The pace of Origin requires quicker thinking than in club football,or even Test matches. There is no time for committee meetings,given the reduced number of penalties and therefore fewer stoppages.
Two NSW greats,Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns join forces to discuss and debate a combined NSW side that should be selected for Game 1.
An Origin captain must gain the trust of 18 players who could come from as many as a dozen NRL clubs. He effectively has only a month to build that trust,given the Origin series are sometimes decided by the second match.
Queensland historically draw their players from fewer NRL clubs and have a number of fit alternatives if half Daly Cherry-Evans is unavailable. Melbourne’s Harry Grant and the Dragons’ Ben Hunt are both club captains and play spine roles.
Madge does not have the same luxury of choice,particularly if Tedesco is dropped. The Roosters captain has led the Blues since the second game of 2020,yet NSW have won only the 2021 series in the years since. Many are calling for the inclusion of the Panthers fullback,Dylan Edwards. The modern game is all about territory gained from the backfield and Edwards has carved out an expressway of running metres compared to “Teddy”.
Should Edwards be chosen,there is no standout alternative as Blues captain. Isaah Yeo is co-captain at the Panthers but this is partly to free the younger Nathan Cleary from off-field duties. Some see him as a bench player in Origin,given his skill is passing,rather than carrying the ball forward in the opening intensity of these fierce encounters.
Jake Trbojevic,Isaah Yeo and James TedescoGetty Images/NRL Imagery/Nathan Perri
Cronulla’s Cameron McInnes is a fearless,hard-working leader at his club,but it would be a giant leap of faith to award him the captaincy in his first Origin match. Stephen Crichton skippers the Bulldogs but plays centre,too far removed from the decision-making spine. Api Koroisau,who tirelessly leads Wests Tigers,is another option. Manly’s Jake Trbojevic is not his club’s captain but is a player the All Blacks would call a “blue head”.
A “blue head” to the All Blacks can be passionate but is sufficiently composed to cope with the notoriously unexpected twists of fortune in Origins and Rugby World Cup finals and can adjust the match plan.
A “red head” is one who lets his passion and emotion take over and derail that match plan.
The Blues’ recent skippers have been too red-headed. When an Origin match turned against NSW Paul Gallen,captain from 2013 until 2016,was determined to win it on his own,taking the ball relentlessly forward,believing that leading by example would extricate his team from the looming loss. Ditto Tedesco. In the 2022 series,he began desperately positioning himself around the ruck,inserting himself as a first or second receiver,rather than act as a tackle-busting support player.
Paul Gallen tried to do it all for NSW.Getty
Compare this with the “blue heads” who led Queensland in their historic streak of wins. Hooker Cameron Smith,half Cooper Cronk and fullback Billy Slater – all from the same Melbourne club. They composed the Maroons when Origin games were in the balance. In more recent times,Cherry-Evans has played that clear thinking role.
A good example of the need to throw the switch to blue occurred in the 2023 NRL grand final. The Broncos,leading by 16 points after an Ezra Mam hat-trick,should have closed the match down. Rather than let his young team seek to run up the score,captain Adam Reynolds should have instructed them to complete their sets,kick to the corners and generally play safety first.
Instead,it was Penrith’s Cleary who pulled on the blue head and played a composed,calculating game,freed to play wider by replacement Jack Cogger who shared the first receiver role.
Given that Cleary is only 26 and a future NSW captain for five years,his must have made Madge feel like the admiral who saw his favourite ship sink.
NSW have had red-headed leaders before such as Tom Raudonikis.
Steve Mortimer’s hair is really red but he reserved all his red-headed fury for the preparation of the team,including the legendary bus trip past the Caxton hotel in 1985 when he fired up the team,as beer-soaked Maroon supporters banged on the bus. On the field,Mortimer was blue-headed.
Laurie Daley and Brad Fittler,both NSW captains and later coaches,had their blue headed moments on the field.
Significantly,NSW play in blue jumpers and Queensland in red ... well,maroon. In an Origin series in danger of being pulled down by a purgatory of injury,Madge’s best option is to start Jake Trbojevic as a blue-headed leader in the brutal beginning to the game. He can then bring on Yeo to help direct the team when the game plan needs to change from sledgehammer to rapier thrust.
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