NSW coach Laurie Daley has paid Tom Dearden the ultimate compliment – and piled the pressure on him – by comparing him to Queensland’s greatest-ever halfback, Allan Langer.
Dearden will wear the Maroons’ No.7 jersey for the first time in Origin II in Perth next week, after Queensland coach Billy Slater’s decision to axe incumbent skipper Daly Cherry-Evans following their series-opening 18-6 loss at Suncorp Stadium.
Asked whether he was surprised that Cherry-Evans was omitted after a 26-game Origin career, Daley suggested Dearden – who came off the bench in game one – would be more of an attacking threat for NSW to contain, starting alongside Queensland’s new skipper, Cameron Munster.
“I don’t buy into what the opposition do, but what I do know is that Tom Dearden is a great player,” Daley said. “Anyone that’s ever listened to my radio show that I do, I reckon he’s the person I’ve wrapped most on that radio show over the last 18 months.
“I just love everything about him. And he’s going to be a difficult challenge for us because he’s a threat every time he has the ball. Him and Munster, if they’re in a running frame of mind, then it’s going to be a big test for our defence.”
Daley said Dearden, who made his Test debut last year as Australia’s five-eighth, is “continually … at you” and if a defender rests for a moment, the North Queensland skipper will seize that opportunity.
Laurie Daley has compared Tom Dearden to Allan Langer.Credit: Marija Ercegovac/Getty
“He’s sort of got a little bit of ‘Alfie’ [Langer] about him,” Daley said. “Different style, but Alf was always one of those players who was always at you, at you, at you. And the moment you made the wrong decision, he was through.
“And that’s what Dearden is. Such a good player. Such a good, tough player. Challenges the line, and he’s a massive threat to us.”
When asked if Munster was the modern-day equivalent of Langer’s long-time partner Wally Lewis, Daley replied: “Yeah, well, he’s played like Wally at Origin level before, hasn’t he?
“But their running threat, it is enormous for us … you just know that he [Munster] is going to be in and around the football.”
Tom Dearden in action for the Maroons.Credit: Getty
While the Blues will be wary of Queensland’s new halves, Daley was confident his own playmakers, Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses, will be better for the run after pairing up for the first time in Origin I.
“There’s still a lot of improvement left in us,” Daley said. “I think that’s what I took out of it [Origin I] as well – the fact that we looked clunky at times, but we were courageous.
“I think that combination will get better and better. They’re both great players and both offer a lot … we certainly can get better with the footy, I know that.”
Daley said that did not necessarily mean the Blues would play a more expansive game in Perth, insisting that Origin is always a war of attrition.
NSW coach Laurie Daley is a big fan of Queensland halfback Tom Dearden.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong
“It’s about getting into the grind and hanging tough and doing what you need to do … it’s not going to be rocket science how we go about it,” he said. “We’ve still got to win the battle through the middle. If you do that, you give yourself an opportunity to create some space on the edge.”
Daley said he had no plans to switch wingers Brian To’o and Zac Lomax to combat the aerial threat of Xavier Coates. To’o and Lomax were outstanding in Origin I, each scoring a try and carrying the ball more than 200 metres in attack.
To’o was sin-binned for a professional foul after Coates – who has a 12-centimetre height advantage – soared above him when they contested a bomb, prompting suggestions that Lomax might be better to equipped to mark the towering Melbourne flanker.
“There’s not much you can do,” Daley said. “You can’t make him [To’o] any taller … Zac will be right wing.”
The only NSW team change has been the promotion of Max King into the starting pack as replacement for injured Mitch Barnett, with Stefano Utoikamanu added to the bench.
“I thought he [King] handled himself really well,” Daley said. “‘Barney’, though, is a big loss. A lot of things that he did go unnoticed in the game of footy. But he’ll be missed by this group.
“So it’s a matter of everyone stepping up and helping do the work that he did in game one. So that’s a big responsibility for the likes of Max.”
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