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Phil Gould has posed a hypothetical question over the selection of Bradman Best and Keaon Koloamatangi for the NSW Blues after their barnstorming games in Origin III led to victory.

“If it had of been a decider I wonder whether they’d go that way, I wonder if Koean and Bradman Best get a run in that game,” he declared on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

The two men were some of NSW’s best in game three, and breathed life into a side that suffered two defeats, including an embarrassing 32-6 loss in game two.

Best was outstanding with two tries while Koloamatangi toiled hard and played a hand in Brian To’o’s try.

Gould was highly complimentary of Best post-game. 

“He’s been coming through the system for years and years and years – it’s not easy for a centre, it’s sort of the position that takes some players a long time to master and they get better with age over a longer period of time,” he said.

“I think Bradman Best is going to be one of those players, he’s a player that’s always had setbacks with little injuries, he’s always half pulling through tackles and people are always falling on his legs and he’s always just being dragged down from behind and he’s had some other issues, reading defence and those sort of things.

“But he’s really maturing into the sort of player we all expected was on the horizon all those years ago, he was a very dominant kid coming through age group football, I’m glad he too got a chance.

“The way he combined with Cody Walker and Addo-Carr to get Addo-Carr away a couple of times, the first time in the series, it was quite special and of course his own efforts, not only in the scoring end of the field but in the back end of the field too.

“I thought some of his charges coming out of trouble were really helpful and you need those players that are willing to get in there in the middle of the field.”

Gould added the centre’s ability to not be overawed by the occasion was admirable. 

“Bradman Best is a beast, he’s a physical beast, he really is and he’s a determined young man and he’s not scared either, his first interview for Origin was ‘I hate Queensland’ and he let them know it too,” he said.