Threesomes are awkward, even at the origin level.

From what I’ve ... uh ... heard, threesomes always leave one person watching from the sidelines and in some cases, I guess to justify their own presence in the forum, the third person is left performing some empty and degrading act.

Come Origin time, Scott Prince will be that third person. His empty and degrading act: A slew of repetitive interviews about missing out on being selected, where the he has to be diplomatic and pretend like he didn’t get screwed over and that he really wants the guy who took his place to do well.

It will be awkward and contrived, but at the end of the day QLD will be better off with a Lockyer-Thurston half combo. And who knows, if things ... uh ... wrap up early, Prince should see some action.

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There is no question that Prince has been the best player through 6 weeks; his form has been consistent, the Titans have over-achieved, he broke the record for most times a player has been photographed wearing his full uniform in a non rugby league environment, and he seems to be in better shape than both his counterparts, physically and mentally.

The issue is, and I wrote about this in my April 19th column, NRL teams and Origin teams are built around roles and systems. Prince doesn’t fit the Origin system because he has an unorthodox role with the Titans.

Prince has built his recent career success off of his ability to carry teams with sub-par talent and size. He’s been able to do this because of his unorthodox approach to the half-back position.

Where a pure half like Lockyer, Thurston, or Johns make the players around them better by facilitating their strengths, Prince favours a more hands on, cowboy-esque, high-risk-high-reward style of attack. This is successful with sub-par talent because it reduces the game to chance and subsequently minimises any advantage a more talented opposition has.

Think of it this way: Scoring in the NRL relies on a team creating a crack in the defence—a line-break, a hole, a overlap, missed tackle—and capitalising on that with good support play. Where pure halves put players around them in the best positions to create those cracks, Prince relies on himself to create the crack.

It’s why you see him drifting across field throwing those awkward one-handed dummies and holding on to the ball for as long as possible, but you see Thurston just run at the line and pass.

In Origin, where the best talent in the league is on the field, you need halves who will facilitate that talent and get the most out of it. That’s the role Lockyer and Thurston fulfil within the NRL and at their clubs.

When you are more talented—and there is no question the QLD team is right now—reducing the game to chance decreases any advantage you have.

If QLD were in the position NSW are, and they needed to take a few chance to be able to win, Prince would fit the system and he would get the nod over Thurston. That’s what they are banking on with Anasta this year.

Unfortunately for Prince, it’s just bad timing. He is suffering from the Chris Whitaker syndrome. At least he can take solace in the fact that this should be Lockyer’s last year.

For now, he needs to suck it up, cup the balls, and wait his turn.


Brisbane Sports Fan