Shane Flanagan believes Matt Moylan is capable of forcing his way into the NSW side despite being hampered by injury during the first month of the season.
Moylan is expected to return from a hamstring injury for Cronulla when they host the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, with Moylan to come up against another half hopeful of wearing the Blues No.6 jersey in Luke Keary.
Moylan trained in a scrimmage against Newtown on Tuesday night and while not certain to play against the Roosters is likely to make his comeback having missed the last fortnight.
The 26-year-old’s setback came at a terrible time for Cronulla as Moylan looked to build a combination with halfback Chad Townsend. He had been electric in pre-season despite also battling a knee problem, with Flanagan excited to unleash a player he likened to Ben Barba in terms of the potential impact he could have on the Sharks’ attack.
But Flanagan said it wasn’t too late for Moylan to force his way into Brad Fittler’s NSW side for Origin I.
“He just needs to get back and put a month of good footy together. If we win footy games things like that will take care of themselves,” Flanagan said.
“During the trials and pre-season he was outstanding. He got to the main event and came up with two nasty little injuries. It was disappointing for him and the club and the team because he’d trained so well for four months. He played injured for the first two games but over the last two weeks he’s got himself right.
“It’s part of sport so you’ve got to deal with it. You get used to it as a coach. You don’t count anyone as definitely playing until they come back in from the warm up.
“But I definitely saw it in pre-season. The skills he has are amazing. We haven’t seen anything like that at the club for a while [since] Benny Barba. He’s just so dangerous offensively. He’s got a run, a pass, deception. We need that type of player in the team.”
The Roosters have started slowly themselves despite big name signings Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco arriving at Bondi. The Tri-Colours are coming off a hammering against the much-improved Warriors and will be desperate to avoid leaving the shire with a two and three record to start their season.
But Flanagan was quick to point out his focus was solely on his own side.
“I don’t really care about them, to be honest,” he said.
“If they’re under pressure, under performing, I don’t care. I try not to think too hard about them.
“It’s a little bit like playing Parra. Obviously they were embarrassed the week before we played them so we knew their mindset and they tried really hard against us.
“I think the Roosters are a bit different. They’ve got a bit more footy in them with players like Cronk, Keary, Ferguson, Mitchell. We’ll have to be at our best.”
