Five-eighth Luke Keary has reportedly been ruled out of the NSW Blues’ Game III squad through injury, with an application being made to bring Joseph Sua’ali’i back into the fold.
According to various reports, Keary has left the state’s Blue Mountains camp with an unspecified injury and could be replaced by Roosters teammate Suaa’ali’i in Michael Maguire’s squad.
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Despite Sua’ali’i’s return to the squad, Weidler reported Bulldogs half Matt Burton remains the first choice cover for Knights star Bradman Best, who has been under an injury cloud for the duration of the camp.
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Keary has featured in the extended squad for each of the Blues’ three games this season, while Sua’ali’i was infamously sent off in the seventh minute of NSW’s Game I loss.
It remains unclear what injury Keary has suffered, and whether or not this will impact his club the Roosters, who have a bye in Round 19 but play the Melbourne Storm next round.
VAL’S BOLD PREDICTION
Under fire Queensland star Val Holmes is confident he and the Maroons will “be a different team” to the one that was blown of the park by the Blues in the first half of Game II.
Holmes and the Maroons’ right edge was under siege all game, with the likes of Latrell Mitchell and edge back rower Angus Crichton seemingly doing what they liked with ball in hand in that first half.
Holmes, who hasn’t had his best season defensively for the Cowboys and Maroons, missed six tackles in Game II.
His spot was in jeopardy for the decider, until Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi was ruled of Game III with a hamstring injury.
Xavier Coates was already set to miss the decider after sustaining a hamstring injury while playing for the Storm two weeks ago.
QLD camp hit with injury to Piakura | 02:04
QLD BREATHE SIGH OF RELIEF
Maroons hooker Harry Grant is expected to overcome a sternum injury and take his place in Wednesday’s decider after getting through a crucial training session.
Grant, who has missed the last two games for club side Melbourne, hasn’t played since State of Origin Game II because of the painful injury.
His status for next week has been shrouded in doubt and speculation, but it was believed if he completed Thursday’s training session in Brisbane unscathed, he’d be right to go.
According to the AAP, Grant trained strongly.
Bulldogs rake Reed Mahoney was called into the 20-man Maroons squad to be on standby for Grant.
However, it appears that Mahoney will have to again wait for his chance to make his Origin debut.
Maroons winger Val Holmes says Grant’s input off the bench will be crucial, calling him the “best hooker in the game”.
“He probably trained a bit more than he’d have liked, but he didn’t complain, didn’t look out of shape,” Holmes said.
“Dozer (Ben Hunt) comes with the experience when he starts, then Harry comes on; his craftiness around the ruck, his deception either side of the play the ball is second to none.
“He’s probably the best hooker in the game, I reckon.”
NRL360’s Gorden Tallis and Braith Anasta gave an insight into what Grant is dealing with, detailing what it’s like playing through a sternum injury.
“I’ve had a sternum (injury) and you carry it for the rest of the year and it’s always there because you use it so much in a game,” Tallis said.
“And Harry, he does 30-40 tackles in the middle, so he might carry it for the next six weeks but there wouldn’t be a player out there that isn’t playing something.”
Anasta added: “You get injected straight through the chest and you’re ok for the game but it’s very painful though straight after the game and you carry it for the rest of the year.”
Queensland’s duel-fullback conundrum | 03:01
BLUES’ ‘SNEAKY’ MOVE TO END SUNCORP STADIUM HELL
The NSW Blues know to expect a fired-up and parochial Queensland crowd when State of Origin Game III takes place next Wednesday night in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
Queensland’s record in deciders at Suncorp is simply incredible: winning the last six in a row, with NSW only winning two Game 3s (excluding dead rubbers) at Suncorp since 1980.
Former Maroons coach and current Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett said today: “The greatest advantage Queensland has got is Suncorp. The one thing you know is that the crowd will be behind that team.
“That makes such a difference. It is like probably playing with 14 guys on the field. The crowd gets engaged and it helps keep the players highly motivated. It is fortunate that they get to come back and play that last game here and the stats tell you how dominant we have been in the last game here, in those deciders.”
To combat Queensland’s ‘14th man’, as Bennett termed it, NSW coach Michael Maguire has gone to extreme lengths at Blues camp.
In Thursday’s session, NSW set up speakers and played crowd noise, music, and even drums in a bid to replicate next week’s atmosphere. The Daily Telegraph reported that NSW hired a DJ.
Blues halfback Mitchell Moses said: “We were getting used to the noise.
“It’s going to be loud up there. It’s just helping us be able to adapt to the noise, being able to talk out there to each other.
