"KING" Wally Lewis says he wouldn't pick Karmichael Hunt as Queensland five-eighth, but he reckons Hunt will be surrounded by so much talent there is a good chance the Maroons will get away with playing him there in State of Origin I.
The Queensland team for the game against NSW at ANZ Stadium on May 21 won't be named until 2pm today, but sources last night revealed there would be several shocks - headed by the preference of the selectors and coach Mal Meninga for Hunt over Scott Prince at five-eighth. Hunt's move to pivot means the battle for the fullback job is over, with Australian No.1 Billy Slater taking the Queensland job as well.
PJ Marsh has bobbed up to snatch the utility bench spot, covering hooker, halfback and five-eighth, and Nate Myles is set to start at prop. Word leaked over the weekend that Brisbane fullback Hunt was under consideration for the five-eighth spot vacated by Darren Lockyer. But it was still widely thought that, when it came to the crunch, Titans halfback Prince would be named at No.6.
Prince has been the form player in the NRL this season, but hasn't been able to knock Thurston out of either the Queensland or Australian halfback jobs. Hunt's coach at Brisbane, Wayne Bennett, said on Sunday he didn't believe the Queensland selectors would be "that silly" to pick Hunt at five-eighth. Well, Benny, you can think again.
Titans managing director Michael Searle was last night resigned to Prince missing out, since there had been no notification from the Queensland Rugby League of his inclusion. Players have to be informed ahead of the team being announced so they can gather in Brisbane today.
"It's pretty clear Scott has missed out," Searle said. "I think the only people who will be happy about that will be the six NSW forwards, who won't have to try to find a way to stop him when he goes on his probing runs."
Lewis, who made his reputation by dominating Origin as the Queensland five-eighth for more than a decade, said he was surprised that Hunt was going to be picked in that position.
"I expected to see Prince chosen there," Lewis said. "I would have picked Prince. I don't know whether the selectors think two halfbacks doesn't make a good halves combination, but Scott looks like he would be comfortable in either role to me."
But, Lewis added, the fact Hunt would be surrounded by so many dynamic players in the star-studded Maroons side - which will include Thurston, Greg Inglis, Slater and Justin Hodges in the backs and Cam Smith, Sam Thaiday and Carl Webb in the forwards - would make the transition a lot easier for him.
"It would have been handy had he played a couple of games at five-eighth recently," Lewis said. "But he is going to have plenty of talent both inside and outside of him, so if he plays it the right way, it probably won't be that hard a job for him.
"I would expect his role would be to try to be creative and set up the talent around him, but if he gets the chance to run, he should still try to make the most of it."
Another former Queensland five-eighth - Ben Ikin - applauded Hunt's selection, saying: "If you've got Prince and Thurston both out there, you've got two smaller guys who are going to be targets for the big NSW forwards to run at all night."
QUEENSLAND - PROBABLE TEAM
1 Billy Slater (Melbourne), 2 Greg Inglis (Melbourne)
3 Israel Folau (Melbourne), 4 Justin Hodges (Brisbane),
5 Brent Tate (Warriors), 6 Karmichael Hunt (Brisbane),
7 Johnathan Thurston (Nth Q'land), 8 Petero Civoniceva (Penrith),
9 Cam Smith (Melbourne), 10 Nate Myles (Roosters),
11 Sam Thaiday (Brisbane), 12 Carl Webb (North Queensland),
13 Dallas Johnson (Melbourne).
Interchange: PJ Marsh (Brisbane), Michael Crocker (Melbourne)
Ben Hannant (Brisbane), Jacob Lillyman (North Queensland).
