Trbojevic knocked back NSW 18th man job to play for Manly. He shouldn't have to choose
Of the 20 teams that have taken the field since the 18th man was introduced into State of Origin back in 2022, only one of those has been in a position to activate the concussion substitute.
That came in game one of the 2024 series, when Felise Kaufusi was activated after eight minutes following a head-high tackle from Joseph Suaalii on Reece Walsh which resulted in the NSW debutant being sent off and the Queensland fullback ruled out of the game through concussion.
Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton will next week be NSW's 18th man for the fifth time in the 11 games since the concussion substitute was introduced.
However, the rules stipulate that he is ineligible to play for the Bulldogs against South Sydney this Sunday – the third time will have missed a Bulldogs game for a five per cent chance of being activated by the Blues.
NSW sources with knowledge of team selection for game one said Trbojevic was initially selected as the NSW Blues' 18th man for the opening game of the series.
Trbojevic, however, declined the invitation because it meant he was made to choose between his state and club.
Trbojevic has long been burdened by a guilt that his body has prohibited him from providing Manly value for the money they pay him. It's why he volunteered to take a $750,000 pay cut last year before the NRL intervened and rejected his request due to salary cap reasons.
With his team struggling for form and licking their wounds after a round 10 loss to Cronulla, Trbojevic – having already missed four of his side's first 10 games of the year, told the Blues he felt obliged to play for Manly the following week rather than join the Blues in camp for 10 days with no guarantee of playing.
The Blues duly called Campbell Graham into the squad as the 18th man, but it should have never come to that.
The rules allow the 19th and 20th players in Origin squads to be released from the respective NSW and Queensland camps to rejoin their clubs this weekend.
So Keaon Koloamatangi, NSW's 19th player, will go back to South Sydney to try to help them knock off the Burton-less Bulldogs. How is that that fair?
Burton is 18th man on game day, not the next in line. When Blues five-eighth Mitch Moses went down on Thursday, NSW called Jarome Luai in to take his place instead of the 18th man who plays the very same position.
When Brian To'o pulled up sore, they didn't reshuffle their backline to accommodate Burton – they brought in Jacob Kiraz.
The NRL will argue that they are concerned about player workloads. That they don't want Matt Burton having to play on Sunday and then potentially (albeit only a 5 per cent chance) back up three days later for the Blues.
But it's OK for the NRL to send five Penrith players on an economy-class, seven-hour red-eye flight from Perth to Auckland to try and salvage their season against the Warriors three days after Origin? No wonder Penrith coach Ivan Cleary is likely to rest them.
There's an obvious solution, at least to the 18th man debacle and not the scheduling farce facing the reigning champions.
The 18th man shouldn't be selected until the Sunday night before an Origin. Allow the states to pick extended squads as they do now, but send players 18, 19 and 20 back to their clubs. And at the end of the round, having determined everyone's fitness, then decide who Mr 5 per cent should be.
Burton misses this weekend's game for the Bulldogs. Next week, they have the bye and he has another week off. By the time he plays again, he wouldn't have played a game of footy for three weeks. In what world is that good for NSW or the Bulldogs?
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We just managed to hold out," said All Blacks fullback Jordan. "We knew the Blues weren't going to come down here and give it to us easy. "It's finals footy, you find yourself in a bit of adversity and that's where you just try to take a step forward and embrace it." The Blues, who had just scraped into the play-offs, made it clear they would be looking to play an expansive game from the third minute when Beauden Barrett fired a crosskick over to Caleb Clarke on the left wing. The Crusaders snuffed out the danger that time, but the visitors soon silenced the crowd when a raking AJ Ram kick resulted in a five-metre scrum and winger Mark Tele'a dived over in the corner for the opening try. The home side were reduced to 14 men when Braydon Ennor was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle, and centre Rieko Ioane went over under the posts to double the lead with a second try for the Blues. The Crusaders cut the deficit soon after being returned to a full complement when open-side flanker Christie forced his way over from close range after several of his teammates had been repelled. Blues prop Joshua Fusitu'a was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on All Blacks captain Scott Barrett three minutes later, and the crowd was back to full voice just before the break when Jordan crossed for a converted try to level the scores. The Blues spurned a straight-forward shot at goal from a 51st-minute penalty, before knocking on from the tap and being pinged by the referee at the resultant scrum. The Crusaders then laid siege to the Blues' line, turning down several potential shots at goal in favour of kicks to touch, before Jordan played tight forward to finally force the ball over the line with 10 minutes left. 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