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'It'll be either him or Ben Hunt': NSW Blues planning for Queensland's rookie No 6

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

The battle of the bench will be critical to the outcome of State of Origin III after the interchange proved the decisive factor in the series’ opening two games.

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Fast middles helped Queensland to an early advantage in Origin I before the NSW big men punished the Maroons in Origin II in the second half in Perth.

It sets up an intriguing plot line to how Wednesday’s decider at Suncorp Stadium will be won, particularly given Brad Fittler’s NSW side will be without marathon man Payne Haas.

Haas’ spot in the starting side has been filled by Junior Paulo with debutant Jacob Saifiti tasked with bringing the grunt off a bench that includes hooker Damien Cook, Angus Crichton and utility Siosifa Talakai.

“I think all the bench know their job,” Fittler said. “We changed things up (after game one).

“That’s the plan. Normally if their teammates can help them with different things in the game it sort of works out.”

With Haas out, Fittler conceded he may deploy Talakai differently after conserving the Cronulla big man for a 17-minute stint in game two when NSW were already assured of victory.

“It ended up being between ‘Sifa’ and Jack (Wighton for the No. 17 role) which tells you what sort of respect we have for ‘Sifa’,” Fittler said.

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“It probably depends how the game goes and I’m sure there’ll be a few curlies tossed up and he (Talakai) is the player who can fill most roles.”

The real curly one for the Blues is whether Queensland will start debutant Tom Dearden at five-eighth or opt to move Ben Hunt to the No. 6 berth following the omission of Cameron Munster.

Fittler is unsure but has been given an insight into Dearden’s ticker by the playmaker’s North Queensland teammates Reece Robson and Chad Townsend, who make up the extended NSW squad.

“It’ll be either him or Ben Hunt sitting on that left hand side,” he said.

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“We do our homework on all the players and obviously Tommy’s a little bit younger and newer.

“One thing they (the Blues’ Cowboys players) have been telling us is how much they like playing with him and they say he’s a tough little kid who puts his head in places where most don’t.”

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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