PRECEDENT and consequence. Simple concepts, you might think. Certainly, very, very important concepts in the administration of professional sport these days - which is why most of them around the world are headed by lawyers.

Here's how NSW's decision on Monday night to select 21 players for Origin II - "pending judiciary and injury" - ignored both and has the potential to cause an almighty mess in the future.

The precedent: a number of times in the past two decades, New Zealand players have been told they cannot include mid-season Tests in any suspensions meted out from the premiership because the Kiwis had only picked a squad at the time of the hearing.

In other words, you cannot include in a suspension a game you have been pencilled in for, but not selected to definitely play in. On one occasion, prop Craig Smith was successful in having this ruling set aside but, as far as I know, it still stands.

Jarryd Hayne and Luke Lewis play for Parramatta and Penrith. Parramatta and Penrith don't play this weekend. So they will seek to include Origin II in their suspensions.

Now, the consequence: you might say that Hayne and Lewis were automatic selections anyway so ‘who cares?' But what if Luke O'Donnell and Josh Dugan had been reported at the weekend and were appearing before the tribunal?

How would the tribunal have known when their suspensions, should they be found guilty, start and end? There is no doubt they would have claimed to have been playing against Queensland next Wednesday, even though most observers agree they are in the bottom four spots of the 21.

And more importantly, what is to stop NSW picking 40 players for a game next year and expecting every one of them to be able to include an Origin game in any suspension meted out before the side is whittled down to 17?

Oh, more to the point - what is to stop Queensland doing it? They DID say Israel Folau would be brushed only to pick him on the wing, didn't they?

They seem to care about precedent and consequence even less than the Blues do.