Canberra coach Ricky Stuart famously – and correctly – predicted Ethan Strange would be picked for Australia’s Ashes’ tour of England at the end of last year.
Stuart then declared the young Canberra playmaker would play State of Origin football in the next year or two. “He will be our next NSW five-eighth,” Stuart said last August.
Now the Raiders coach looks set to be bang on the money again, with Strange in line to start at five-eighth against Queensland on Wednesday night after a left hamstring strain left Mitchell Moses struggling to be fit.
Moses tweaked his hamstring while completing extras on Monday morning, and will undergo scans on Tuesday to confirm the severity of the injury. Blues’ medicos said the early prognosis was a minor strain, which would sideline him for up to a month.
Strange has been in camp all week and though the more experienced Matt Burton was parachuted into the 20-man squad late on Monday, NSW will give the 21-year-old his shot.
Stuart laughed when reminded about his two big calls about Strange, and joked he wished he had similar foresight when it came to finding a winner at the Queanbeyan races.
He said the trip away with the Kangaroos had helped Strange take his game to the next level.
“Like all players when they come back from playing representative football, where they play with the game’s elite, they pick up little training habits, they have more belief in their own game, and that’s exactly what happened to Ethan when he came back from the Aussie tour with ‘Kevvy’ [coach Kevin Walters],” Stuart said.
“Ethan’s personality and his on-field commitment are made for Origin football. It will also be calming for him knowing one of his mates in Hudson Young will be defending on his inside shoulder.
“I love him as a bloke, and the timing for him is right. He’s got a massive career ahead of him. You could give him two months to prepare for an Origin game or two hours, it wouldn’t worry him.”
Strange will play on the left, where he is most comfortable, despite shifting to the right this year in clubland to accommodate left-foot kicking playmaker Ethan Sanders.
NSW general manager of football Frank Ponissi was full of praise for Strange, and more than confident he would relish the challenge at such short notice if Moses was out.
“He’s been outstanding the last 18 months for the Raiders, he’s fitted in really well with the group, and shown a lot of maturity for a young player,” Ponissi said.
“I just like the way he backs himself. He doesn’t second guess himself, and if he makes a decision, he goes for it, and that’s what you need in Origin.”
If Strange plays, more responsibility will fall on to the shoulders of Nathan Cleary, but it will also allow Strange to embrace his powerful running game.
Strange’s father, John Strange, has already won the womens’ Origin series as coach of the NSW team.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