“We’re focused on being extra clear in talking to each other about what we need to do and where we need to get to.”
Speaking on Fox League’s Thursday Night League, Blues lock Cameron Murray explained the side “had a sneaky little DJ and a few big boom boxes on the side of the field just to mimic the noise and the chaos that can be at Suncorp particularly during Origin games.”
But Blues centre Bradman Best remains in doubt for the Origin decider after again training away from the main group during NSW’s warm-up at Blue Mountains Grammar School.
Fox Sports News reporter Dane Lillingstone, who was reporting live from Leura on Thursday morning, captured vision of Best working with a Blues trainer to the side.
He reported that Best is expected to complete a light session, with a final call on his fitness to be made on Saturday.
“NSW is confident there’s nothing to worry about,” he added.
Best, who also trained away from the group on Wednesday, was sent for scans on a hamstring complaint on Monday but was cleared of serious injury ahead of next week’s decider.
Murray told Thursday Night League the Knights centre was yet to complete a full session in camp, but had assured teammates “he’ll be right.”
“He backs himself and we’ll back him,” Murray said, before adding his expectation Best will be involved in full training sessions over the next few days.
BLUES STAR ‘WON’T LOSE SLEEP’ OVER ‘GRUB’ TAG
Two Blues enforcers are ready to take it to the Maroons and the 50,000 passionate Queenslanders at the Suncorp Stadium cauldron next Wednesday.
Liam Martin says the Blues are keen to continue their punishing assault of the Maroons, after New South Wales bullied and dominated Queensland physically in the Game II thrashing at the MCG.
Martin was a barometer defensively for New South Wales in Game II, laying on several huge hits which seemed to galvanise the Blues.
The back rower is under no illusion that he won’t be well recieved at Suncorp Stadium, but he couldn’t care less.
“Probably grub, or something like that,” Martin said when asked about treatment he’ll cop from Maroons fans in Brisbane.
“I don’t try to buy into it too much. It won’t affect my game.
“I don’t lose too much sleep over it.
“We just went after it physically and that’s just what we wanted to do.
“We were happy with that. But we have to go to another level now, we can’t just be happy with that game.
“We have to go up again.”
Martin also believes damaging Blues teammate Spencer Leniu will relish the formidable conditions of a decider at Suncorp.
Origin rookie Leniu’s selection has proven to be a masterstroke by Blues coach Michael Maguire.
Used in a pinch-hitting type role, where he’d come on for short stints and given a licence to let loose, the Roosters forward has been outstanding in both games this series.
In just 23 Game I minutes, Leniu had 111 running metres and seven tackle busts. In Game II, he had 76 metres with four tackle busts.
“He is that kind of player that will lift the intensity and that’s why we love him and love playing with him,” Martin said of Leniu, his former club teammate at the Panthers.
“That’s him, he fires himself up and wants people to fire him up.
“We call him fireball because he gets going and it’s awesome to play alongside — it’s not so fun to be up against.”
“Do you think Billy is rattled?” | 02:03
HUNT HITS MILESTONE
Maroons veteran Ben Hunt will join an exclusive club when he runs out at Suncorp in his 20th Origin appearance to earn the highly acclaimed “Tosser” Turner Medal.
Making his debut off the bench in 2017, Hunt has become Queensland’s first-choice hooker despite his usual club position of halfback.
Arguably his finest moment in the Maroon jersey came in the 2022 decider when he retrieved a Nathan Cleary chip kick to race 70 metres and seal victory for Queensland.
Capewell and QLD in denial about Game 2? | 02:43
“It is a huge honour (to play 20 Origins). You look at the list of the guys that have made it and to be in their company is something I am very proud of,” Hunt said.
“Making my debut in a decider at Suncorp, and we won, is pretty special. That one (in 2022) with the runaway try is definitely up there as well.
“It was definitely a bad defeat down in Melbourne and something that we are looking to improve on. In 2022 we had a pretty bad loss in game two and came to Brisbane and won in a tight game.
“I think it is going to be like that Wednesday night. It is going to be a tough battle and a tight game and one both teams are going to be up for.”
And despite Queensland’s Game Two shellacking by NSW, Hunt believes a packed Suncorp Stadium will be enough to lift his side and earn redemption against the Blues.
“Coming back to Suncorp it is always the place we play our best footy. It is our home ground and a place where you don’t like to lose. It brings out the best in us,” Hunt said.
“We just need to draw on everything we can, embrace the crowd at Suncorp and get a win.
“When we come back to Suncorp it seems to be the place where we play our best footy.”
