Brad Fitler supported the convention at every turn when he selected his NSW team, so it should come as no surprise that he did so again for the 2022 State of Origin series opener.
Despite being loyal to the players who worked for him, Fitler stuck his trademark left-field thinking to a few selections, most notably bringing roster veteran Daniel Tupau to the wing and placing fifth-eighth with the Riders. Jack Whitton in the center.
Else forward Ryan Matterson, Broncos center Cotoni Stags, bench utility Stephen Crichton and Sharks halfback Nico Hynes are the four potential debutants as 18th man and Knights prop Jacob Saifiti and roster prodigy Joseph Swalio have 22 members. June 8.
Loyalty is a two-way street, and Josh Ado-Kar, Jack Trobojevic, and Angus Crichton have led them to a surprising elimination.
Despite losing three of the last four series, Queensland is relatively conservative on the election table.
New coach Billy Slater has brought in some wrestlers between Jeremiah Nanai, Patrick Carrigan, Ruben Cutter and Selwyn Cobo but has sided with key players since last year’s 2-1 series loss, a contest that ended halfway through the game. Two
Dumping star forward David Fifita is an amazing but despite all the hype, he has struggled to perform at the Origin level in his five appearances, failed to dominate the club level for the Titans and is back in just one game from a knee injury.
(Photo by Chris Hyde / Getty Images)
Slater dared not take the easy option and include Fifita but he was famous as a fearless player during his playing career in Storm, Maroons and Kangaroos so he should bring the same approach to his coaching stunts.
Fifita has the potential to be a game-changer for the Maroons, but he has yet to make his mark on the Origin arena.
One player who switched from a starter to the bench last year had hinted that he was likely to follow in the footsteps of Gordon Talis as Queensland’s Raging Bull at the representative level but has yet to prove it.
Dan Carlo, Dave Taylor, Quinn Hess, Joe Offhengau… many young Queensland forwards have been promoted year after year to take on the Talisman mantle, but size and strength are one thing, physical appearance is another.
David Fifita. (Photo by Mark Colby / Getty Images)
For NSW, the decision to change the winning team is often frowned upon but the longer you keep a squad together, the more likely the team is to stagnate.
Refreshing and reviving your line-up, even if it has won three of the last four series, is the key to key success.
And Fitler prefers to throw the traditional way of thinking outside the window, such as in 2019 when he made 10 changes for the second game after losing the opening match of the series in Perth and the Blues responded with a devastating 38-6 victory.
Two new centers – Witton and Stags – have been compulsorily selected due to injuries to Lateral Mitchell and Tom Trobozevich, with other changes in the NSW line-up in scope.
He is stuck in his spine with Captain James Tedesco Fullback, Jerome Louie and Nathan Cleary and Damien Cook, although the only one of these four places was in doubt as to whether they needed to change the hooker with Api. Koroisau in top form in the Panthers.
Brian Too will also work out a lead-up half of his club to spread Penrith’s influence across the field and Lock Isaah Yo will provide a grant in the middle as well as a link between the pack and the Speedstars on the back. Liam Martin and Crichton fill in where needed Bench Utility gives Fitler the option to keep another pair of Panthers in the park whenever a gap is opened.
There was talk that Martin would fail to start in the Game-Day squad, which was a surprise because he was bled by the Blues last year and he just made a mistake during their dazzling dealings with the competition’s top premiers. 11-1 start this season. Fortunately he is on the interchange and should probably start in the second row before Tariq Sims.
Still, for all the tinkering that Fitler has done, it’s a big surprise not to see Ado-Car on one side.
He suffered damage to the Dragons on Sunday with a few terrible reeds in a formidable defense for the Dogs but seems to be trying too hard towards a fighter.
After moving from the Melbourne Storm victory machine to the Bulldogs, it has easily been the toughest season of his career.
But with 10 tries from 12 origins, the crown of the fastest player in the game and a winger who never shied away from his responsibility to hard yard, the ado-car should have been retained.
(Photo by Chris Hyde / Getty Images)
Tupau is a good player but Queensland is obviously happy to see a rooster instead of a fox on the other side of the field.
In addition to the omission of Fifita, Slater’s biggest gamble in his first attack on top-level coaching has potentially shown too much faith in the likes of last year’s hidden players in Townsville and Brisbane.
There are 10 survivors hiding that 50-6 and 26-0 and that was on the ground floor of the house.
Knights fullback Kalin Ponga will have a microscope on him to lead the day after the Warriors rising star Reese Walsh.
Ponga, who missed the first two games last year due to injury but was part of a 20-18 Game-Three consolation win, is the worst for Newcastle this season.
(Photo by Chris Hyde / Getty Images)
For all its faults, Pangar has a 2-2 record at the Origin level since its debut in 2018 which is a decent record during NSW domination.
But it also tells you that he has yet to play a full series – injury has reduced his Rocky campaign and dropped him from next year’s third match, the series ending late 2020 and the first two matches last year. .
Both coaches have dashed for the first game in their own way. You have to. There is no point in falling behind when the team that won the first match rarely claimed the series by winning the next two matches – it only happened seven times, in 1982, 1987, 1994, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2019.
NSW’s Accor Stadium has home-ground facilities after the COVID-19 epidemic forced it to relinquish that right for three matches last year.
The Blues disagree with the bookies on winning the series, not just a game, and Queensland has always claimed that they do not care about pre-match bias, they have no choice but to be underdogs.
“I don’t think so,” Slater said Monday morning. “I never set foot on the Origin field with the feeling that the other team was better than us and we won’t start now.”