Pick Jamie Soward. It's the only way NSW can win Origin II and keep the series alive.

He's a dominant playmaker. He can kick long and short into the in-goal and he can pass and he can run. He can do everything Trent Hodkinson can do but better.

He is also a natural-born leader.

He won't let Mitchell Pearce call the ball ahead of him when field goals need to be kicked in the 72nd minute.

He won't let Robbie Farah take control and pass to the wrong man when field goals need to be kicked in the 77th minute.

He will set up the play, bark at his forwards where and when to run, and he will seal the deal.

Yes, he's a liability in defence, but plonk the angry, part-time pig-shooter Beau Scott next to him just as the Dragons did when they won the 2010 premiership and suddenly NSW wins game two and then game three and the dynasty is on its way …

Righto, now what's for lunch?

NSW coach Laurie Daley answered the question before it was asked following his side's frustrating 11-10 loss to Queensland in the series opener: he'll be sticking solid with Pearce and Hodkinson for game two at the MCG on June 17.

But Daley needs one of them to be the dominant half the Blues are screaming for.

As former NSW coach and Fairfax Media columnist Phil Gould said on Thursday on the soon-to-be-Logie-nominated Gus and Webby Show: "We don't have a boss on the field. We don't have a leader on the field who is demanding the ball and direction. It's all being done from dummy half. That's not the place to have your direction."

The man for the job is Soward, who wasn't hopeless in his three matches for NSW in 2011 and has been reborn since Gould signed him at Penrith two seasons ago.

You may scoff. Soward has as many detractors as Pearce, and that's saying something. But, after game one, there were enough NSW legends who were thinking he could get the job done.

NSW can sugarcoat the narrow defeat on Wednesday night all they want with talk about how dominant they were in the first half, about "failing to execute", and privately about how much the Queenslanders were offside.

But there's no escaping it: the Blues blew it all sky high. Like the song.

After the match, Andrew Johns slowly trudged up the tunnel. He was shaking with frustration.

If not for the Channel Nine suit he was wearing, you would've thought he'd just played instead of calling it from the sidelines.

"Hodkinson is the man here," Johns had said in the 71st minute of Nine's call. "He had to steer them into position and stand up and take the field goal."

Oh, Laurie Daley's kingdom for a playmaker like Joey.

The halfback owns the result. He ices it. That's his job.

Ask Wayne Bennett about Wally Lewis, what made him so special, and he will tell you: "Whenever he wanted the ball, he got it."

It's easy to blame Farah for failing from dummy half to find Hodkinson for the field goals that could've won the match or at least levelled the scores in the final eight minutes.

The best halfbacks in the business will tell you this is rubbish. You don't give the dummy half a choice. You set up the play. You scream for the ball. You come up with the money play. You win the game.

Unless Hodkinson or Pearce are prepared to become that player – or someone like Soward is spirited in to do the job instead – NSW may as well bubble-wrap the shield and send it north now.

Cronk was the best

The decision to hand the man-of-the-match award to Queensland captain Cameron Smith cocked a few eyebrows.

For the record, it is not decided by Channel Nine. It is a joint decision between the NSW and Queensland selectors. That's what Nine was told by the NRL, which is curious because NSW don't have any selectors.

The news certainly perplexed NSW players, who had identified at halftime that Smith was the weakest link in defence, and to keep running at him in the second half.

There is also the minor matter of Cooper Cronk, who showed there was no small fire in his village after scoring the opening try and coolly slotting the match-winning field goal.

Surely, he deserved the award.

Standing room only

So much for the banks of empty seats at ANZ Stadium for the first game. More than 80,000 created a stirring atmosphere, even if most of them left deflated.

The NRL is now confident of about 90,000 turning up for game two at the MCG.

With the game on the line, that will create an atmosphere worth bottling.

In need of a wake-up

Back to Joey for a moment.

He was criticised for offering honest opinion about Hodkinson's form earlier this year.

Amid the pre-match Origin hype, his comments about former side Newcastle on Triple M on Monday night flew right under the radar.

