FORMER NSW coach Phil Gould has weighed in on Queensland’s halves saga which saw Maroons coach Kevin Walters throw a curveball at Wayne Bennett after selecting star Bronco Anthony Milford for the No. 6 jersey over Johnathan Thurston.

Thurston has been in contention for the series opener for a number of weeks, nursing a troubling shoulder injury which has kept him on the Cowboys’ bench since round six. Walters placed the 36-match veteran on the extended bench for next week’s opener at Suncorp Stadium, opening up a can of worms in the NRL world with talking heads speculating if it was a sly move to catch the Blues off guard.

Former Queensland star and Fox Sports presenter Ben Ikin was adamant Thurston would play next week after reportedly hearing the 34-year-old was an inch away from taking the field against the Sharks last Thursday.

“Wayne Bennett effectively backed Kevvy Walters into a corner didn’t he,” Ikin said of Thurston’s selection.

“Wayne had been on the record saying that unless Anthony Milford was named in the starting 17 then he wouldn’t be releasing him from his commitments with the Broncos this week to be part of the camp.

“By naming Johnathan Thurston as 18th man they’ve been able to circumnavigate that little issue.”

Phil Gould wasn’t impressed, addressing all the hubbub surrounding Queensland on his Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

“I couldn’t imagine that’s possible,” he said. “I just couldn’t imagine they would do that.”

“I can only assume Thurston’s not right (to play). If they’ve done that just to get Milford into camp it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.

“If Thurston’s right, he should be playing in the No. 6 jersey and preparing with the team (and) ready to go. All indications are that he’s not right — he may not be right for this year at all.

“What he’s got is a shoulder problem — maybe he needs surgery, we don’t know. Maybe they’re hoping against hope they can rehab it and get it right to get him back playing. Only Johnathan Thurston and his medical team know that.”

Gould was quietly confident in NSW’s chances against a new-look Queensland side after a number of omissions (such as Billy Slater), injuries and retirements.

“As I look through the team — there’s no Slater, there’s no (Greg) Inglis, there’s no Thurston and there’s no Corey Parker — these have been mainstays for this team for a long period of time.

“It’s a lot of experience and quality to take out of the team at one time. I look at some players who here who aren’t in career-best form right at this stage — that’s never seemed to worry Queensland in the past, but when you get too many of them in the one squad it’s going to inhibit them.”

While Blues fans will relish the thought of a vulnerable Maroons pack for the series opener, Gould had a warning for the travelling NSW side.

“We know this team will play with great passion. We know they’ll be very well organised — where Queensland tend to get NSW is in the starts and the finishes, we’ve seen some games at Suncorp Stadium where Queensland have come out and completed 19 of their first 20 sets of six and they’ve jumped to the front of the scoreboard.

“They’re great frontrunners and NSW can’t deal with what’s been thrown at them — so we’ve got to prepare ourselves for that. We’ve got to anticipate this team is going to be at its absolute best and that Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk are going to have great control in this team.

“They’re going to try and frustrate the ball away from NSW and dominate the field position possession-wise. But I think we’re in a better mindset now to deal with that.”