See you in England: Push for Cronulla star to make Australian debut

Cameron Smith, the man regarded as rugby league’s greatest-ever dummy-half, has hailed Cronulla’s Blayke Brailey “the form hooker in the NRL”, and a player who deserves to head to the Ashes series as the Kangaroos’ back-up No 9.

While Sunday’s Broncos-Panthers clash will double as a shoot-out for the Kangaroos No.1 jersey between Reece Walsh and Dylan Edwards, Friday night’s battle of the hookers, featuring Brailey and Melbourne’s Harry Grant, will be just as fascinating.

Brailey has not played Origin football for NSW, but Smith believes the 27-year-old stand-in Cronulla captain is good enough to wear the green and gold.

Smith said Brailey had leapt ahead of Roosters-bound Reece Robson, the incumbent Blues hooker and the back-up dummy half for Australia during last year’s Pacific Championships.

“Harry is the best hooker in the competition, but Blayke is the form dummy-half in the competition,” Smith said.

“I think they will take [both of them] on tour, absolutely. Harry will be the No. 9 for Australia, Tommy Dearden will go as the No.14, but I think they need to take a specialist No. 9 in case something happens. And Blayke is the form dummy-half of the comp.

“I don’t know what happened, but it all turned around [for Cronulla] when Blayke decided to start running [with the ball]. The play-the-ball is the best place to attack from. It gets everyone moving forward, he gets the forwards moving forward.

“The other night against Canberra, Blayke only had six runs, but he picked the right times to run. Out of those six runs, he got a couple of penalties and a set restart.

“He’s a wonderfully talented player who works hard, much like Harry. I heard someone talking about a stat the other day, how this was his fourth consecutive year he’s made more than 1000 tackles.”

Brailey would follow the likes of Penrith pair Lindsay Smith and Edwards in having played for his country before his state, should Australian coach Kevin Walters give him the nod.

Smith said he had noticed Cronulla’s confidence growing each week off the back of career-best form from halves pair Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes and the work-rate of back three Will Kennedy, Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa.

However, the Melbourne legend predicted the return of halfback Jahrome Hughes would prove decisive for his former side.

“Any team that plays with that self-belief like Cronulla have, particularly the last month, they can be a real threat,” Smith said.

“Even though Melbourne are at home and have had the week off – in theory, it all points in the right direction Melbourne should win – but if you look at Cronulla’s form the last six weeks, it’s as good as any team left in the comp.

“I’m confident Melbourne can win, and if they can put together an 80-minute performance, which they haven’t for a little bit, they’ll have a little bit too much class for the Sharkies.

“‘Hughesy’ is one of the best running halfbacks in the game. For some reason, they keep falling for that right foot he’s got. His kicking game also allows [Cam] Munster to do his own thing – Munster is a better player when he doesn’t have to worry about steering a team around the park.

“And with ‘Paps’ [Ryan Papenhuyzen] back, Melbourne are a much more dangerous footy side. Ask the Sharks or any team if they’d prefer Papenhuyzen or someone else at fullback, and I’d know what they’d all say.”

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