He didn't miss.

Speaking after the Knights' insipid 31-18 loss to Brisbane at Hunter Stadium, Johns said: "The players look comfortable, don't they? They're just playing in third gear. They're playing within themselves and there is no pressure from down below. I feel sorry for people who turn up and watch. You've got a family who pays to come and sacrifice so much to see the game they love and they toss that up. It's embarrassing for the club. The coach [Rick Stone] won't get much sleep tonight."

Then he said this of former teammate Danny Buderus, who is on the coaching staff at Newcastle.

"I speak to Danny Buderus a lot," Johns said. "He's on the coaching staff there. He said, 'I scratch my head. I put challenges to blokes and I  ... get nothing back'. It's a precarious position for the Newcastle Knights."

Growing them big

SPOTTED: Bulls players – from South Africa, not Chicago – doing some fitness work along the esplanade at Coogee Beach on Monday morning.

They were based there ahead of Friday night's Super Rugby clash against the Brumbies.

As they did squats and lunges and then runs along the path, they caught the attention of locals.

One woman was pushing a pram along, chatting on her mobile phone quite loudly, as eastern suburbs types tend to do...

"Yeah, well, let's catch up for lunch this week … OH MY GOD HAVE A LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THESE RUGBY PLAYERS THEY ARE HUGE!"

At two metres, 119kgs, lock forward Jacques du Plessis is hard to miss.

The quote

"Only time will tell." - For someone who hates The Speculation, Daly Cherry-Evans seems to enjoy fuelling The Speculation.

Thumbs up

Aussie Matthew Dellavedova is turning his megastar teammates at the Cleveland Cavs into footnotes as he aggressively makes a name for himself in the NBA playoffs. The US press has labeled him a "dirty player". Looks like a young Australian, taking no prisoners, from where we sit.

Thumbs down

Tennis sensation Nick Kyrgios is starting to wear thin. His running battle with the chairwoman in his first-round win at the French Open was petulant. Then he asked if he could "take a picture" of a mark in the clay after a line call. It was pure brat. Shut up. Play tennis. The End.

It's a big weekend  for ...

Carlton, as they pick themselves up after the sacking of veteran coach Mick Malthouse, dust themselves off, and take on the in-form Swannies at the SCG on Friday night. Yup, good luck with that.

It's an even bigger weekend for ...

Brad Arthur. He was considered the next wonder coach less than a year ago, but the word is his players feel like they're in a concentration camp under his control this year. Smiling is banned. Last-placed Parra travel to Penrith on Friday night.

Question & Answer: Ben McGlynn

We speak to the Swans star ahead of the clash against Carlton at the SCG on Friday – his 150th match for the red and whites.

What do you recall from your very first match?

I got the first touch of the day. And then my first kick was about a foot off the ground – a grubber. We had a win. I was playing for Hawthorn against the Western Bulldogs at Etihad. I kicked a goal as well in that game.

Who did you support as a kid?

I'm from a small town called Dareton, which is on the other side of the border from Mildura in NSW. I came back to my home state coming to the Swans. I actually barracked for Carlton growing up. It's ironic I am playing against them on Friday night.

Carlton have always been a giant of the AFL. It's strange to see what's happened to them? 

It is. When I was growing up, they were winning a lot of premierships. That's why I started to follow them. In their Anthony Koutoufides days, they were winning a lot of premierships so that's why I followed them.

Highlight from your Swans years?

Playing in the grand final last year was a highlight. It was something I missed out on in 2012 [when he missed the premiership because of injury]. I was disappointed in my performance and the team's. But I played in a grand final and not many people get that opportunity.

Adam Goodes keeps getting booed. How do you guys react to that?

In the heat of the moment, you don't recognise it. I don't think it affects Adam either. But afterwards that's when you realise it affects his family and friends. We don't really know why, it's a little disappointing when he gets that attention. He's done a lot for the game, a role model for all indigenous players. He doesn't deserve the booing. He's done a lot for the game and the community.