Why the Blues need Barrett

Hello everyone and thanks for coming back. While we are just six days from Origin II and I would normally do a preview I have decided to go with something more regular. There are a few reasons: I find Origin build ups and subsequent previews boring and I don’t think New South Wales can win (everything being equal). That’s not to say they won’t win, but if Queensland turn up with the right attitude I can’t see them being beaten.

Don’t get me wrong, New South Wales have picked a fairly strong side and do have a definite home field advantage in terms of conditions (not crowd). 50,000 Blues fans (which there should be in an 80,000 seat venue) at ANZ Stadium won’t make the same noise or create the same passionate feeling as 50,000 Maroon fans at Suncorp Stadium.

To win New South Wales need a few things to go their way. Firstly, they will need Queensland to be slightly off their game. Whether this is brought about by new tactics, complacency or a drop in attitude it doesn’t matter...the Blues need Queensland to be at most playing at 90% of their ability. Also, New South Wales will need some luck from maybe a good bounce or a few fifty-fifty calls and they probably need a slow track in slippery conditions. That will limit the Queensland backline and allow the Blues forwards to better manoeuvre through the larger, less mobile Queensland pack.

But most importantly, New South Wales need to play better. Much better. And they need to score tries.

And this is where Trent Barrett can help them. After the last game, which for those Blues supporters let me remind you the score read Queensland 28 New South Wales 18, most critics agreed the Blues attack left plenty to be desired. They scored three tries but none were constructive...they all had a degree of luck (fluke) in them from a lucky bounce or ricochet or something.

Anyone that would listen to me knows I thought they had too many guns firing the bullets. They had Gidley, Campese, Wallace and Farah trying to call shots. That’s what they do very well for their individual clubs but I thought four of this type of player in one team was too many. I compared it to Queensland who have Thurston as the main man, the classy Lockyer as his back up and hooker Smith as the alternative. That structure works so much better in my opinion.

Last week I also told anyone who would listen that I thought Luke Lewis was the answer to this problem for the Blues. I believed he should be a link man at five-eighth with the halfback calling the shots, Farah the back up and Gidley the alternative. However, the more I thought about it the more sense it makes to go with someone like Trent Barrett and I began to change my way of thinking.

With such a young team it was blatantly obvious the Blues lacked direction and guidance, particularly in attack. For that reason, I began thinking they needed to pick either Barrett or Brett Kimmorley to guide these other guys around. The creative quartet had about 4 or 5 games experience between them. From memory Barrett and Kimmorley have played 8 or 9 games each.

What’s more, I think both of these guys are just about in career best form. Barrett has come back from England just a good a player as he left...and I think he is a bit ‘tougher’. By that I mean he seems to be taking the line on and defending better. He is doing a lot of the gritty work at the struggling Sharks and is visibly trying to carry that side every week.

Kimmorley is in career best form. Just take a look at what the guy is doing for the blokes playing around him. Kimmorley last year single-handedly contributed to the re-emergence of Brett Seymour as a first grade halfback while this year Kimmorley is assisting the evolution and arrival of Ben Roberts as the Bulldogs five-eighth. Kimmorley has evolved as a player and is playing the experienced role to perfection. We’ve seen it before...Brad Fittler with Brett Finch, Darren Lockyer to a degree with Peter Wallace, Cliff Lyons with Geoff Toovey (for anyone who can remember 15 years ago!!). Personally I think Kimmorley with Terry Campese at Origin level was probably the way to go, but Barrett with Wallace should do the job for them.

Some have said picking Barrett or Kimmorley at the expense of someone new next week would be a step backwards. I disagree...to go forwards sometimes you have to take a step or two backwards. I think having one of those old heads guiding people like Wallace, Campese, Farah and Gidley could be more beneficial than throwing the young guys in deep like they did for Game I. Look at Queensland...when Thurston was a rookie at this level he had an experienced Lockyer around guiding him not to mention forwards like Webcke, Civoniceva, Thorn and Carroll around too.

The Blues don’t have that experience to help their younger guys. The most experienced players were guys like Kite, who appears too nice to be an Origin front rower, and Luke Bailey who is a good club player but has never dominated at rep level. For mine, as an outsider looking in, it makes sense to have a Barrett or Kimmorley there.

That’s just my opinion and for the record I would have gone with Campese and Kimmorley but as a Queenslander what they do is not really any of my business. While I’m putting things on record, I think Queensland will win in Sydney next week. The Blues need a lot of things going their way and I can’t quite see it happening...Maroons by 4 points.

Tips this week: Bulldogs, Cowboys, Storm, Canberra, Brisbane
Last week: 6/8 (Total: 59/100)
Winning percentage: 59%

Any comments, theories or hate mail can be sent to my email: andrew.keyte@gmail.com or you can comment below.

Enjoy the Origin next week,
Keyto