Cameron McInnes says he was surprised by Queensland’s dropping of his St George Illawarra teammate Ben Hunt to the bench for State of Origin III, calling it the wrong decision.
The Dragons No.7 has led St George Illawarra to the top of the NRL table after round 16 but has paid the price for an unhappy showing in Origin II with Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans named Queensland’s halfback for game three in Brisbane next Wednesday night.
McInnes, who will look to help the Dragons complete a regular season double over the Storm in Melbourne on Thursday night, took aim at the decision to relegate Hunt to a bench role after initially being earmarked to lead Queensland into a new era without Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith.
“In terms of unfair, footy’s not fair. Nothing always goes your way in footy. But in terms of being surprised, yeah, I was,” he said.
“I think it’s the wrong decision. They can do what they want. I’m not a Queenslander, I’m from NSW anyway. But I don’t think he deserved to get put back to No.14.
“I think he was their best player in game one. Sort of kept them in game. And then game two he probably had a couple of moments he’d like to take back. But that’s footy. To put him to the bench I don’t think he deserves that but he’ll play that No.14 role the best he can.
“He won’t complain and that’s the great thing about him. We love having him here and after Origin he can come straight back and we’ll roll on.”
Hunt bounced back from his underwhelming performance for the Maroons by helping a flat Dragons side mount a late comeback to down Parramatta on Thursday night.
Hunt’s grubber kick against the Eels, almost identical to the situation where he over hit a kick dead in-goal against NSW late in Origin II, saw Euan Aitken touch down to get the Dragons back in the game.
McInnes said Hunt had been unconcerned by factors off the field and just wanted to get his Dragons side over the line.
“Obviously the magnitude of the game in Origin it stands out more but players make mistakes. We all do,” he said.
“Sometimes in those big moments that’s what happens, there’s going to be a winner and a loser. But the good thing about him is he’s so relaxed and level-headed that he comes back and plays well for us.
“It’s not a big deal and he wasn’t really burning by it or anything like that. He wanted to win for Queensland but he wasn’t upset so that just shows the man he is.”
St George Illawarra will be without five of their Origin stars, Hunt, Tyson Frizell, Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan and Tariq Sims, for their clash with Melbourne after Sims was named to make his debut for NSW from the bench in Origin III.
“I’m excited for the challenge for the squad. We’re obviously going to have a few guys out. So will they,” McInnes said.
“So it’s a good opportunity for us to come together and go down to Melbourne in a bit of a hostile environment and see what we’re made of as a whole squad.”
