Posted By Staff Reporter
NSW coach Laurie Daley has defended bringing John Sutton and Josh Reynolds into camp for two days before deciding on who would fill the bench spot vacated by the injured Kurt Gidley for next Wednesday's State of Origin opener.
Canterbury's Reynolds was given the nod over Sutton on Thursday with chief selector Bob Fulton believed to have overruled the coach who initially wanted the South Sydney five-eighth and back-rower in his side to face Queensland. Sutton will rejoin the squad after Souths' clash with St George Illawarra on Saturday with Reynolds to become the 54th Blues debutant since 2005 - the last time NSW won a series. The pair trained against one another on Thursday morning but Daley said Reynolds' ability to play hooker is what got him over the line. And he said he couldn't understand why there had been criticism levelled at him for looking at two players he thinks are capable of playing Origin. "It was one of those things where we wanted to have a bit of time, and I don't know what the fuss is all about as Queensland have named 19 players," Daley said. "Yet all the focus has been on us naming 18 players. The decision to rule Kurt out was made, it was Tuesday. "48 hours later we've made a decision and there's six days to go before the game. "We're quite comfortable with the way we've handled it." Daley was keen to use Sutton's size off the bench and his ability to play in the halves and also in the back-row was something that impressed the coach. However, with there being no obvious choice to play at hooker should Robbie Farah get an injury, the selectors felt it was vital to include the feisty Reynolds, who plays five-eighth for the Bulldogs and can play a dummy-half and lock. "We thought John can play in the back-row, and we have another couple of guys already around there that we can move around," he said. "Josh plays the type of role where he doesn't know when he is going to go on, where he's going to play and how many minutes he's going to play. "We wanted to be 100 per cent sure it was the right decision, we wanted to analyse training and everything that could possibly go wrong. "At the end of the day Josh's versatility and his ability to play hooker was just too strong." Daley said telling Sutton he'd missed out on the chance to make his Origin debut was one of the hardest things he's ever done. "I really felt for John and you could see the reaction in his face," he said. "He was trying to stay as positive and as upbeat as he possibly could. It's never nice or something you like to do." While Daley was informing sections of the media of the decision at an impromptu press conference at the team hotel in Coogee, social media went into overdrive claiming Sutton had been given the nod. The NSWRL mistakenly tweeted Sutton's selection without the knowledge or consent of the NSW team media manager. The NSWRL later issued a statement saying it had erroneously picked up the information from other news reports without confirming it was correct. NRL.COM Comments are closed.
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