Former New South Wales Blues skipper Kurt Gidley has called for Brad Fittler to select Penrith Panthers hooker Api Koroisau on the bench for Game II in Perth.

Panthers centre Stephen Crichton was named on the bench for the Blues and failed to make an impact in the 16-10 loss to Queensland.

“Apart from tactics, the only change I’d make selection wise is to bring in someone on the bench with speed who can get out of dummy half and cause problems for the Queenslanders like what Craig Wing used to do for NSW when I played,” Gidley wrote for theroar.com.au.

“There’s not many players like that in the NRL at the moment but the guy I think who would suit that role is Api Koroisau. He’s a good ball player, an attacking threat and you could keep Damien Cook on the field and play two hookers at once like Queensland did when Harry Grant and Ben Hunt were on at the same time.

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“I’m not a fan of having a specialist centre on the bench so I’m not sure whether Stephen Crichton should stay there. He might end up in the starting side depending on how bad Kotoni Staggs’ shoulder injury turns out to be.”

Game II is in Perth on Sunday 26th of June.