{"id":393198,"date":"2024-05-13T00:07:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T00:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393198"},"modified":"2024-05-13T01:04:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T01:04:13","slug":"gal-radical-change-blues-need-after-cleary-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393198","title":{"rendered":"Gal: Radical change Blues need after Cleary injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRL great<\/em><\/strong> PAUL GALLEN<\/em><\/strong><\/a> will appear on Nine's 100% FOOTY every Monday night of the NRL season, debating rugby league's hottest topics alongside Phil Gould and James Bracey. Tune in LIVE at 7.30pm (AEST) on<\/em><\/strong> 9Now<\/em><\/strong><\/a> tonight following a bumper round 10!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Phil Gould<\/a>'s old saying is you don't pick a State of Origin<\/a> team until after the medicals and, at the moment, that has never been more true.<\/p>\n

The Blues<\/a> have lost Nathan Cleary<\/a>, Tom Trbojevic<\/a>, and Cameron Murray<\/a>\ufeff – all certain starters – in one week of footy.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Former Aussie world champ knocked into retirement<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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READ MORE:<\/strong> Bennett 'dilemma' after shock rise of late bloomer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Gus hates talking Origin selections and I can see why – it sometimes feels like it puts a curse on the players.<\/p>\n

But new NSW coach Michael Maguire \ufeffhas some big decisions to make in the next fortnight before announcing his first Blues squad.<\/p>\n

\"NSW<\/p>\n

With Cleary ruled out of the entire series the biggest decision for Madge is now the halves.<\/p>\n

It hasn't helped that Mitchell Moses has missed seven weeks with a foot injury, and Nicho Hynes sat out Saturday's win for Cronulla in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

But at the moment I reckon \ufeffthose two guys are leading the race to wear the No.6 and No.7 jumpers in Origin I.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Moses was really good last year when he replaced Cleary at halfback, and basically led the Blues to a win in game three.<\/p>\n

We've also seen how important he is to Parramatta, given how bad the Eels have been since he's been out.\ufeff<\/p>\n

And Hynes has been in really good form this season for the Sharks\ufeff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It doesn't worry me that both guys wear the No.7 at club level, I reckon they could work well together in the halves for the Blues.<\/p>\n

There isn't a lot of difference between halfbacks and five-eighths these days.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffNicho was playing fullback for the Storm and grew up playing halves at junior level. He's a genuine utility and he's a big body who can run the ball.<\/p>\n

He and Mitch will obviously defend on opposite sides \ufeffbut in attack I can see them both roaming across the field for NSW.<\/p>\n

It could form a really lethal combination.<\/p>\n

\ufeffIf Madge isn't keen on that idea – or if either Moses or Hynes isn't fit enough for game one – I'd be backing Jarome Luai to wear the No.6 jumper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A lot of people seem to be discounting Luai in the conversation but I think he is a great player\ufeff, and has done the job before.<\/p>\n

Madge has some tough calls coming up, and whichever way he decides to go I'll be 100 per cent behind him.<\/p>\n

WHY SHARKS ARE THE REAL DEAL<\/h3>\n

Cronulla's win over Melbourne on Saturday was the perfect example of what Craig Fitzgibbon is building in the Shire.<\/p>\n

Everyone has been giving it to the Sharks and saying they can't beat the top sides, but that performance is proof of how far they've now come.<\/p>\n

Critics will say Melbourne was missing Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen, but the Sharks were missing Nicho Hynes, Toby Rudolf, Braydon Trindall, as well as Dale Finucane who retired a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The performance reminded me of Penrith or Melbourne – really good clubs are able to get the job done even when big stars are out of the side.<\/p>\n

You are never going to replace a Hynes or a Hughes or a Nathan Cleary, but the guys who come in know what the job is and they get it done.<\/p>\n

Daniel Atkinson was outstanding taking charge of the Sharks with Nicho out, but it was a great team win.<\/p>\n

The test now will be to see Cronulla win semi-finals.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NRL great PAUL GALLEN will appear on Nine's 100% FOOTY every Monday night of the NRL season, debating rugby league's hottest topics alongside Phil Gould […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":393200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393202,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393198\/revisions\/393202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/393200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}