South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has surprisingly agreed with NSW Blues boss Brad Fittler’s decision to overlook two of his best players for Origin III.
With Penrith pair Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai both unavailable for Game 3, Fittler has turned to Canberra’s Jack Wighton and Parramatta No.7 Mitchell Moses as his new halves pairing.
While Walker’s name was barely mentioned as a replacement for Luai, the race for Cleary’s jumper came down to a choice between Moses and Reynolds.
Moses got the nod but both Reynolds and Walker made emphatic statements with standout performances in the Bunnies’ 46-18 victory over North Queensland on Friday night.
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“We didn’t talk about it because I didn’t think it was every going to happen for them and I’m pleased for us it didn’t,” Bennett said when asked if his Reynolds and Walker were disappointed not to receive a Blues call-up.
“At the same time, had it happened I would have been pleased for them but NSW made the right choices in my opinion.
“Adam’s towards the end of his career, not the starting part of it so his value to NSW is probably not as good as the half-back (Moses) they put in there for the future.”
Bennett added of his star halves pairing: “I never get sick of watching the way they play, they’re a great pairing actually, they’ve learnt to play with each other, that’s the best part.
“… We wouldn’t have put that scoreboard on them if they (Reynolds and Walker) weren’t there but Benji (Marshall) came on there late, he didn’t want Cody getting all the wraps so he started to throw some of Cody’s passes and Cody started throwing some of Benji’s, but Benji was very good too in that last 15 minutes.”
Meanwhile, Bennett stopped short of defending Rabbitohs forward Jai Arrow who was this week booted out of the Queensland Maroons’ camp after reportedly bringing a woman back to the team hotel.
The 25-year-old has been handed a two-match suspension and fined $35,000 for breaching the NRL’s COVID-19 protocols.
“I’m not proud of what he did but they’re young men and he’s obviously going to learn an invaluable lesson from it,” Bennett said.
