A “red head” is one who lets his passion and emotion take over and derail that match plan.

The Blues’ recent skippers have been too red-headed. When an Origin match turned against NSW Paul Gallen,captain from 2013 until 2016,was determined to win it on his own,taking the ball relentlessly forward,believing that leading by example would extricate his team from the looming loss. Ditto Tedesco. In the 2022 series,he began desperately positioning himself around the ruck,inserting himself as a first or second receiver,rather than act as a tackle-busting support player.

Compare this with the “blue heads” who led Queensland in their historic streak of wins. Hooker Cameron Smith,half Cooper Cronk and fullback Billy Slater – all from the same Melbourne club. They composed the Maroons when Origin games were in the balance. In more recent times,Cherry-Evans has played that clear thinking role.

A good example of the need to throw the switch to blue occurred in the 2023 NRL grand final. The Broncos,leading by 16 points after an Ezra Mam hat-trick,should have closed the match down. Rather than let his young team seek to run up the score,captain Adam Reynolds should have instructed them to complete their sets,kick to the corners and generally play safety first.

Instead,it was Penrith’s Cleary who pulled on the blue head and played a composed,calculating game,freed to play wider by replacement Jack Cogger who shared the first receiver role.

Given that Cleary is only 26 and a future NSW captain for five years,hisOrigin-ending hamstring injury must have made Madge feel like the admiral who saw his favourite ship sink.

NSW have had red-headed leaders before such as Tom Raudonikis.

Steve Mortimer’s hair is really red but he reserved all his red-headed fury for the preparation of the team,including the legendary bus trip past the Caxton hotel in 1985 when he fired up the team,as beer-soaked Maroon supporters banged on the bus. On the field,Mortimer was blue-headed.

Laurie Daley and Brad Fittler,both NSW captains and later coaches,had their blue headed moments on the field.

Significantly,NSW play in blue jumpers and Queensland in red ... well,maroon. In an Origin series in danger of being pulled down by a purgatory of injury,Madge’s best option is to start Jake Trbojevic as a blue-headed leader in the brutal beginning to the game. He can then bring on Yeo to help direct the team when the game plan needs to change from sledgehammer to rapier thrust.

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