As Game 1 of State of Origin slowly inches closer, there has been lots of debate on who should be picked for the New South Wales team.
Onย SEN1170 The Round Up, Matthew Johns has revealed what his ideal New South Wales backline would look like.
This comes as winger Josh Addo-Carr is expected to miss State of Origin due to picking up an injury against the Rabbitohs on Friday.
When stating who his ideal back three would be, Johns made an interesting choice to select Tom Trbojevic on the wing alongside Brian To'o, with James Tedesco slotting in at fullback.
"My back three would be (James) Tedesco at fullback, Tom Trbojevic, To'o - that's a lot of yardage and punch," Johns said on theย SENย talk show.
"Some interesting ones around the outside backs, no Josh Add-Carr, so what do you do? For a lot of people this will start the (Joseph) Suaalii talk again."
"But this is what I would do at the back, my two wingers, let's say for instance Tom Trbojevic is fit and ready to go, I'd go (Brian) To'o and Tom Trbojevic."
After picking his fullback and two wingers, Johns went on to pick his centres. Although he automatically picked Latrell Mitchell on the side, he thinks New South Wales can't go wrong with either Matt Burton, Jack Wighton or Stephen Crichton playing alongside Latrell.
"Latrell (Mitchell) goes without speaking - he's one centre. The other centre, well take your pick, is it (Jack) Wighton, (Stephen) Crichton and (Matt) Burton, we've got a lot of depth in the outside backs."
Johns would finally move on to the halves combination and insisted that it came down to Jarome Luai or Nicho Hynes partnering with Nathan Cleary.
"If I was to pick the side this morning, I would pick Nicho at 14 and I would leave Luai at six, the combination he has with not just (Nathan) Cleary but Isaiah Yeo, that three combination that sits right in the middle of the field is just such an advantage for NSW," Johns added.
"Successful Original sides, there has been an important combination that sits right at the front of the side, at one point you had Ricky Stuart, Laurie Daley and Bradley Clyde."
"At other points, you've had Andrew Johns, Danny Buderus and Ben Kennedy there."
