Source : ABC NEWS
And just like that, it’s almost time to name two more State of Origin teams, with the Blues and Maroons squads for the decider to be confirmed after this weekend’s games.
Stephen Crichton is one of the names that’s been tossed up for a possible return, despite injury issues and middling form this year, and I don’t expect the move into the halves this evening to hurt his chances much. We all know what he can do on his day.
The issue for the Blues is how much noise there’s been around possible changes yet again, which is the burden they carry by having so many eligible players.
I think Nathan Cleary, Brian To’o and Payne Haas are the only players I’ve seen pretty much locked into their positions for Game III (although there’s always someone in the comments calling for Cleary to be dumped), and injuries to Latrell Mitchell and Casey McLean apparently saving us from a complete overhaul of the NSW side.
Otherwise there have been calls for:
- Dylan Edwards to replace James Tedesco
- Ethan Strange to replace Mitchell Moses
- Cameron Murray to replace Isaah Yeo, who would move to prop or the bench
- Haumole Olakau’atu to replace Dylan Lucas, who replaced Olakau’atu for Game II
- Api Koroisau to replace Reece Robson
- And basically a complete retooling of the bench, which has been a bit of a debacle for the Blues in the series thus far
All the while, Queensland is almost certainly to stick with the side that got the job done so emphatically in Origin II in Melbourne.
What do you want to see happen when the teams are named?
