‘Nowhere near Origin level’: Four calls Madge must make to save Blues — Paul Crawley

If the NSW Blues led by coach Michael Maguire are fair dinkum about saving this State of Origin series they need to stop wasting energy complaining about this nonsense argument in defending Joseph Suaalii for a so-called controversial send off, and focus on the problems they can fix.

And that starts with Maguire bringing out the axe and making four extremely tough yet crucial selection calls for game two in the wake of what backfired in the thumping 38-10 loss to Queensland on Wednesday night:

— At the top of the to-do list is Parramatta playmaker Mitchell Moses must come in for the disappointing Nicho Hynes

— Wests Tigers skipper Api Koroisau also must be reinstated to tag team with Reece Robson at dummy half, because there is no question the Blues lacked creativity around the ruck (even allowing for Robson’s phenomenal defensive effort).

— If Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards recovers from the quad injury that ruled him out of game one, he also should replace James Tedesco.

— And last but by no means least Maguire needs to go cap in hand back to Latrell Mitchell and get the Rabbitohs superstar on board to replace Suaalii, who is now looking at a four-game ban after being rightfully slugged with a grade two reckless high tackle charge.

The honeymoon for the Blues new coach well and truly ended the moment fulltime sounded at Accor Stadium.

The Blues were not only blown off the park by Queensland’s onfield performance, but hindsight has shown Maguire was also beaten in the selection room battle with Billy Slater, who was proven yet again to be a genius with his controversial selection of Selwyn Cobbo in the aftermath of Reece Walsh being illegally knocked out of the match by Suaalii.

While the Blues played brave, they lacked direction, the kicking game wasn’t up to scratch, they missed too many one-on-one tackles and blew a stack of attacking chances, while it was only uncharacteristic handling errors by the Maroons that kept NSW in the contest for as long as they did.

That is the scary thing about this Queensland victory, because there is a hell of a lot of improvement left in them heading into game two in Melbourne if they get it right.

Even allowing for the Blues playing almost the entire match a man down, Hynes’s game management was just nowhere near what is required at Origin level, and his kicking game fell a long way short, while he also never threatened with his running game.

By no means is this a bash up on Hynes because he is a young man with an outstanding character that everyone in the game wanted to see succeed.

But picking Origin sides is also not a popularity contest and bringing in Moses is a no-brainer.

There’s just no way of hiding from the reality that the fears leading into the game about Hynes’ ability to handle the pressure that goes with wearing the NSW No 7 jumper were exposed in full view of everyone.

With Nathan Cleary sidelined for the series, Moses is the man to replace Hynes on the back of the fact the Parramatta star No 7 has one of the biggest and best kicking games in the business, while Moses also poses a threat every time he touches the ball.

If for unforeseen circumstances Moses becomes unavailable between now and the team announcement, Jarome Luai should then be moved from five-eighth to halfback with Matt Burton and his booming boot taking over as Luai’s halves partner.

You could also make a case for Burton to be selected on the bench regardless to cover a backline casualty like the Maroons did with Cobbo. But given the Blues pack is not as mobile as Queensland’s, it would be a gamble only having two forwards unless there are further changes to the bench rotation given Koroisau has to be selected.

While Robson was incredibly brave and kept turning up time and again with huge defensive plays, Queensland’s one-two punch of Ben Hunt and Harry Grant showed us exactly what the Blues were missing by not selecting Koroisau in the first place.

As tough a call as it also is, Tedesco must make way for Edwards.

Even though Tedesco had some good moments it was still a long way short of his greatest Origin performances, and it certainly wasn’t enough to warrant him staying in the team given Edwards was initially named ahead of him before being ruled out.

The other selection that will cause plenty of debate even though it is not an argument relates to the game’s most polarising player.

Say what you want Mitchell and his form for the Rabbitohs this season, but he is still the most destructive force at the Blues disposal _ and the player Queensland would least like to see come in to replace Suaalii.

SUAALII BLOW-UP IS ‘UNBELIEVABLE’

Now to the Suaalii send off and the debate about whether it was the right or wrong call from referee Ashley Klein.

I can’t believe the blow up coming from former greats, fans and also Michael Maguire.

We are no longer living in the 1990s and that type of dangerous high tackle should be a send off every day of the week in the modern game where preventing avoidable head injuries is paramount, regardless of if it happens in club footy or State of Origin.

Maguire was among the many who thought the Blues were hard done by when he pointed out the NRL’s lack of consistency post match, referring to when Walsh suffered a fractured eye socket in a club game earlier this season after a brutal head clash with the Panthers’ Taylan May, for which May was sin binned but not sent off.

The fact is two wrongs don’t make a right and the moment Suaalii connected with high and forceful contact he had initiated his own game of rugby league Russian roulette.

Yes, trying to predict how the referees and match review committee will react to dangerous high tackles is like picking the Lotto numbers.

That said, it is no use complaining when a defender flies out of the line to put on a big shot and things go pear-shaped.