Kent: Origin a war of attrition

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WE were talking about Greg Inglis. Or it might have been Daly Cherry-Evans, or Billy Slater.

Or it could have been Brent Tate, the list is seemingly endless in Queensland camp right now.

Footballers look at things differently than the rest of us and as we were talking injuries and the ability to come back from them, and play with them, Gorden Tallis put it in a way not often heard before.

"Every time we get injured we lose a little body armour," he said.

Brett Morris injures his shoulder while scoring his try during game one of the 2014 Origin series. Source: News Corp Australia

There is no better way to describe the mentality of ­Origin than that.

Armour.

The evidence is before us now, in the names of the players selected for NSW and Queensland.

Brett and Josh Morris are still recovering from the injury they suffered in Origin three weeks ago. Anthony Watmough will play Game II minus the bicep he took into Game I.

Queensland coach Mal Meninga named a 22-man squad that was reduced to 21 within the hour when Josh Papalii limped of GIO Stadium in Canberra.

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Cooper Cronk was already gone with a broken arm.

Cameron Smith is battling a shoulder injury, Cherry-Evans has an unstable knee, Slater's shoulder is also busted, Inglis has an ankle injury that could see him out for anywhere from two to eight weeks depending on whom you talk to, although most expect him to be okay once the life support machine is removed.

Niggly injuries affect just about everyone else.

Origin is no longer a game.

It is a miniseries on attrition. The ability to rise one more time has always been its great quality, but never more so now.

Has Laurie Daley selected the right team to break Queensland's eight-year dominance?

That's why there should be no surprise about the team Laurie Daley picked yesterday. The overriding criteria for selection was toughness.

Been there, done that, got the bruises to prove it.

Josh Dugan was picked for the same reason he should not have been picked. He can't be controlled. Dugan has the potential to bring the serenity of camp into ruin yet it's that very same quality on the field that makes Dugan the ideal pick to replace Josh Morris. He is not a safe option, he is a win-the-game option. Daley has made no secret he intends to wrap the game up in Sydney to send it back to Brisbane as a dead-rubber. If Dugan can be controlled in camp then he has the ability to decimate Queensland once he hits the field.

Josh Dugan during State of Origin 2 during the 2013 series. Source: News Limited

His greatest drawcard for NSW is: Queensland don't want to play against him. He honestly believes he belongs in the Origin arena, and so rises to the level required.

Will Hopoate is more a risk given he is just 12 games back into his NRL career after a two-year Mormon mission. The physical change in Hopoate in just that short time is the greatest indication he is ready. Hopoate nearly played himself out of the Origin side when Tyrone Peachey got around him several times for Penrith against Parramatta, two days after Origin, when Hopoate returned after filling the role as the Blues' 18th man.

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His defensive reads forced Daley to sit down with heavy chest pains. Yet those close to Hopoate blame his unusually quiet game on the same emotional hangover many of those that played suffered post-Origin.

It shows he is an emotional player, and in the right environment will find what is necessary to do the job. He was back again last week. Some might be surprised by Aaron Woods' inclusion ahead of James Tamou up front, with one of them having to go back to the bench so the pack could accommodate Greg Bird.

Origin is a game of momentum, the trick being to score points when the momentum is with you and to hold and withstand when it's not, waiting until it swings around once more. Tamou will come on for the second wave, his job to lift the tempo once more.

Josh Dugan and Will Hopoate will line-up for the Blues in Origin II. Source: News Corp Australia

Only once in the history of Origin have the same 17 players played all three games to claim the series. That was NSW in 1996. A centre in that team was Daley, now the coach, who after Game I last month had his own slant on this NSW performance.

He spoke of the injuries, and of the commitment which got the Blues home, battling through damaged armour, because it was necessary.

"And I hope everyone talks about that tomorrow because I know in the past," he paused, "it's always been the opposition who is spoken about.

"But our boys tonight ... wow."

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