Three-way shootout and how Loz could shake up bench<\/a><\/p>\nLeniu’s Chooks future remains in doubt | 01:43<\/p>\n
Mitchell has been in devastating form for South Sydney in the centres while Staggs is enjoying his best season for the Broncos to put him in the mix for a recall for the first time since debuting for his state back in 2022. <\/p>\n
Staggs, however, was suspended for two matches after elbowing Hugo Savala, meaning his next game will potentially be in the Origin arena if he\u2019s selected.<\/p>\n
While Read agreed Staggs was worthy of selection, he was adamant it should not come at the expense of Crichton.<\/p>\n
It sparked a heated back-and-forth with Anasta.<\/p>\n
Read: At his best, he\u2019s the best centre and I\u2019d back him to play his best in Origin.<\/p>\n
Anasta: Staggs is in form and Crichton isn\u2019t \u2026 If you can have an in form Staggs and Crichton still in the team on the wing. He\u2019s 6\u20195. <\/p>\n
Read: So he\u2019s not good enough to play in the centres so you punt him to the wing where he hasn\u2019t played. That\u2019s what you\u2019re saying. You\u2019re saying your picking Staggs ahead of Crichton cause he\u2019s in better form? <\/p>\n
Anasta: No, I\u2019d like to put both of them in the team.<\/p>\n
Read: You just criticised Crichton\u2019s form a second ago. <\/p>\n
Anasta: Yeah I did because he\u2019s not playing better than Staggs. Can you put Staggs on the wing?<\/p>\n
Read: I wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Anasta: No you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Read: I wouldn\u2019t put either Staggs or Crichton on the wing.<\/p>\n
Anasta: That\u2019s why you aren\u2019t a selector Ready.<\/p>\n
Read: Neither are you \u2026 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a smart move. If you want to do it, do it!<\/p>\n
Kotoni Staggs is gunning for a second Blues appearance.Source: The Courier Mail<\/p>\n
While Daley is expected to roll with two of Mitchell, Crichton and Staggs at centre, it\u2019s a much more open race for the two wing spots.<\/p>\n
To\u2019o is probably assured of one with Tom Jenkins, Josh Addo-Carr and Campbell Graham other names in the running. <\/p>\n
For a breakdown on all positions, check out our predicted Game 1 Blues team here!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside a fortnight until Origin squads for Game 1 are selected and debate has raged over who Blues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,5084,132818,763,11102,11402,1816,4552,4451,4484,1082,6406,289631,761,762,158,85,4546,94874,26121,160180],"class_list":["post-654385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-campbell-graham","tag-centre-spots","tag-fox-league","tag-greg-alexander","tag-hugo-savala","tag-impact-player","tag-jake-trbojevic","tag-josh-addo-carr","tag-kieran-foran","tag-latrell-mitchell","tag-laurie-daley","tag-michael-carayannis","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports","tag-stephen-crichton","tag-time-coach","tag-tom-jenkins","tag-wing-spots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776909012_441_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n