{"id":96367,"date":"2021-07-07T07:16:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T07:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=96367"},"modified":"2021-07-07T07:56:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T07:56:30","slug":"smith-questions-blues-surprising-moses-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=96367","title":{"rendered":"Smith questions Blues' 'surprising' Moses pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league legend Cameron Smith<\/a> admits he's "surprised" the NSW Blues selected Eels star Mitchell Moses at halfback over Rabbitohs veteran Adam Reynolds for next week's Origin III.<\/p>\n

Blues coach Brad Fittler confirmed last week Moses would be handed the halfback duties<\/a> in what will be his Origin debut, replacing the injured Nathan Cleary<\/a> in the side.<\/p>\n

The battle for the No.7 jersey was considered a two-horse race between Moses and Reynolds, with the latter an attractive option given his prior experience in Blues colours back in 2016.<\/p>\n

With three Souths players already in Fittler's starting squad – hooker Damien Cook, fullback Latrell Mitchell and versatile forward Cameron Murray – Smith believes the Reynolds would've made for a smoother transition given the crucial roles his Rabbitohs teammates have in the NSW squad.<\/p>\n

"I was a little bit surprised, I must say," Smith told SEN<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

"This isn't saying Mitch Moses doesn't deserve the opportunity to play Origin, he certainly does, I was just a little bit surprised given the players New South Wales already have in the side.<\/p>\n

"Particularly Damien Cook. Cook is the No.9 and I thought it would've been a really easy transition just to slip Adam Reynolds straight in as the half. He takes care of the goal-kicking with Nathan Cleary out and he's probably got the best short-kicking game in the competition.<\/p>\n

"I just thought they would have gone with him at half, with Latrell Mitchell out on the edge as well, Cameron Murray also. But no, they've gone with Mitch Moses."<\/p>\n

Smith, the most capped Maroons player with 42 appearances for Queensland, made particular mention of Jack Wighton's role in the squad, with last year's Dally M Medal winner promoted from the interchange to five-eighth to replace the injured Jarome Luai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith is sceptical about the Wighton-Moses combination, saying they could potentially jeopardise the strike power of the Blues' edge attack.<\/p>\n

"I just don't know whether that (Moses' selection) complements the game of Jack Wighton either, at No.6," he added.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

"Jack Wighton has represented New South Wales on half a dozen occasions, but he's been either in the centres or on the bench.<\/p>\n

"Now this year, we haven't seen a lot of Jack Wighton out on the field given the way the games have panned out in the first two games. They just haven't needed him out there.<\/p>\n

"He's a different style No.6, where his strength is running the ball. He's not as much a ball-playing five-eighth as a Jarome Luai.<\/p>\n

"As we've seen, where New South Wales has been so strong is when they've given the ball to their centres, either Latrell, Tom Trbojevic – and Tedesco also having a fair bit of contribution as well.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

"I just don't know whether Mitch and Jack is the best combination they could've taken into it.<\/p>\n

"Obviously, Brad Fittler and the selectors feel it is, and maybe because they've already wrapped up the series, they had an eye on the future with Mitch.<\/p>\n

"From my point of view, I would've gone with Adam Reynolds. I strongly feel that."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league legend Cameron Smith admits he's "surprised" the NSW Blues selected Eels star Mitchell Moses at halfback over Rabbitohs veteran Adam Reynolds for next […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/96367"}],"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=96367"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96369,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96367\/revisions\/96369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}