Joey urges Daley to tear up game plan, make huge Blues changes

New South Wales legend Andrew Johns is pleading with Blues coach Laurie Daley to tear up the game plan and start from scratch ahead of a State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium on July 8.

Daley is feeling the heat as he stares down the barrel of a sixth series loss in seven attempts as Blues coach, and following a disastrous 44-24 loss in Melbourne on Wednesday night.

NSW is still alive in the series only thanks to Kalyn Ponga being sent off in game one, which turned that contest on its head and allowed the Blues to score three late tries to pinch a two-point victory from the jaws of defeat.

Of eight NSW tries scored so far this series, three came against a 12-man opposition, and at least two on Wednesday night could be viewed as pure luck rather than smart play.

“It’s a real concern,” Johns said of the NSW attack on Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour.

“And once again I’ll say it - structured footy doesn’t work at this level.”

The Blues were criticised for the same thing last year, when Queensland’s crafty spine players went to work in a decider in Sydney and pulled NSW’s pants down to claim a series victory.

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While Nathan Cleary is a champion halfback at NRL level, having steered Penrith to four straight premierships between 2021 and 2024, his critics will say he struggles to create points when Plan A doesn’t work.

Johns wants the Blues to play more off-the-cuff footy like Maroons maestros Harry Grant, Sam Walker, Cameron Munster, and Kalyn Ponga do.

“At Origin level you’re playing against the best of the best. They are the fittest, the smartest, the strongest, they know how to defend shape,” he said.

“Number one, we need to play out of dummy half more, there is not enough attack out of dummy half. It is the simplest way to attack and the most dangerous.

“We need more support of our big men going forward. It gets our halves, and fullback and spine players on the advantage line, and it creates ruck speed and then you play out of dummy half, or you generate an offload. We need to offload the ball more.

“We never looked threatening on an edge, so we need to change something.”

Johns is calling for a raft of team changes ahead of game three.

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He wants Cameron Murray to start at lock rather than on the bench, which will push Isaah Yeo either to the front row or to the pine.

The eighth Immortal says barnstorming backrower Haumole Olakau’atu has to be recalled after he was mysteriously axed following game one, and believes Victor Radley is in danger of being dumped after his shocker at the MCG on Wednesday.

Johns also wants Latrell Mitchell to play at left centre if the South Sydney superstar is fit in time, and he’s called for Panthers madman Liam Martin to also make a return to the Blues team for the decider.

The legendary halfback says Ethan Strange could be called on to replace Mitchell Moses at five-eighth, depending how the Blues plan to play, and wants to see hooker Reece Robson benched after 30 minutes in order to get the craftier Api Koroisau or Blayke Brailey on the field to wreak havoc.

But the wildest options Johns has put on the selection table are Tom Trbojevic and Cody Walker.

Injury-prone Trbojevic has starred for NSW in the past but has never lined up at fullback for the Blues, and Johns says the Manly gun could fight his way into the jumper if he has two big games for the Sea Eagles. Trboejvic could also play at centre or on a wing.

Walker would be a shock bolter if he was to make Daley’s side for game three, but Johns believes his Rabbitohs connection with Mitchell on the left edge could prove lethal at Origin level.

“The extended bench is an interesting one for mine. Everyone knows I’m a Cody Walker fan,” he told Immortal Behaviour.

“Do you put him in that jersey 19 to cover the halves, but with 20 minutes to go if we need some points, and Latrell plays, (you say) ‘go do it boys’. There’s no one better to light it up. I thought about it on the plane coming home, I was like if we’re chasing points, who creates points? No one better than Cody.”

Walker, 36, has played five Origin games previously but hasn’t been seen in a Blues jersey in three years.

Whichever way Daley goes with his selections for game three, Johns does not envy his position.

“I really feel for Laurie,” he said. “What a horrible job.”