New South Wales boss addresses key selection change with Max King admission made

New South Wales Blues head coach Laurie Daley has backed new recruit Stefano Utoikamanu to succeed in Origin II next week. 

The Melbourne Storm prop takes the place of New Zealand Warriors skipper Mitch Barnett, following his season-ending ACL injury.

Laurie Daley backs new-look front-row to succeed in Origin II

While Matt Burton, Keaon Koloamatangi and Lindsay Smith are also new faces within the Blues squad, the Storm ace is the only one to make the 17 for the game in Perth, and Daley believes he is a player that suits Origin football perfectly.

“I think he’s got better every week in the Melbourne Storm system,” he said. “I like the way he carries the ball and I like the way he responds in defence.

He added: “He gets forwards and moves across the ground really well, he never stops moving in defence, and that’s important for a fast game like State of Origin.

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“His workrate and ability to tie up loose ends through the middle is important in this type of game.”

Utoikamanu has already featured in State of Origin in his early career during the 2023 series and also has two Test caps for Samoa to his name at the time of writing.

The injury to Barnett also sees Max King thrown into the Blues’ starting side, where he will join Payne Haas in the front-row, and Daley detailed that this move will suit his game better.

“I thought he did a tremendous job (off the bench in game one). He’s used to starting, and now getting that opportunity to start will help him. Coming off the bench as he did in game one is probably foreign to him, but he handled himself really well.

“His game on Sunday was also outstanding, so he’s got plenty of confidence too. He’ll do a great job.”

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With just one change to the 17-man squad from the 18-6 win over the Maroons in Brisbane, the head coach feels his side are in a great position to hit the ground running in their prep for the second game.

“Yeah, it’s been great (in camp),” he said. “I think that continuity helps build throughout the campaign, and only having the one change will help. The fact we had a lot of players playing on Sunday has put us back one day in our prep, but the fact we haven’t made too many changes offsets that.”

“There were a lot of players who were really close (to being included in the Blues’ squad), but you can’t pick them all.

“The fact that those two blokes (King and Utoikamanu) are really experienced and are playing really good football at the moment did enough to get them in the squad.”

A win for the Blues in Perth would see them claim a second successive title, however a Queensland win would take it to a decider in Sydney.

New South Wales squad for State of Origin II

Starting 13: 1 Dylan Edwards, 2 Brian To’o, 3 Stephen Crichton, 4 Latrell Mitchell, 5 Zac Lomax, 6 Mitchell Moses, 7 Nathan Cleary, 8 Max King, 9 Reece Robson, 10 Payne Haas, 11 Liam Martin, 12 Angus Crichton, 13 Isaah Yeo
Interchanges: 14 Connor Watson, 15 Spencer Leniu, 16 Hudson Young, 17 Stefano Utoikamanu
Reserves: Matt Burton, Keaon Koloamatangi, Lindsay Smith

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