Saturday, October 10, 2020

Eels, Roosters stars to feature in NSW squad

NSW coach Brad Fittler will name a raft of Roosters and Eels players in his Blues squad later on Sunday, after they bowed out of the NRL finals.

Boyd Cordner, James Tedesco, Luke Keary, Angus Crichton and Daniel Tupou are likely selections from the Roosters, after they lost to Canberra on Friday.

"They've had a fantastic season and they've all played for NSW, bar Luke Keary," Fittler said on The Sunday Footy Show, without confirming any selections after the names were raised by fellow NSW great Peter Sterling.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Junior Paulo, Nathan Brown and Clint Gutherson were named as likely picks from the Eels by Sterling, after they lost to the Rabbitohs on Saturday. Only Campbell-Gillard has already played for NSW.

"I thought Junior Paulo played his way into a NSW jersey last night," Sterling said, after the prop ran 155 metres and threw a neat hit-and-spin try assist against South Sydney.

Fittler replied: "I thought Junior was outstanding. It was quite amazing, I thought Junior and Gutho were my standouts when I looked at the game overall.

"Obviously Cooky (Souths and NSW hooker Damien Cook) came up with the magic moments and most probably pipped them at the end when he scored that try, but to be on a losing team and have your fullback (Gutherson) was one of the best players and you front-rower (Paulo) as one of the best players, I thought was a pretty outstanding effort."

With Tedesco locked in at fullback, Gutherson may end up playing in the NSW right centre position vacated by the injured Tom Trbojevic.

Fittler said that the Eels, who bombed out of the finals with consecutive losses to Melbourne and Souths, at least didn't give up. They were into the match a rabble, losing wingers Maika Sivo and Blake Ferguson to injury, then veteran centre Michael Jennings to a positive drug test.

Sterling branded the end of Parramatta's season "disappointing", having lost five of their last nine games. Yet he gave them a seven out of 10 grade, having finished the regular season in third place.

Gutherson had an incredible first half against the Rabbitohs, scoring two tries and assisting another, before coughing-up a ball in the second half that allowed Bayley Sironen to score. He ran 210m and made three line breaks.

The Eels captain and fullback has been a NSW shadow player previously and should figure high in this season's Dally M Medal tally.



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