In just over a month new Blues coach Michael Maguire will pick his side for State of Origin I — and there’s a big question mark over what he’ll do at five-eighth.
Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary is a lock for halfback, but who partners him is very much a mystery.
That’s why NRL 360 host Braith Anasta believes the No.6 decision is a “tough call, probably (Madges’) biggest.”
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Cody Walker is the incumbent but the Rabbitohs veteran has had a disappointing start to the season.
There’s three-time premiership-winner Jarome Luai, who has been there and done it before.
Or there’s Eels playmaker Mitchell Moses, who filled in at halfback when Cleary was injured last year, but said during pre-season that he’d be happy to play five-eighth. However, Moses isn’t due to return from a foot injury until a week before the team is picked.
That’s led News Corp journalist Brent Read to believe 2022 Dally M medallist Nicho Hynes is “the best option.”
However, NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent suggested Maguire should try his luck with new Rabbitohs recruit Jack Wighton, who did retire from representative football but left the door open in February when asked about backflipping on that decision.
“I’d be going to Jack Wighton and asking him… I think it’s worth the question,” Kent said.
“Wighton is one of the few Souths players that you can walk away and be impressed with how he’s played.”
News Corp journalist Dave Riccio believes Wighton is “definitely open” to returning to the Origin arena but said “I still want to hear it from him.”
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“I’d still love for Jack Wighton to come out and say ‘pick me Madge, I’m ready to play Origin for you.’ I haven’t heard that. Madge has (spoken to Wighton), but Jack put it on the backburner (to focus on the Rabbitohs),” he revealed.
Kent added: “If you’re Michael Maguire and you’re determined that he’s your guy, you say to him ‘Jack I’ll pick you but you’ve got to come out and declare you want to play and I’ll pick you when you do’.”
But Read believes it’s a poor look for New South Wales to go knocking on the door of a player that stepped away from rep footy.
“How desperate is that though, to go to a bloke that’s retired. Surely there’s options out there before you go to a guy that’s retired. It’s got a little bit of desperation about it,” he said on NRL 360.
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If Wighton was to stick firm on his decision, Cleary’s Panthers partner Luai could find himself in the box seat.
Riccio said Luai is “always in the frame” but believes NSW’s win in game three last year with Walker and Moses in the halves shows “the Blues can move on there.”
He also threw his support behind Hynes.
“Nicho Hynes is a big body, who shows all the skill set. What’s he done wrong? He’s done nothing wrong to not be in the consideration to walk into this football team,” he said.
“I’m a big fan of Mitchell Moses, but he plays one game — this is on current return date — before Origin teams are picked. I’m with Hynes, I think he’s ready and willing to go.”
The debate comes after Maguire revealed the criteria he’ll be basing selections on. The new coach will pick based on current form but said “character” will come into it too because he wants a side that “NSW can be proud of.”
“One thing I find at this level, as you know, they’re not far between the talent, but it’s the character of the player that I’m really keen to learn and get a good understanding because building the character of the team is something that feels really important on where we are right now and in moving forward,” Maguire said at a press conference on Tuesday.
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Anasta said he’d “be happy” to see Luai in the team because he’s a “great player,” but when asked if he thinks Luai suits what Maguire is trying to build, he said “no I don’t…”
“I think he would pick Jack Wighton over Luai every day of the week. I think Jack Wighton is exactly what Michael Maguire stands for,” he added.
Anasta hopes though that whoever gets the nod, they’ve given the chance to see out the entire series — provided they stay fit.
“If you want to pick and stick and have a solid halves pairing… I know what it’s like, I’ve been in and out of that Blues team like plenty of halves over the last 20 years,” he said.
“It’s unsettling, it knocks the confidence out of you. You want to know that if you’re picking the six and seven that they’re for the series. We say it every year but it never really happens.
“So whoever they go with, they’ve really got to put trust in that combination and I think you’ve got to do it sooner rather than later. But that’s going to be hard given the circumstances with players being injured.”
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