{"id":726840,"date":"2026-06-10T06:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T06:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/726840\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T06:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T06:45:15","slug":"state-of-origin-team-selection-why-nsw-dropped-haumole-olakauatu-for-dylan-lucas-ahead-of-game-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/726840\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin team selection: Why NSW dropped Haumole Olakau\u2019atu for Dylan Lucas ahead of game two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DanSave<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

The question is two-fold.<\/p>\n

Who would Cameron Munster, in the depths of an Origin defensive grind, rather have running at him? Haumole Olakau\u2019atu or Dylan Lucas?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s only one answer. There\u2019s been a few theories and no definitive answer on the Olakau\u2019atu axing that no-one, including the monstrous Manly back-rower<\/a>, saw coming.<\/p>\n

But the alternative question, who would Munster and Kalyn Ponga rather attack against, is as instructive as any.<\/p>\n

NSW coach Laurie Daley has given little away on Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s axing while talking up right-edge back-row replacement Lucas. But the Blues are expecting an even quicker contest at the MCG and have selected accordingly.<\/p>\n

\"HaumoleHaumole Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s axing for Origin II has sparked more questions than answers.NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

Payne Haas coming in for Jacob Saifiti<\/a>, Api Koroisau getting the nod as a back-up dummy-half and Daley promising Ethan Strange will see game-time as bench utility, potentially at lock, makes for an even more mobile Blues team than in Origin I.<\/p>\n

It makes a lot of sense when small bench forwards Cameron Murray and Victor Radley helped stem the bleeding of an awful first 30 minutes in Sydney. So did holding the ball.<\/p>\n

Lucas (184cm, 96kg) \u2013 12 centimetres shorter and seven kilos lighter than Olakau\u2019atu (196cm, 113kg) \u2013 offers a more mobile body in defence, on a right edge that Ponga and co targeted early in game one.<\/p>\n

The Knights back-rower moves better laterally in defence, runs off Ponga in clubland, and will, so the Blues\u2019 theory goes, be better placed to keep a lid on the Queensland No.1.<\/p>\n

\"NSWNSW Origin rookie Dylan Lucas.Steven Siewert<\/p>\n

NSW are unfazed about Lucas switching from his usual left edge to the right on debut, even with Olakau\u2019atu being a natural right-sided player with a left-to-right pass he\u2019s developed under Kieran Foran.<\/p>\n

But Phil Gould, the most successful coach in Blues history, is flabbergasted by the decision, particularly with an Origin rookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Dylan Lucas as a player and he\u2019s certainly Origin-class,\u201d he said on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it would be grossly unfair to play him on the right side. I\u2019m not sure about the balance of the team and I cannot understand how Haumole Olakau\u2019atu isn\u2019t in the best 13 players for NSW … it shocks me greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any way you split it, dropping Olakau\u2019atu is a particularly tough call (which Daley has stressed), based on both being the form back-rower of 2026 and his Origin I output.<\/p>\n

The suggestion his kick-chase efforts were a concern within Blues camp doesn\u2019t really wash. If anything, it was a highlight of Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s game as Nathan Cleary bombed repeatedly to Selwyn Cobbo and he led the chase with legs tackles.<\/p>\n

The one occasion he and centre Kotoni Staggs were found out and Ponga sent Cobbo galloping downfield, it was Staggs turning in that created the disjointed defensive line.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As Daley has spoken more than once to \u201cthe style of footy we want to play\u201d in explaining Lucas getting the nod, Andrew Johns did the same on Wednesday through the Olakau\u2019atu lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really surprised [at Olakau\u2019atu being dropped]. I thought Haumole was one of our best forwards,\u201d Johns said on Nine\u2019s Freddy and the Eighth on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought his effort areas and kick-chase in particular, he was leading it. Haumole\u2019s not the type of player like a Kurt Capewell or a Reuben Cotter on the edge, who just work and work and work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an explosive player. You only go to him if there\u2019s space there. You\u2019re not going to him 15 times a half. You\u2019re going to him half a dozen or eight times during the game, where you say to him, if you think you can get at Munster one-on-one, you just tell them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe ask Cameron Munster who he\u2019d rather mark?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sight of Olakau\u2019atu crippled by cramp as an ugly pass from James Tedesco bombed a 66th-minute try was especially unfortunate.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On Manly\u2019s right edge, Olakau\u2019atu has 80 minutes in him. An hour of ball-in-play Origin footy, sped into hyperdrive with the expanded six-again remit, dials back his minutes.<\/p>\n

Lucas is the fittest player in Newcastle\u2019s forward pack and fast emerging as an elite hole-runner on the Knights edge.<\/p>\n

Another perspective\"Israel<\/a><\/p>\n

As former NSW coach Brad Fittler noted alongside Johns, Lucas\u2019 bigger motor \u201callows Daley to rotate his middles and gives him an extra rotation\u201d, theoretically without worrying about his edge back-rower running out of gas.<\/p>\n

NSW got several of their most-contentious selections right for Origin I, especially on their bench, but were still staring down a 1-0 series deficit until Ponga was sent off.<\/a><\/p>\n

And with Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s axing the only change not triggered by injury or availability, the question looms large. Who would Cameron Munster rather have running at him?<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-726840","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\/726840","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=726840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}