New South Wales’ greatest ever coach Phil Gould says the Blues must go with Sydney Roosters halves Mitchell Pearce and James Maloney ahead of incumbents Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds.

Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Gould believes the Roosters pairing would give the Blues a leadership in attack Hodkinson and Reynolds lack.

“I’m also not so sure Hodkinson and Reynolds were major contributors to last year’s success. Don’t get me wrong, they tried their hearts out and put their bodies on the line for their state” Gould writes.

“They stood their ground in defence and refused to yield. I love them for that. They are tough boys. But I can distinctly remember, even during the opening two Origin matches in which we won, a feeling of wanting more from our two halves as the game unfolded. I never got the feeling they were in control. There was no sense of anticipation

“Being brutally honest, if Hayne wasn’t in such good form last year I seriously doubt NSW would have won. He is not going to be there this year and the Blues really don’t have anyone like him to take his place. I honestly think this is a major factor and NSW selectors need to be realistic about this fact.

“Finally, I still have visions of the game three annihilation where Queensland finally got into their groove and produced a convincing 32-8 victory. Now, it’s easy to say this was a dead rubber with the series having been decided in the opening two matches, but I feel it would be foolish to ignore a review of this match when looking to prepare for this year’s series.”