Axed Blues prop David Klemmer could find himself watching State of Origin from the sideline for the rest of his NRL career, despite his top-drawer stats and long service in the New South Wales jersey: here’s why.
Klemmer, was sensationally left out of coach Brad Fittler’s preliminary Origin squad earlier this week.
It was a double-whammy week for the Knights forward, after Newcastle were punted out of the NRL finals in a 46–20 defeat that saw the team from the Hunter give up a three-try lead at ANZ Stadium.
Despite that, David Klemmer was expected to be a shoo-in for Fittler’s soon-to-be-announced list.
It came as a nasty shock for the hulking 155-game prop, who had played in 14 high-level State of Origins games up to this point in his career.
Klemmer has also been piling on the standout stats this season. According to Fox Sports Lab, he’s second only to Brisbane’s dangerman Payne Haas in minutes per game (57), post-contact metres (58), and total run metres (159).
The former Bulldogs junior also added another dimension to his game under rookie Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien; he bundled off 45 offloads in 2020. Only Junior Paulo (51) outstripped the 26-year-old.
There are a few bung points in his stat lines, however.
The Newcastle middleman gave up a whopping 13 penalties across his 21 games, and chipped in a half dozen mistakes to boot. Klemmer is also prone to getting rolled onto his back, slowing down the Knights right when they want to inject Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Mann into the attack.
The Blues attack should boast Cody Walker, James Tedesco, and plenty more strike guns, all of whom will thrive with the Maroon’s defence at the sixes and nines; something Klemmer isn’t delivering anymore.
Then there’s his attitude. Klemmer reportedly didn’t take kindly to being left out of the game two squad last year, and made his displeasure known when he was named in the no.17 ahead of the series’ final match.
“Klemmer didn’t get picked because he carried on like a sour tart last year,” Telegraph journalist Paul Kent revealed on NRL360.
“Last year he didn’t get picked, then he was brought back in.
“Now the problem was they sat there and he sulked a bit in camp, one-word answers. Yes, no, moped around. When the NSW brains trust sat down this year, they said this isn’t like other Origin series because we go into camp for game one and don’t go home until after game three.
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“They don’t want his negativity affecting the mood in camp.
“There were plenty of players who missed out on tours because the coach thought how the hell am I going to deal with it if one player gets a headache, we’ve all got to take a panadol.”
Fittler is biding his time before naming the entirety of his 2020 squad. The NRL finals are still being played, and a number of his top picks — including Parramatta’s Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard — are still in action.
Boom Panthers prop Moses Leota is another name tipped to replace David Klemmer for the Blues.
Klemmer’s teammate Daniel Saifiti has already been included in Fittler’s squad. Jake Trbojevic, Haas, and Dragons trio Tyson Frizell, Zac Lomax, and Cameron McInnes round out the early list.
