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JARROD Mullen was hailed as "the next Joey" when arrived in first grade way back in 2004 as a teenager at Newcastle, but a decade on the real Joey has anointed the now 27-year-old as the answer to NSW's five-eighth problems in 2014.
With out-of-form Roosters five-eighth James Maloney under pressure to keep his place in the Blues team after a slow start to the year, Andrew Johns said on The Sunday Footy Show that it was time to reconsider Mullen at Origin level.
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Mullen's only Origin appearance was way back in 2007 when he was thrown into the Blues side at halfback as a 20-year-old — but after playing one game Mullen suffered an injury and he never got another crack.
While his consistency over the years has been questioned, Mullen came of age last year when he took over the Newcastle captaincy in Kurt Gidley's absence and guided the Knights to finish just one game short of the grand final.
And he looked set for another big year in 2014 before he went down with a hamstring injury at the Auckland Nines.
Jarrod Mullen has matured under Wayne Bennett at Newcastle. Source: News Corp Australia
But Mullen took no time to settle back in on Saturday when he returned for the Knights against Canberra and his ball playing and kicking game was instrumental in the Knights' 26-12 win.
Maloney's form this year has been a major worry for the Blues and it even forced NSW coach Laurie Daley to publicly declare last week that it was time for Maloney to lift his game.
Bulldogs five-eighth Josh Reynolds has also had a great start to the year and will surely come into consideration — but Mullen's great strength is his kicking game and ability to create opportunities for his outside men while he is also strong defensively.
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Johns also threw up Jarryd Hayne as a wildcard option for NSW five-eighth this year — but Johns said Mullen would be his pick to wear the number six jumper.
"I know I would be tempted to play Jarryd (Hayne) at five-eighth but (Mullen) is my five-eighth for Origin," Johns said on The Sunday Footy Show.
"He controls the game.
"When (the Knights) were leading the game his kicking game the last 15 minutes just totally controlled it."
Johns said he thinks Hayne would play fullback for the Blues this year but could also handle the five-eighth job.
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