It's the match preview angle that may have been in use for a century: the targeting of rookies. But in a dull Origin build-up, it's about the best we've got.
Asked on Sunday about trying to unsettle NSW first-timers Adam Reynolds, Josh Mansour, Matt Moylan and Dylan Walker, Queensland prop Matt Scott told Triple M: "You've got to target them. No doubt they'll do the same to Oatsy (Corey Oates) and Juzzy (Justin O'Neill). Origin's a different game and if you make one mistake the pressure intensifies. You've got to take an advantage you can get."
Credit to 'Thumper' – he answered the question honestly. Perhaps the civil build-up to Origin I has something to do with the fact the NSW, Australian and Queensland coaches all played together at Canberra. And the previous Australia coach, Tim Sheens, was in charge of it all. If they started sniping because ticket sales were poor, we'd find it difficult to suspend disbelief.
Not Joshing over injury
It wouldn't be a surprise if the case of one Reimus Smith caused a review of the protocols around State of Origin team selections.
Some in the Bulldogs camp were unimpressed they had to call up a fellow who played a whole game the previous day when Josh Morris was pitched in to the NSW team as a replacement for the injured Josh Dugan, and that Smith had to drive to Canberra immediately. It seemed something out of the 80s, when club football was part-time and Origin was the big show. Origin's bigger now – but so is the NRL.
Discussing the loss of Dugan, Blues coach Laurie Daley told Set of Six: "He said he took a little knock at the end of the session but thought nothing of it. He woke up this morning and it was a bit sore and he was concerned he would be letting the boys down. It took everyone by surprise."
Phillips' head explodes, part two
Former whistler Luke Phillips continues his attack on the referees' administration, this time in response to the try denied by the Bunker for North Queensland centre Javid Bowen on Saturday night.
According to stand-in Cowboys captain Gavin Cooper, the on-field officials only wanted to check the grounding but the try was disallowed for a knock-on by Lachlan Coote 60 metres upfield when Tyson Frizell was dispossessed.
"Bunker should only rule on grounding, touch line/touch in goal and contests from kicks from try's (sic)," Phillips tweeted. What happens when the on-field view is based on one thing and the bunker finds another? Is there is still the imperative to prove on disprove the view of the ref – or should the decision-making then become neutral?
Interview ball dropped
With all the soft club-generated video and on-field PA interviews these days, independent journos secretly hope a player will one day flummox an in-house PR kid by claiming to have been eye-gouged or accusing an opponent of being on steroids.
It wasn't quite that extreme but Wests Tigers recruit Elijah Taylor gave the club's website more than it bargained for on Friday night when he was asked about his try against Brisbane.
"It was a lucky one, I thought I lost it." A look at the replay will show you how near a thing it was – and the joint venture won by a solitary point. "But it was a credit to our halves," Taylor added. "They played at the line. [Luke Brooks] got a good ball on the inside."
Not exactly a rookie
At Origin time, we usually see rookies and journeymen get their chance. Cowboys centre Jahrome Hughes is neither. He's only 21 but he'd already played one NRL game when he took on the Dragons on Saturday night. That game was for Gold Coast … in 2013! The Wellington, New Zealand, product scored a pretty special individual try in NQ's four-point loss.
"I can't remember much from that (2013) game," he told the club's website. "There was so much hype and so much adrenalin. It's good to get my first try in the NRL. That's the goal – to play as much NRL as I can this year."
Left hanging
Classic footage emerged at the weekend of Wigan's Ryan Sutton attempting an "all hands in the centre" show of unity before the game against Castleford – and being left hanging by all 16 teammates. Still in Super League, and we've not had this rule tested in a while. If you throw one punch, you're in the sin bin. What if it's two or three? Former NRL prop Ashton Sims got his answer – sent off for swinging a few at Leeds' Brad Singleton. Singleton, who got Sims in a late challenge with his back turned, copped a stint in the sin bin.
When you go for the big pre-match 'all-hands in', but your team-mates aren't having any of it @ryansuttonnhttps://t.co/6l1cInAUsc— Super League (@SuperLeague) May 26, 2016
