AAA<\/p>\n
Bradman Best and Stephen Crichton have been recalled to the NSW side for the Origin III decider, while Jack Bostock will start on the wing at the expense of loyal Blues servant Brian To\u2019o as Laurie Daley made five changes for the series decider.<\/p>\n
To\u2019o, Kotoni Staggs, Dylan Lucas, Victor Radley and Api Koroisau have all been dropped for the July 8 blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium, while centre Tolutau Koula has been relegated to the bench.<\/p>\n
Dolphins flyer Bostock was part of the squad for game two at the MCG, and his height and form for the surging Queensland outfit could no longer be ignored.<\/p>\n
Despite two sub-par Origin performances in the first two games of the series, To\u2019o\u2019s axing is still a shock given he has played 17 straight games for the Blues since his 2017 debut.<\/p>\n
To\u2019o made an uncharacteristic three first-half errors in Origin I and was also targeted in the air in Melbourne. Coach Daley described the Penrith star as \u201cone of my personal favourites\u201d as he made one of the biggest calls of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cJack was a part of the 19 down there in Melbourne. He\u2019s a big body, an aerial threat, and he\u2019s someone that we think will do well in game three,\u201d Daley said after his team announcement was delayed by 30 minutes while players were told of their selection fates.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBizza [To\u2019o] has been one of my personal favourites and someone that has been the Brad Fittler Medal winner [for NSW player of the series] last year. He\u2019s given great service to NSW and I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be back, but just for this game we just feel like we just needed to make that change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manly wrecking ball Haumole Olakau\u2019atu has been recalled on the bench after being relegated to 20th-man duties for game two in Melbourne<\/a>, while Panthers enforcer Liam Martin starts on a revamped right-edge after the Maroons had a field day targeting Staggs and rookie back-rower Dylan Lucas in Origin II.<\/p>\n Following an emphatic 44-24 demolition at the MCG, the Maroons are warm favourites to secure consecutive series wins on home soil. NSW will head to Suncorp Stadium one of the biggest upsets in recent Origin history.<\/p>\n On the Blues\u2019 left edge, Best steps in for Koula, who was dropped back to the bench. Clubmate Tom Trbojevic misses out despite a strong return from injury for the Sea Eagles.<\/a><\/p>\n Best, 24, has scored three tries in two Origin games, including a memorable four-pointer when the Blues won the decider on Queensland soil in 2024.<\/p>\n The Knights flyer is one of nine survivors from that rare game-three victory at Suncorp Stadium alongside Crichton, Mitchell Moses, Payne Haas, Martin, Cameron Murray, Isaah Yeo, Mitch Barnett and Reec Robson.<\/p>\n Best\u2019s effort to mop up a loose ball in Newcastle\u2019s nailbiting win over Wests Tigers<\/a> on Sunday, then push up in support and finish a length-of-the-field try on Sunday is the kind of play Daley would have loved.<\/p>\n Daley highlighted Best\u2019s experience playing in a Suncorp decider as a key factor in his recall, while of Martin\u2019s return, he said: \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that has never let NSW down.<\/p>\n \u201cHe does bring that aggression, he does give us that guy that\u2019s been around for a long period of time; he understands Origin, he understands what we\u2019re about to walk into up there at Suncorp Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n Crichton\u2019s recall at right centre \u2013 partnering rugby-bound Roosters winger Mark Nawaqanitawase \u2013 adds defensive starch after he was ruled out of Origin II by the ongoing AC joint issue that has plagued him all season.<\/p>\n The Blues have retained the same playmaking spine of James Tedesco, Moses, Nathan Cleary and Reece Robson, with Robson especially under pressure over a perceived lack of creativity<\/a> at dummy-half in game two.<\/p>\n Cronulla captain Blayke Brailey returns as back-up hooker, though, after filling the role superbly in Origin I, having made a rapid recovery from a broken arm.<\/p>\n Tigers captain Api Koroisau has been dropped from the same role after not seeing a minute of game-time at the MCG.<\/p>\n Yeo is slated to start at lock once more despite a push for Murray to be brought into the run-on side.<\/p>\n Murray, Sharks big man Addin Fonua-Blake and Raiders five-eighth Ethan Strange round out the Blues six-man bench alongside Olakau\u2019atu, Brailey and Koula, with Radley named as 20th man.<\/p>\n NSW Blues squad for Origin III<\/p>\n 1. James Tedesco, 2. Jack Bostock, 3. Bradman, 4. Stephen Crichton, 5. Mark Nawaqanitawase, 6. Mitchell Moses, 7. Nathan Cleary, 8. Payne Haas, 9. Reece Robson, 10. Mitch Barnett, 11. Hudson Young 12. Liam Martin, 13. Isaah Yeo (captain). Bench: 14. Cameron Murray, 15. Addin Fonua-Blake, 16. Haumole Olakau\u2019atu, 17. Blayke Brailey, 18. Ethan Strange, 19. Tolutau Koula, 20. Victor Radley<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Bradman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/d20a891056498e6433be7657a7cdf3148b6a25e4.jpeg\")
Bradman Best (left) was a star of the Blues win in the 2024 decider at Suncorp Stadium.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Liam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/aa00a976a208b476cac8510dfd4b13a25609e652.jpeg\")
Liam Martin is back in Blue.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773949213_774_c6acc0581c14a7477781e092516e1810bef13f2c.png\")
Dan 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":"Updated June 28, 2026 \u2014 8:32pm,first published 8:04pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-765907","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\/765907","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=765907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}