Blues leave door open for new faces as Haas ruled out
Shayne Hope |
NSW coach Laurie Daley will leave the selection door wide open as he seeks to fill the massive shoes of front-rower Payne Haas in the State of Origin series opener.
Brisbane prop Haas will miss at least six weeks with a knee injury suffered in the depleted Broncos’ one-point win over in-form Wests Tigers at the weekend.
It will leave the Blues without their chief enforcer for the Origin opener in Sydney on May 27, and possibly the second clash on neutral turf at the MCG on June 17.
But with crisis comes opportunity and Daley said the increased speed of the game this year, coupled with having a six-man bench, would give him flexibility at the selection table.
Warriors prop Jackson Ford is an obvious candidate for a debut amid career-best form that has taken him to the top of the Dally M leaderboard.
Changes to eligibility laws could open the door for Cronulla wrecking ball Addin Fonua-Blake to make his NSW debut.
Two-time Penrith premiership winner Lindsay Smith is another untested option, while Warriors co-captain Mitch Barnett is back in the mix after injury sidelined him from the last two Origin games in 2025.
“What it means for us if we give someone an opportunity – someone that may not have played Origin before – but we’re confident that we’ve got the depth there to overcome Payne not being there,” Daley said.
“If we’re just relying on one player to win State of Origin, we’re not going to win.
“It’s all about picking the right player and we’ll do that.”
Daley has checked in with Haas via text message but said he hadn’t had a chance to speak with the 26-year-old since he suffered the injury.
“Obviously he’s been a big part of the team for the last couple of years so we’ll just wait and see how it unfolds over the next few weeks,” Daley said.
“We’re sort of lucky that we’ve got a lot of players that are playing really good footy at the moment.”
Daley said former Blues captain James Tedesco had caught his eye with a series of dazzling displays, including a starring role in the Roosters’ win over Newcastle last round.
Dylan Edwards memorably ousted Tedesco from his post as fullback for the 2024 series opener, only for the Blues to issue an SOS call to their former captain when Edwards went down injured.
Edwards has held the spot since recovering for Origin II that year, with the two looming as the sole options after Tom Trbojevic went down with his latest hamstring injury in round seven.
“He (Tedesco) and Dylan are both playing great, and Teddy was outstanding yesterday,” Daley said.
“Very rarely does he play poorly and that’s always a good sign for the Roosters and a good sign for New South Wales.
“You want people to be on their toes and you want them to be in form coming into Origin.
“It will come down to whoever’s playing the best – that’s the fairest way you can do it and that’s the way we will be doing it.”
Daley won’t consider playing Tedesco or Edwards in the centres to squeeze them both into his line-up.
“I think they’re out-and-out fullbacks,” Daley said.
“There’s other players who have that flexibility, but those two guys I just see as being genuine No.1s.”
AAP