NSW captain Paul Gallen has encouraged Manly enforcer Tony Williams not to give up on a dream State of Origin debut in game one, despite his seven-week NRL ban.
The Sea Eagles decided against seeking a downgrade for Williams’ grade-four dangerous throw charge on Isaac De Gois and, instead, accepted the decision handed down by the match review panel.
Being rubbed out for seven weeks robs the incumbent Test player of a spot in Australia’s side to take on New Zealand at Eden Park in April, and means he won’t play a single NRL match before the Blues team is picked ahead of the Origin series-opener in Melbourne on May 23.
NSW coach Ricky Stuart said it was impossible to predict the Blues circumstances so far out from the first match, but Gallen said Williams isn’t without hope.
Almost certain to have been one of the first players picked for the Blues, Gallen says Williams’ powerful attributes could override his lack of match fitness when the time comes.
“I think he’s the type of player that could. He doesn’t play in the middle of the field – he doesn’t have to chalk up a lot of tackles and runs. The runs he has are very devastating,” Gallen said on Wednesday at the launch of the Origin series.
“(But) it’d be a big ask. I suppose you’d have to see how the rest of the backrowers are going at the time.
“If there’s other blokes jumping out and playing well, then I suppose they’d be picked. I’d like to think for Tony himself to keep his head down and train hard and just hold onto that hope that he could be picked.
“It will be up to the selectors and Ricky – but he should still be striving for it.”
Stuart said Williams made the right decision to take the early guilty plea but wouldn’t be drawn on his Origin chances.