League greats have forecast NSW Blues coach Michael Maguire will be forced to make a brutal halves decision for State of Origin III.
Nathan Cleary is expected to have recovered from a hamstring injury and be available, and both Andrew Johns and Phil Gould believe his selection is a no-brainer.
Gould said Cleary would have been on target to return for the Panthers as early as next weekend if they didn’t have the bye.
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That would still give him two opportunities – against the Cowboys and Broncos in round 17 and 18 – before Origin III teams are picked.
“If he got one (match) under his belt before game three, you’d certainly be picking him,” Gould said on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus.
Eels halfback Mitchell Moses is firming as the favourite to earn his own Blues recall when Maguire names his team for game two on Sunday night.
Should Moses play well in Melbourne and the Blues level the series, it would leave Maguire with a tough decision to make.
But Johns said the solution was simple: “I’d pick them both”.
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“And they’ll work out how to play amongst themselves,” he said.
Johns pointed to the last 20 minutes of last year’s grand final, when the Panthers’ rallied from 16 points down against the Broncos, as an example of how a Cleary-Moses halves pairing could work.
“Jack Cogger came on and played first receiver and Nathan played out the back. The Moses Leota try, Nathan got the ball on that second layer of attack, show and go …
“There was another try where Nathan came on the back of Isaah Yeo, but Jack Cogger was first receiver.
“They’d work it out amongst themselves, Moses and Cleary, who’d be the dominant player, who would play on board.
“Nathan would obviously do a lot of the kicking, but they would share it around. I’d like to see how they go together.”
That said, Johns said Maguire should pick Cody Walker at No.6 alongside Moses in game two.
And if they set up a game three decider, they should be the halves, and Cleary should be left out.
Moses and Walker were the Blues’ halves combination for game three of last year. Walker won player-of-the-match as NSW won 24-10 to avoid a whitewash.
Johns said he believed Cleary and Walker should’ve been first-choice halves.
“Cody unlocks the left-and side, and in game one there was a lot of balls that hit the ground when we were going to our left,” Johns explained.
“One thing about Cody, when the ball goes away, Cody’s not chasing the ball – he’s organising his back row, he’s organising his full back, he’s organising his centre, his winger. Game three last year, he lit up that left side.
“If everyone was fit … I would have gone with Cleary and Cody. I would actually go Moses and Cody for game two – they played together last year in game three and they combine really well.
Host Zac Bailey from 9News then put it to Johns if Walker and Moses are the Blues halves in a victorious game two side…
“I wouldn’t change them.”
Origin II sides will be picked on Sunday night. Like game one, the Blues are expected to announce the team Sunday night, and the Maroons on Monday morning.