The Second-Choice Blues, it’s not a saxophone song by Lisa Simpson, but an apt description of the spine NSW will roll out at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night. You can probably throw in the captain as well with Jake Tbojevic getting the gig after Nathan Cleary and Cameron Murray were ruled out with injury. James Tedesco is inarguably the second-choice fullback, recalled to the team after the Panther who replaced him suffered a thigh injury at training on the weekend.
If everyone was fit and available, the halves would be Cleary with Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses as his playmaking partner while Reece Robson has got the hooker’s spot on merit from the selectors even though Queensland would have been more nervous if Api Koroisau was in the role on Wednesday night. More League And while all this does not mean the Blues are goners in Origin I, the cards are stacked against them. Tedesco’s late recall to fullback gives Michael Maguire little time to establish combinations on each edge.
The Roosters veteran has played plenty of footy at Origin level with Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and Brian To’o but Edwards knows their nuances inside and out from their four straight Grand Final runs at Penrith. And Tedesco has no experience with debutant duo Zac Lomax and Joseph Suaalii or very little in the case of halfback Nicho Hynes and Robson. Maguire is not the kind of coach who will tear up a game plan a few days out from kick-off and rejig his tactics around Tedesco’s strengths.
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