Phil Gould sees the value in Stephen Crichton taking on New South Wales’ utility role, but the greatest Blues coach in history also says it’s a “gamble” that could “hurt” the side.
It was most feasible when NSW coach Brad Fittler revealed his 22-man squad that Crichton would play in the centres and Jack Wighton in the No.14 jumper, but a surprise was sprung when the Blues opted for the reverse of that in naming their team of 17.
While Gould hailed Crichton’s ability to cover every position in the backline, he also warned that running with Damien Cook as the only hooker in the 17 could hijack the Blues.
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“There’s no one here in the back row that I would be thinking could even contemplate going out to play in the centres at this stage of their career, so they had to cover an outside back,” Gould said of Crichton’s bench selection on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“When you’re doing a bench for Origin or a big game you’ve got to take a gamble somewhere… where they’ve taken the gamble is that; A: they’ll gamble that Damien Cook can get through the 80 minutes; B: both Jarome Luai and Cameron Murray have done some dummy-half work before in the past, and Jack Wighton – who was named centre – can play in the halves, so they can get that covered.”
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Crichton, like Nathan Cleary, Luai, Brian To’o, Dylan Edwards and Taylan May, is among a host of superstar Penrith youngsters who were western Sydney juniors.
“Stephen Crichton, to his education and development at the Panthers, can play wing, centre, left side (and) right side in either position, and he can play fullback, so he covers virtually anything that happens in the outside backs,” said Gould, who transformed the Panthers’ elite-pathways system as general manager.
“(Crichton) may not get on the field. That can happen and I’ve done that myself. I’ve had players on the bench like that. They get a couple of token minutes at the end of the game just to get them out there, but you haven’t needed them during the course of the game.”
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Fittler overlooked Apisai Koroisau, who was his No.14 in game three of the 2021 series.
The crafty Panthers hooker troubled the Maroons in about a 20-minute period during the second half, taking advantage of tired forwards around the ruck and darting over for a try.
“They’ve rolled the dice a little bit with Damien Cook. If Damien Cook was to get hurt early it’s going to hurt them because they would have to cover it,” Gould said.
“Now, I don’t think you’d want Jarome Luai spending a long time playing dummy-half and in the middle, which means you’d have to put Cameron Murray there, which then affects your edge.”
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