'Deserves to be picked': Call for big Bunnies star to end two-year Origin absence

The door is open for Keaon Koloamatangi to return to the State of Origin arena, with legendary coach Wayne Bennett heaping huge praise on the Rabbitohs star.

Koloamatangi has been in red-hot form this year for South Sydney, especially since the call from Bennett to move the local junior into the front row.

The 27-year-old was at his damaging best again in a losing effort on Sunday afternoon, finishing with a try, 197 run metres, eight tackle breaks and 39 tackles.

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With an injury to Warriors prop Mitch Barnett in the same game, there now looks set to be a vacancy in the NSW Blues forward pack heading into game two on June 18 and Koloamatangi will be at the front of the line despite being overlooked for the opener.

When quizzed about the potential for Koloamatangi to earn a recall, Bennett - who has continuously brushed aside NSW talks given his links to Queensland - opted to pass.

"Jai [Arrow] might answer that, he plays with him," the former Maroons boss said.

Arrow had no issue hyping up his Bunnies teammate, despite his own Queensland ties.

"Keaon deserves to be picked," he said.

"Everyone has seen over the past three weeks what he's done, pretty tremendous effort with his numbers. If I was a selector, I'd be thinking fairly strongly about Keaon for sure.

"He's probably one of, if not the best NSW middle at the moment."

The conversation would then veer back towards Bennett, who admitted that the form shown by Koloamatangi in recent times is up there with the best props in the game.

"Keaon's numbers are great, that's the point," he said.

"He's playing the full 80 minutes, he's not even looking to come off the field. That's the remarkable thing about the middle forwards these days, they do all that work load.

"Payne Haas is really good at it too, but this guy is in that league."

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This season, his numbers stack up with the best middles available for NSW, as alluded to by Arrow in the aftermath of the loss against the Warriors.

Through his 12 appearances to date this year, Koloamatangi averages just shy of 140 metres per game and has proven to add plenty of spark for Souths in attack with four linebreak assists, three tries and nine offloads.

Defensively, the mobile forward has made 31 tackles per game at an efficiency in the low-90s, which stacks up well alongside Stefano Utoikamanu, who is perhaps his main rival for a spot after the Storm prop was included in the wider squad for game one.

Blues great and former coach Brad Fittler, who gave the Mascot Jets product his debut at Origin level two years ago, believes he should be in the mix to replace Barnett.  

"You've got to think, Payne Haas had a cloud hanging over him the whole preparation and they had Stefano Utoikamanu come up from Melbourne," he said on Nine.

"I think there was even talk that Stefano would have started if Payne didn't play.

"Stefano would be one choice, but I haven't seen that game yet and it will be interesting to see how Keaon Koloamatangi played.

"Max King could be pushed into the starting team and Keaon Koloamatangi gives you the bonus of being able to play in the back-row and middle." 

Koloamatangi will get one more chance to impress selectors next Sunday when the Rabbitohs travel to the nation's capital to face the Raiders.

At this stage, the diagnosis of Barnett's injury remains unclear, with scans on Monday to confirm how long the Warriors skipper will be sidelined.