Phil Gould has lashed the “terrible” six-man bench rule and believes coaches at both State of Origin and club level are “second guessing” how to utilise it.
The importance of bench rotations has become a huge talking point in the wake of last week’s Origin clash at the MCG, with criticism being levelled towards NSW coach Laurie Daley for the way he used his interchange.
NSW coach Laurie Daley. Getty Images
On the flip-side, Maroons coach Billy Slater has been lauded for his selections and bench rotations, especially when Cameron Munster went off for a HIA.
While the six-man bench rule was brought in to give teams coverage in more positions in the event of injury, Gould believes it has only muddied the waters.
“Absolutely – I think club coaches are coming to terms with that as well,” the Bulldogs boss said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“Because they’ve got so many options on the bench, sometimes they can second guess themselves. What’s happening is, they’re not putting their fourth player on until very late in the piece, because they want to cover their bases.
“I think sometimes they are second guessing themselves. If they only had the four replacements, they’d work their way around it and get people to fill in.
“Sometimes they make the right call and sometimes, it’s the wrong call.
“I don’t like the six-man bench, I’ve never liked it. I think part of the strategy of coaching and picking a team is to cover all your bases and do it from there.
“I think the six-man bench is poor for club football, we’ve got players who are not getting enough football and it doesn’t coincide with the NSW or Queensland Cup draws, so they can’t get a game that weekend … it’s really bad.
“This has been influenced by coaches that want to keep four big men on the bench because they can’t play 80 minutes … but they still want a half or outside back in case one of them gets injured, they want some insurance.
“You’ve gotta be able to have players who can play 80 minutes and play other positions if they need to, particularly in Origin.
“My thing with the bench and everyone I picked in Origin, I wanted them all to be 80-minute players … we’ve already seen it in this series.”
Paul Gallen agreed with Gould, describing the six-man bench rule as a “get out of jail free card” for coaches when things don’t go to plan.
“I’ve never been a fan,” the Sharks legend said.
“When you think about some of your best victories in your career, you’ve gotta deal with some adversity and things that go against you.
“To have a six-man bench, it’s like a get out of jail free card.”
Api Koroisau failed to get on the field in Origin. Getty
The other issue that has arisen during Origin is that an extra four players are potentially missing club football to sit on the bench for 80 minutes.
Last week, interchange players Api Koroisau and Jack Bostock didn’t get on the field for the Blues, but weren’t allowed to feature in club land a few days prior.
It was the same scenario for Reece Walsh and Murray Taulagi with the Maroons.
“Their fans are missing out, their club teammates are missing out and it’s hurting their chances to go ahead and play finals,” Cameron Smith said.
That prompted Gould to describe the current system as “terrible” before calling for a representative window to be installed to avoid Origin wreaking havoc.
“We’ve gotta fix this, we’ve been dealing with this Origin draw thing for a long time … let’s not get into that argument,” he said.
Queensland will head into game three on July 8 as heavy favourites to retain the Origin shield on their home turf at Suncorp Stadium.