To say that I was surprised by Max King’s selection for his Origin debut is an understatement. I was nothing short of shocked.
But the more I thought about it, the more I understood Laurie Daley’s thinking.
And now I think it’s a very shrewd, smart move. It’s all about yin and yang – rugby league style.
The Blues have Payne Haas, Mitch Barnett, Spencer Leniu and King in their front-row rotation.
Haas is a phenomenal attacking player who can genuinely turn a game with a run or pass: he’s second for tackle busts (67) and offloads (32) in the NRL this season. In my book, Payne’s game breaks down as 60 per cent attack, 40 per cent defence.
Whereas Barnett is the opposite, with a greater weight on defence in his game to balance up what Haas brings.
King and Leniu – I don’t know if you could get two more different front-rowers. “Back fence Spence” is just a madman, and the Blues are going to let him loose at Suncorp Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of Queenslanders giving it to him.
Bulldogs prop Max King charges into the Roosters’ defence on Friday night.Credit: Getty Images
The way he plays, he’ll pack so much into a 15-minute burst of pure power and explosive footy.
King is the yin to Leniu’s yang. He and Barnett do the work that no one sees, but their teammates just love: chasing opposition kickers, getting out of marker, pushing up on the inside when the ball goes the opposite way, cleaning up any defensive mistake because someone has to.
Laurie called out King’s effort play against the Titans when asked at the start of the week why he was picked – talking about how the big fella ran 80 metres after a Gold Coast break to make the next tackle defending his line.
There’s another tackle, against the Titans as it turns out, that stands out just as much to me. In round two at Belmore Oval, the Bulldogs thumped the Gold Coast, but lost Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau to injury when it was 35 degrees at kick-off.
King ran for 88 metres in his first 24-minute stint that day. But his last play before taking a well-earned breather was a try-saving tackle on AJ Brimson when he was already over the line.
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo called it a “poster moment” afterwards, “something we want to celebrate in our four walls”. It’s a play that makes a lot of sense when I look at the Blues bench and forward rotations.
Cleary-Moses combo 12 months in the making
Across the board, this NSW team looks sensational to me, with strike all over the park.
X-factor players are balanced out with tough, reliable players like Dylan Edwards, Reece Robson, King and Barnett.
I interviewed Mitchell Moses and Nathan Cleary this week as part of Channel Nine’s coverage, and they strike me as being very comfortable together as a halves pairing – even if they didn’t give much away about which side they’ll line up on, how they plan to play or who will take charge of the kicking duties.
Sixes and sevens: Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses.Credit: Dylan Coker
But I know for a fact that they met with Michael Maguire before last year’s Origin series to work that out and had plans in place before Nathan went down with his hamstring injury.
Obviously things might change with Daley now coaching, but it’s something these two dominant No.7s have considered and worked out together.
Moses has already said he’s happy to play second fiddle given he played five-eighth as a junior, and I think that will bring his running game into play.
I have no doubt these two world-class players will work it out, so what I’m really looking forward to is seeing the Blues edges in action – where Angus Crichton and Latrell Mitchell lurk on the left, and Liam Martin and Stephen Crichton line up on the right.
Latrell and Angus were unstoppable at the MCG in game two last year, and I think Moses has been picked to make sure they get the ball to those guys on the left early and quickly.
Moses has a great long passing game, and if they get it right, Queensland’s right edge could be in for a long night.
Daly Cherry-Evans’ defensive movements can be inconsistent, and alongside him is Rob Toia, making his Origin debut after 10 NRL games. If that’s not a target, I don’t know what is.
Queensland has a very dangerous spine back together with Kalyn Ponga, Cameron Munster, Cherry-Evans and Harry Grant.
The Blues should be targeting Daly Cherry-Evans.Credit: Getty Images
Ponga and DCE haven’t been in great form, but the bigger the stage, the better they perform. If the Maroons’ spine clicks, it could be scary for NSW.
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is a big inclusion for Queensland, too. He’s carried the Titans pack this season and watching him and Haas go at it is a guaranteed highlight.
Approaching the bench: Where the Blues win Origin I
Where I think the Blues have a big, potentially match-winning advantage is the bench.
We’ve seen how influential players like Lindsay Collins and Reuben Cotter have been for Queensland – they genuinely changed the momentum of games in 2023.
Craig Wing: the Rolls-Royce of NSW bench utilities.Credit: Getty Images
The No.14 utility player can make or break Origins, too. The Blues best in that role have been Craig Wing and Kurt Gidley – they could play anywhere but, crucially, they could also slot into dummy half.
Playing hooker for a full 80 minutes of Origin, which somehow gets faster every year, is incredibly difficult. Connor Watson is the perfect foil in that No.14 jersey, but Tom Dearden is a question mark for me.
I don’t know how much dummy half he’s played in his career, and I’m surprised they didn’t go with Canterbury’s Kurt Mann for his utility value.
Especially when Grant (hamstring) played 55 minutes against Cronulla last week coming back from five weeks out. And Collins played 28 minutes against the Roosters after six weeks out with a knee injury.
When you consider Queensland have two debutants in Beau Fermor and Trent Loiero, the bench really could be where NSW win Origin I.
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
