NSW assistant coach Trent Barrett has challenged players involved in Sunday’s City-Country rugby league clash to force their way into Ricky Stuart’s State of Origin plans.
Having lost the past six series, the Blues are once again looking to build a side that can end the Maroons’ Origin dominance and Barrett says all 34 players on show at Mudgee’s Glen Willows Sports Complex should be trying to catch Stuart’s eye.
While the validity of the City-Country clash continues to be questioned, the match – which sold out months ago and is the first major event at the new $10m venue in the heart of the central western NSW wine region – is the most intriguing for many years.
And Barrett, who is No.2 to Country coach Laurie Daley, and a veteran of five of the clashes in his playing days, said the contest still holds great significance as an Origin audition.
“It’s what this game is for and anyone who says that it isn’t should come and ask the players,” Barrett told AAP.
“There are probably only five spots that are locked in for Origin.
“You’ve only got to look at last year. Ryan Hinchcliffe was brought in late for Country and he wins man of the match and is in serious calculations for Origin as 18th man and also the Test side.
“You ask someone like Josh McCrone if this game isn’t important to him. This is a stepping stone to representative and Test footy and it is very important in the development of young players and an experience of life in camp.”
In addition to genuine competition for spots in the front and back-rows, centre and fullback, the battle for five-eighth between Country’s Todd Carney and City’s Jarryd Hayne is very much the focal point of Sunday’s game.
Much like Stuart’s decision last year to move Paul Gallen to prop, which was vindicated in spades, debate has raged about moving a player from his normal position.
Hayne’s had mixed success when switched to second receiver from fullback for Parramatta, but former Blues pivot Barrett believes the plan is not without merit.
“I don’t think it’s a left-field decision to play him there. You look at the players who you could pick around him,” Barrett told AAP.
“If you have a player like Danny Buderus at hooker, it changes the whole dynamics of the side.
“He can control the middle of the field along with Mitchell Pearce who has done a good job for us over the last two years.
“Jarryd Hayne is a terrific player and Todd Carney is a terrific player – whoever Sticky and Bozo (selector Bob Fulton) go with will do a job for us.”
Despite his backing for Hayne, Barrett says he’s none the wiser about who’ll get the nod for Origin I in Melbourne.
“They both offer a lot – they’re both Dally M winners,” he said.
“Todd’s had his dramas last year but been steady this year.
“He’s a terrific player and Jarryd on his day can win a game for a team on his own.
“He’s big, he’s fast, he’s strong and has so much ability. In my opinion, he has to be in the side somewhere. It’s just a matter of where.”
