Brodie Croft has the inside lane, but Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy admits he’s still no closer to nailing down his preferred halfback as the defending NRL champions prepare for a finals tilt without Cooper Cronk.
With the long-time playmaker now at the Sydney Roosters, Bellamy has tested a trio of options with varying degrees of success.
Croft was solid in the side’s 10-8 defeat of Gold Coast that cemented a top-four spot on Saturday night, but Bellamy said the audition process was ongoing given Jahrome Hughes was fit and available after a knee injury.
“There will be a little bit of who we think is going the best … but it will have a bit to do with the opposition as well on what decision we make,” he said.
“Common sense would say you’d like to go into next week (against Penrith) and go through with the one half (for the rest of the season).
“But if we think it’s better going for one and even if he plays well, go for another the week after, depending on who we play, we will.”
Croft has played well in the last two of his 13 games this season while Hughes has spent time at both halfback and fullback and the seemingly out-of-favour Ryley Jacks has played 12 games in the halves during 2018.
Compounded by injuries to Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Suliasi Vunivalu as well as Will Chambers’ suspension it is unchartered territory for Bellamy.
“Yeah it probably is a bit (hard to gauge the team’s true form) at the moment, but it’s just the way it is so we have to find a way,” he said.
“We’ve got another couple of weeks, so hopefully we find that consistency and be very competitive (in the finals).”