Bringing consistency, composure, intelligence and a strong kicking game, Moses is one of the NRL\u2019s elite playmakers for a number of seasons and deserves to don the Blues jersey once again.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
However, there is a growing discussion that the Blues may benefit more by having a traditional five-eighth alongside Cleary in the halves rather than another halfback.<\/p>\n
This would allow the Penrith Panthers co-captain to be the clear organiser in attack and roam both sides of the field rather than being limited in attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Mitchell Moses is a quality player. He\u2019s always aimed up for NSW, (but) my preference would\u2019ve been to have a running five-eighth,\u201d foxsports.com.au\u2019s Paul Crawley said on NRL 360. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know NSW was never going to do that (but) you sometimes wonder with the NSW team – and I know they played pretty good in Game One last year – if there\u2019s too many cooks, to many controllers out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moses will partner Cleary in the halves.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s here that Crawley floated the idea of Ethan Strange as a potential option at five-eighth, suggesting the Blues would benefit more from a natural ball-runner and someone who can let Cleary play on both sides of the field.<\/p>\n
Strange has been named on the six-man bench and could get the opportunity to make his Origin debut next Wednesday night at Accor Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to see Cleary control the team. I\u2019d like to see Ethan Strange out there taking on Sam Walker,\u201d Crawley added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that could\u2019ve been a real strength. I would rather a traditional six and a traditional seven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former NSW Blues utility Braith Anasta agreed with Crawley\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
Hoffman goes over the big Origin calls | 04:31<\/p>\n
However, he stated that the combination of Moses and Cleary could work perfectly if the former decides to play second-fiddle rather than being the \u201cman\u201d – a role he needs to do at club level with the Eels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a real valid point. They were never not going to pick Mitch and Nathan and Mitch deserves his spot,\u201d Anasta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are both elite halves and I\u2019d like to think that if they\u2019re that elite and professional they can make it work and form a formidable combination.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd find that balance where Nathan\u2019s on the ball and (play) hopefully both sides but it is unlikely because Mitch loves that dominance. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou see that dominance at Parramatta. He wants to be the man.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘Daley would be happy there is no Walsh’ | 00:48<\/p>\n
Another former State of Origin representative Gorden Tallis had no harm in the Blues naming Moses in the five-eighth role but admits that he needs to put his ego aside so they can flourish and play to the best of their ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got ten days to prepare and you think that when you do go in rep sides, you can put your ego aside and do whatever\u2019s best for the team,\u201d Tallis added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think that every player who walks in for both states will do (the best for the team).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no denying that Mitchell Moses deserves to be in the NSW Blues squad but debate continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-680604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680604","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=680604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}