Joel Gould |
Queensland coach Billy Slater has sounded a warning to NSW ahead of Game II of the State of Origin series, declaring the Maroons are only scratching the surface of what they are capable of doing.
The Blues, smarting from a 26-18 loss in Game I in Adelaide, have been forced to make a raft if changes to their game two side for the clash at Suncorp Stadium on June 21.
Slater, after naming his team on Monday, was asked if the Maroons had another gear.
“I’d like to think so. I’d like to think we are only just getting started,” Slater said.
“I think we can build our game more. I think we have built a great foundation of what this team is all about.
“The players have decided what they want to be about for this generation of Queenslanders.
“Where they take it is up to them and the coaching staff, but I feel like we are only getting started.”
Slater said after the Adelaide win he still wasn’t happy with aspects of the team’s play.
Man-of-the-match Reuben Cotter played most of the game in the second-row due to an early injury to Tom Gilbert, a position Cotter had never played in during his NRL career.
After a stellar match he told AAP he was “filthy” that he missed a tackle that led to a NSW try to Liam Martin.
That “never satisfied” mentality is driving the Maroons.
They have won their past two games under great adversity and with players out of position.
If their luck turns and they get through a game without multiple injuries there is scope to play the style of football across the park that they train all week for.
In game three last year the Maroons lost winger Selwyn Cobbo and prop Lindsay Collins to concussion early and played most of the game with 15 men. They won the decider 22-12.
In Adelaide they won under adversity.
Second-rower Gilbert dislocated his shoulder in the 19th minute and fellow forward David Fifita spent time off the field with an HIA before returning to play in the centres.
Winger Murray Taulagi also had an HIA while fellow winger Cobbo left the field with a hip pointer injury.
At one stage they had hooker Ben Hunt playing in the centres.
The confidence the coach has in the next generation of Maroons is palpable. It is evidenced by the fact Slater elected to choose 20-year-old Jeremiah Nanai for game two instead of veteran and proven performer Felise Kaufusi.
For game one this year he dropped 22-game stalwart Dane Gagai and picked 21-year-old Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow who scored two tries in a scintillating display.
AAP