Michael Maguire has six weeks and a dozen NSW selection calls to make
By Dan Walsh
In Brad Fittler’s first week as City Origin coach more than a decade ago, he was calling his forwards “cats” and was carting the ball up to them in training at the age of 40.
City bench forward and Eels prop Mitch Allgood duly sat Fittler on his backside.
It’s the kind of scene new Blues coach Michael Maguire, famed for his intensity and toughness, and publicly desiring the same in his NSW side, would shoot into his veins.
Less than six weeks out from picking that team, Maguire could do with an old-fashioned, bona fide City-Country Origin selection trial. The type of game that in 2003 pitted a Country Origin halves pairing of Trent Barrett and Andrew Johns against City’s Braith Anasta and Brent Sherwin.
It won’t ever grace rugby league’s calendar - not at the top level - again, for obvious and sound reasons. But arguments can be made for a maximum of eight incumbents being odds on for a sky blue start in Origin I.
Nathan Cleary at halfback, Brian To’o and a fit Tom Trbojevic somewhere in the backline, Payne Haas and Liam Martin in the pack - these are your walk-ups. Middles Isaah Yeo, Jake Trbojevic and Cameron Murray are all but certainties too, though how you play them is a point of debate.
As for the rest of Maguire’s options - full-strength City and Country line-ups in a traditional early May timeslot, while giving the NSW walk-ups a week off, say it all.
Any debate that tosses up choices between Taniela Paseka or Siosifa Talakai, Clint Gutherson or Ryan Papenhuyzen on a bench, and how to fit previous NSW match winners Matt Burton and Damien Cook in, is worth having.
When his predecessor Fittler took charge in 2018, Freddie’s first side featured a record 11 Origin debutants. The next six rounds will dictate where Maguire lands on up to a dozen selection decisions, as outlined below.
The spine
Cleary is a lock-in, and surely so too is Koroisau given his status as not just the NRL’s form No.9, but one of the best playmakers in the competition period.
Incumbent skipper James Tedesco has answered his critics and then some too since last year’s series, and Maguire “has an idea” of who he’ll plump for between one of the best fullbacks of the modern era and the irrepressible Dylan Edwards. As you’d expect though, Maguire declined to share that idea.
Would you pick Mitchell Moses for Origin after playing just one, or even no club games beforehand?Credit: Getty
The five-eighth spot is “wide open” in the new coach’s eyes - “the next six weeks will decide that”. Mitchell Moses started the season in ominous touch, but his broken foot has robbed him of a critical lead-in, with at most one or two games, if any, on the cards before the Blues squad is picked after round 12.
Incumbent Cody Walker is struggling like the rest of South Sydney, while Cleary’s Penrith and previous Origin halves partner Jarome Luai has been solid, not spectacular so far this year. Ditto Nicho Hynes.
The outside backs
Brian To’o’s yardage game remains peerless coming out of trouble and while he’s only scored two tries this season, he’s surely got one wing spot sewn up.
Josh Addo-Carr’s return from shoulder and concussion issues with a hat-trick last week against Melbourne also bodes well. More of the same on Canterbury’s left edge should see him home. Which then sees attention turn to teammate Stephen Crichton, a proven big-game performer on either edge and anywhere in the backline.
Michael Maguire wants to know Latrell Mitchell is in the right headspace for the Origin arena.Credit: Steven Siewert
A fit Trbojevic is a must in the centres given the carnage he’s wrought in a roving role. So too Latrell Mitchell, who returns from suspension in two weeks - with Maguire, and the rest of rugby league wanting to “make sure he is in the right headspace”, given Origin’s pressure-cooker environment.
Zac Lomax and Joseph Suaalii, along with veteran Daniel Tupou, present as smokies on the wing. Newcastle’s Bradman Best scored two tries on debut last year at centre last year and is in fair touch too, though Izack Tago and Taylan May have presented the best form lines this year for Blues-aligned three-quarters.
The forwards
Payne Haas, due back from a knee injury next week, walks into any front-row in the world. Jake Trbojevic is probably what Maguire would produce if he were crafting the perfect player in his own mind, so he’s there for Origin I too. Junior Paulo has impressed starting off Parramatta’s bench and Maguire has consistently emphasised form outweighs reputation.
On that front, Manly mountain Taniela Paseka, Rooster Terrell May, Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu and even Warriors middle Mitch Barnett have outpointed the likes of Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Newcastle’s Saifiti brothers in 2024.
At lock, Yeo and Murray are peerless. But Queensland have nullified the linkman role Yeo performs so well at Penrith the past two years, and Murray is far more effective in the middle than when he shuffles to an edge to accommodate Yeo. So how do you balance two otherwise superb No. 13s?
Liam Martin remains the best edge back-rower in NSW, if not the game. Hudson Young has been strong in an impressive Canberra outfit. Fellow Blues incumbent Tyson Frizell is due back from injury in a few weeks, while Keaon Koloamatangi’s form hasn’t hit the heights that earned him a debut last year.
Manly’s Haumole Olakau’atu though hasn’t suffered the downturn that has come with previous Origin discussions around him. And Angus Crichton has emerged as one of the Roosters’ form players since reclaiming his starting spot in recent weeks.
The bench
Versatility is key in Maguire’s eyes given the impact HIAs and injuries have played in the Origin furnace. Come on down Jack Wighton, who will have to address his Origin availability in the coming weeks.
A player like Cameron McInnes comes to the fore as a lock and hooker cast in the coach’s mould, while rakes Reece Robson, Wayde Egan and Blayke Brailey are other considerations in the two-hooker model that has served Queensland so well, NSW less so, the past few years.
Smaller bodies Clint Gutherson, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Hynes all offer backline cover as well depending on how Maguire splits the bench between middles and utility/edge options.
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