NSWRL boss Geoff Carr says he wouldn't lose any sleep if there were no Blues State of Origin selectors at the most eagerly anticipated City-Country clash in years.

With as many as 12 positions in the Blues team up for grabs, Carr says the four-man panel will have no difficulty assessing Friday night's NSW trial in Orange, though chairman Bob McCarthy, selector Bob Fulton and coach Craig Bellamy won't be there.

Geoff Gerard will be an observer at the match while other selector Laurie Daley is there as Country coach.

Adding to the Blues' crucial selection questions in key positions including five-eighth, halfback and hooker is their need to stem a three-series Origin losing streak.

But Carr said on Tuesday modern technology would more than make up for the no-shows.

"It's the 21st century, all our stuff's done on video now," Carr said.

"We've got access to eagle-cam, we've got access to the full Channel Nine coverage.

"If the Melbourne Storm are playing Brisbane the week after next, they don't go and watch Brisbane play but they get all the video of what Brisbane do, it's just what happens in the modern society.

"If you speak to the coaches, they will all say the same thing. Your analysis off the video now, particularly with (website) NRL Stats, is far better than at the game.

"We've got two selectors in Orange but if we'd had none I wouldn't have lost any sleep."

Carr said there was no requirement for selectors to actually attend matches.

"If they want to go, well and good but they all say the same thing when they go - I saw such and such do such and such, I want to go home and check the video."

McCarthy and Bellamy will miss the Orange fixture as a direct result of scheduling the City-Country match at the same time as the Test between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane.

McCarthy will be at Suncorp Stadium as a Kangaroos selector, while Bellamy will remain on duty with the Storm as he club assistants Stephen Kearney (New Zealand) and Michael McGuire (Country) are involved in Friday's games.

Melbourne coach Bellamy has said television scheduling in the Victorian capital could force him to watch the game in a pub.

Carr defended the decision to play the two games at the same time, rather than on different days.

"We discussed this 12 months ago," he said.

"The clubs felt that if we ran it this way it would be probably less disruptive to them and we've got to consider what the clubs say because obviously they provide the players, so that was taken into consideration.

"Channel Nine would prefer to have two games on each Friday night because that's what they do for the season.

"If we play Test match and City-Country apart they've got two weekends where there's one Friday game and City-Country rates sensationally well in NSW but not the same in Queensland, so we took into consideration TV."

Meanwhile Cronulla centre Ben Pomeroy has joined the City Origin team to replace injured centre Chris Lawrence.

Pomeroy was initially called into the squad as 18th man but he'll now take Lawrence's place in the side after MRI scan results received Tuesday evening confirmed the Wests Tigers flyer has a partial tear to an ankle ligament.

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