coach when he chose his team for the first State of Origin match: speed.
The Blues have an abundance of god-given pace in the backs, including winger
Josh Addo-Carr who has three gears – fast, very fast and gone. There are also some very quick forwards in open space, including Souths hooker Damien Cook, one of 11 Blues players debuting in rugby leagues showcase contest.
Suspect in defence: Latrell Mitchell.
Photo: AAP
“Leg speed”, as in quickness to play the ball, is highly valued in the NRL
and Freddy has chosen a team rich in this quality, too.
The weakness, however, is the absence of a quality a coach can coach,
although Freddy will have to rely on Churchillian words of inspiration, rather
than tackling bags.
The Blues have some serious problems in defence, particularly in the centres.
Left centre Latrell Mitchell and right centre James Roberts displayed
scorching speed in attack when their respective clubs, the Roosters and Broncos, met in
round 11. Roberts, particularly, impressed when he applied the after-burners
and skirted around the Roosters' defence for a crucial try.
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However, while Roberts' burst of speed brought his club coach, Wayne
Bennett, to his feet, Fittler noted that “Jimmy the Jet” had run past Mitchell.
Origin games can go for long periods where one team is forced into a defensive
position, particularly in 2018 where referees are blowing penalties in blocks.
This will represent a challenge to the defensively fragile Blues centres and new
right winger Tom Trbojevic, who plays fullback for Manly.
Trbojevic will be positioned outside Roberts, who has an Achilles injury.
Good luck, Tom, who makes his debut in a game of such furious pace, over-laps
loom in micro seconds.
Cook also has problems in defence. He is a leg tackler who often fails to
position his body in front of the ball carrier. This was very noticeable in the
Rabbitohs' match against the Cowboys, where Cook had trouble tackling Tongan giant Jason Taumalolo.
The Rabbitohs hooker threw his head well to the side as he made a tepid
attempt to tackle Taumalolo, a failing that Queensland coach Kevin Walters
wont have missed as he lines up the Raiders Josh Papalii to run at him.
While the Maroons don't have as much pace in the forwards as the Blues, they
will welcome the faster ruck speed they generate from Cooks tackles.
Fittler has also chosen one prop on the bench, the Dragons Paul Vaughan,
departing from the convention of having four front-rowers in a squad of 17.
NSWs No.13, Jack de Belin, is not a big body and has a hip flexor injury, which
explains why he will start. If he came off the bench and his injury forced him to
retire from the game, the Blues would burn one interchange.
Back-rower Angus Crichton will probably be asked to play in the middle, a role
this gifted recruit from rugby union can fill.
However, with five-eighth James Maloney on the Blues' left side and
Queensland traditionally viewing him with a giant bulls eye on his jumper, the
Blues will at least know which side the Maroons will maraud.
Walters has selected a brilliant back line and a pack which will run like the lead
dog in a pig hunt. The most obvious weakness is goal kicking, a void opened up after a decade of
sharpshooters Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston.
While the Blues have two accurate goalkickers in half Nathan Cleary and
Maloney, Queensland will be relying on the left winger Valentine
Holmes, who is only a back-up kicker for the Sharks. Holmess goal-kicking record for 2017-18 is 10 goals from 12 attempts, a very commendable 83 per cent. His career accuracy is 23 goals from 32 attempts, a less commendable rate of 72 per cent.
Members of past Queensland teams who have seen his attempts at
practice say he is a “good training kicker” but there have been many of these
over the decades. It will be a different matter when he is lining up a kick at the MCG with 80,000
eyes on him, or at ANZ Stadium with 70,000 Blues booing him.
Still, Walters had no option, other than to include a specialist goalkicker and
that would have exposed weaknesses elsewhere.
According to Champion Data, Holmes wing partner, Dane Gagai, has recorded
one miss from one attempt the past two seasons and three goals from seven
shots, or 43 per cent over his career.
Walters may have been tempted to debut on the bench the Knights brilliant
fullback, Kalyn Ponga, but his current average of 63 per cent (17 goals from 27
attempts) would not have swayed the selectors.
Still, to leave out Queenslands next great player shows Walters team has
been chosen from a typical Maroon catalogue.
Dont fall for their plaintive cry that they are underdogs.
Roy Masters is a Sports Columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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