Maloney the answer with Blues at sixes and sevens

New South Wales’ defence of the Origin crown is on tenterhooks already with form and injuries creating a major halves headache for Laurie Daley. Incumbents Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds, two of the heroes of last year’s watershed success, cannot be picked on current form – despite an improved display in Canterbury’s convincing win over a dismal Manly outfit on Friday night.

The ‘you don’t change a winning side’ mantra employed to great effect by Queensland over the years is all well and good when Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk are your automatic halves selections.

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The flaky Hodkinson-Reynolds combination does not afford Daley the same luxury, and picking the Bulldogs playmakers will gift the Maroons series favouritism.

South Sydney gun Adam Reynolds’ knee injury is likely to deny him and club partner Luke Keary NSW debuts after the duo had firmed as the logical pairing during the opening month of the premiership.

Blues legend Andrew Johns has plumped for St George Illawarra fullback Josh Dugan or veteran Gold Coast backrower Greg Bird to wear the No.6 alongside Sydney Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce. But Dugan boasts just three NRL games in 2012 on his five-eighth résumé, and while Greg Bird has plenty of experience at pivot, the 31-year-old has played there just one in the last three years – and not at Origin level since 2008.

Jake Granville was brilliant in the Cowboys’ win. Photo: Getty

Dugan and Bird are both near-certain selections in their customary positions if not gambled with at five-eighth.

But one player put his hand up in Round 7, announcing himself as the best candidate to spearhead the Blues’ campaign: Roosters No.6 James Maloney. After a stellar opening to the season, Maloney has been targeted by a section of critics for his defensive shortcomings. But he put on a ball-playing master-class in the Tricolours’ 17-16 loss to Melbourne at a wet AAMI Park on Saturday night, and provides the poise and punch NSW requires.

Maloney was solid in his sole 2013 Origin series and he would probably have been retained last year if not for Pearce’s infamous nightclub snafu on the eve of the rep season. The 2013 Grand Final emphatically demonstrated his big-game chops, while the Blues (assuming Hodkinson is passed over) need Maloney’s brilliant goalkicking – fringe backline contenders Matt Moylan and Pat Richards are the only other kickers on Daley’s radar.

Pearce, too, performs far better with Maloney as his right-hand man; the oft-maligned halfback won’t cope with the extra responsibility of being teamed up with a makeshift five-eighth, while Daley has repeatedly stated his preference for an existing club pairing.

Jake the rake a Cowboys revelation

It may have been the incomparable, in-form Thurston’s 250th game, but it was a 26-year-old utility making just his 17th NRL appearance that carried North Queensland to a heart-stopping comeback win over the Warriors on Saturday night – and he may be the X-factor that transforms the Cowboys from perennial finals failures into premiers.

Hooker Jake Granville, an off-season recruit from the Brisbane Broncos, scored three tries – including sneaky, burrowing efforts in the 70th and 79th minutes that saw the Cowboys turn an eight-point deficit into a 28-24 triumph.

The club has struggled in the dummy-half department since the retirement of 219-game stalwart Aaron Payne at the end of 2012, but it appears coach Paul Green has found the solution to his No.9 quandary in the shape of Granville. He was pitched in the starting role at the expense of Rory Kostjasyn in Round 4 – just the third run-on game of Granville’s top-grade career – and the Cowboys have not lost since.

Granville has proved a tough, durable and creative livewire with a tremendous turn of speed, the latter trait evidenced by his stunning long-range try last Monday against South Sydney.

Beyond that, Granville is a great story. The Rockhampton product won back-to-back Queensland Cup Grand Finals with Wynnum Manly in 2011-12, starring at fullback and hooker respectively. Belatedly given an opportunity by the Broncos in 2013, he managed just 10 appearances over two seasons.

But the Cowboys took a punt on the diminutive Granville, and he now looms as a trump card for a team whose premiership claims are becoming more compelling by the week. Given his rare versatility, he also comes into the frame as a possible Queensland Origin bolter in a bench utility capacity.

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Soliola produces hit-of-the-year contender

Veteran Canberra backrower Iosia Soliola submitted his entry for 2015’s most punishing tackle, burying pocket-sized Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks with a rib-rattler destined for the weekend’s highlight reels.

Brooks, to his credit, shook off the hit to have a hand in the Tigers’ fourth try just three minutes later, helping the home side to a 22-0 lead midway through the first half in front of a packed house at Leichhardt Oval.

But the Raiders subsequently embarked on a club-record comeback to stun the Tigers 30-22, scoring five unanswered tries to better the Green Machine’s fight-backs from 18-point deficits in 1998 and 2005.

They’re far from the finished article, but the unfancied Raiders’ grit and toughness has skyrocketed from last season’s dismal levels – with relatively low-key recruits Soliola, Josh Hodgson, Blake Austin, Sisa Waqa and Sunday’s man-of-the-match Frank-Paul Nuuausala at the forefront.

Finals football is certainly not out of the question for Ricky Stuart’s rejuvenated squad, and the Raiders will look back on their extraordinary victory over Tigers as a turning point if they make the eight.

Canberra’s unlikely win was just one of five Round 7 cliffhangers as yet another incredibly even NRL premiership astounds with its tight finishes and parity. Just four points separate first and 14th on the ladder as tipsters and punters shake their heads in disbelief.

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