As the New South Wales Blues ramp up preparations for the 2025 State of Origin series opener on May 27, one of the program’s most celebrated former winners is casting doubt on a potential star halves combination that has dominated recent selection discussion. Trent Hodkinson, the playmaker who steered NSW to a historic 2014 series victory that ended Queensland’s eight-year winning streak, says Penrith Panthers star Nathan Cleary is a guaranteed selection at the number seven halfback jersey – but he is not convinced pairing Cleary with another specialist halfback, Parramatta Eels’ Mitchell Moses, will deliver success at the highest level of rugby league’s toughest representative arena.
The NSW selection panel is set to name its starting side for the opening match in exactly two weeks, and Cleary’s spot at halfback has been viewed as a near-certainty despite inconsistent past performances in the Origin environment. Cleary has built a reputation as one of the best elite playmakers in the world, leading his Penrith side to multiple NRL premierships, and his combination with Panthers club teammate Jarome Luai is already proven at both domestic and representative level.
Moses, a regular Blues representative who has turned in strong Origin performances in previous campaigns, has not been at his dominant best for Parramatta this NRL season. However, the Eels have been ravaged by a devastating injury crisis across their roster, a context that has softened criticism of Moses’ 2025 form. The pair have only shared the Origin field once: in last year’s series opener, where Moses lined up at five-eighth alongside Cleary, before injuries cut short any chance for the duo to build sustained chemistry together.
Beyond Moses, Hodkinson points to two other credible candidates for the five-eighth role: Luai, who has recently returned to action after a mid-season injury layoff, and Canberra Raiders young gun Ethan Strange. Even with Canberra underperforming as a team in 2025, Hodkinson noted that Strange has stood out as a bright spark for the club, putting himself firmly in Origin contention.
“Nathan will be locked in at that seven, there’s no question about that,” Hodkinson said in his analysis. “There are a lot of good halves putting their hands up for sure. Moses has been playing solid footy, there’s Luai who’s just come back into the frame after being injured. Ethan Strange as well is really doing good things in a Canberra side who’s sort of underperforming at the moment, but he’s standing out which is good. I think there are multiple options at that six. Cleary will be locked in at seven, but we’ll have to see how Loz goes.”
Hodkinson pointed to his own 2014 success to explain his hesitation about pairing two elite, playmaking-focused halfbacks together. That year, Hodkinson served as the chief playmaker in the halves, while his partner Josh Reynolds operated as an instinctive, off-the-cuff energy player – a clear division of roles that made the combination click.
Hodkinson concedes that a Cleary-Moses pairing could still work, as long as the pair define clear roles ahead of the game: with Cleary leading the structure and play direction, and Moses leaning into his natural running game and long-range kicking ability, a skill that is particularly valuable in the high-pressure Origin environment. The pair even proved the combination can work once before, delivering a victory in last year’s series opener.
Still, Hodkinson warned that pairing two dominant playmakers can create communication and role confusion, issues that are amplified in the Origin cauldron, where crowd noise makes on-field communication extremely difficult, especially in away fixtures.
“But I think two dominant halves, that’s where you’ll see sides struggle. Especially at Origin level where it’s hard to hear, you’ve got the crowd, away games and things like that,” he explained. “If Nathan can direct the play around and Mitch can play off the back of it – which they’ve done before – (then it can work) but Luai has got that long-standing combination with him. And Ethan Strange, he can take a backward step down there at Canberra and then just explodes when he needs to. As Loz said, they’re going to pick on form, he’s made it quite clear, so certainly they’ll need to play their way into a jersey.”