NSW player defends divisive selection after in-form forwards ignored again

Yahoo

30-06-2025

NSW forward Stefano Utoikamanu has defended his inclusion in the Blues squad with Terrell May and Keaon Koloamatangi once again snubbed from the squad. Laurie Daley named an unchanged side to the team that went down to Queensland in Game 2 even though there were calls for a change to the forward pack.
And the biggest name under pressure to retain his place on the bench was Utoikamanu. Daley caused a stir when selecting the Melbourne Storm front-rower for Game 2 with the likes of May and Koloamatangi posting better stats week after week at club level.
Utoikamanu came off the bench in Game 2 in Perth to play 27 minutes. He ran for 41 metres and made 22 tackles in his short time on the field during the wet conditions. Unfortunately, Utoikamanu also impeded a Queensland defender in the first-half, which denied Nathan Cleary a try for NSW.
Against the Sharks on the weekend, Utoikamanu ran for 60 metres and made 21 tackles. After the Game 2 defeat there were calls for Utoikamanu to be replaced with another front-rower who might be able to hand the side more impact from the bench.
Except Daley has remained faithful to the side he thinks can get the job done in Sydney having snubbed May and Koloamatangi once again. And after facing backlash to recent performances, Utoikamanu defended his inclusion and claimed he performed the job expected of him from the bench.
"I felt like I didn't really do too much wrong, I felt like it was pretty hard to kind of go on in the game when everything was kind of going against us," Utoikamanu said. "It was pretty hard when I came on, but that's not an excuse."
Storm coach Craig Bellamy backed Utoikamanu to step up in the Origin arena for Game 3 with the prop also receiving the backing of Daley. And Utoikamanu also claimed he feels comfortable with his role given to him by the NSW coach.
"I feel like coming off the bench is a good role for me going into Origin, and I've learnt from that (first) game and I'm pretty excited,'' he said. I'm going to stick to my strengths - I know I'm a strong ball carrier, and in defence just make my tackles - making sure I win my tackles is probably the main thing, and that's what I'm looking to do."
"First half we kind of got blown back a bit, but I feel like we had a pretty good second half and came back and anything could have happened," he said. "We're pretty happy with the second half. We know that our discipline needs to be better, and if our discipline's good we have a good chance of winning that game."
There were plent of calls for Souths wrecking ball Koloamatangi or May to come straight into the Blues side for Game 3 if they got through their club footy fit. NRL commentator Andrew Voss was adamant Daley had to bite the bullet and call up the in-form May at the expense of Utoikamanu.
"I'm putting out Stefano Utoikamanu, I'm rubbing him out," veteran commentator Andrew Voss said on SEN radio. "His first run was great, he put Harry Grant on his bottom. (But) I think the stats will show five or six runs for 40 metres when he gave 20 on his first carry."
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While the Blues are unchanged, Billy Slater has made a number of changes. The injury to fullback Kalyn Ponga means Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow will move from the wing to fullback, while Broncos centre Gehamat Shibasaki will make his Origin debut in a shuffled backline. Slater has also brought Josh Papalii out of rep retirement and dropping Mo Fotuaika, Corey Horsburgh and Ezra Mam from the 20-player squad.