New South Wales can expect the traditionally hostile welcome from the partisan crowd, which will be primed to welcome Queensland hero Darren Lockyer, as he equals Allan Langer's record of 34 Origin games in his 13th and final series.
The Maroons are heavily favoured to build on their five straight series wins but coach Mal Meninga says the Blues are not quite the underdogs they are claiming to be.
"They're going to say that but they'll be well prepared, we know that," he said.
"It's going to be a really competitive, aggressive and unrelenting type of game.
"It's going to be a battle of wills really.
"I think we've prepared that way that if we do get into the battle we'll keep on persevering."
Queensland heads into tonight's match with chinks in its armour but still boasts far more experience than its opponents.
The Maroons have lost injured Test centres Greg Inglis and Justin Hodges but still have 19.3 games of Origin experience per player compared to the Blues' 1.5.
Their spine of Billy Slater, Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith is among the greatest ever assembled.
Replacement centres Willie Tonga and Dane Nielsen will be under the most pressure to perform for the Maroons.
NSW are desperately hoping the new era of full-time coach Ricky Stuart can end five years of pain, starting with a 1-0 series lead after Origin I.
Stuart has left no stone unturned in planning the campaign and will have the team he wanted at his disposal after an overhaul of the Blues' selection procedure.
NSW skipper Paul Gallen backed the rebuilt Blues set-up to have his side ready.
"We probably couldn't have been any better prepared," he said.
"It's no secret Ricky's a passionate bloke and it's rubbed off on us and he's going to have us well and truly motivated."
The Blues go in with five debutants, while Willie Tonga and Dane Nielson replace injured Test centres Greg Inglis and Justin Hodges for the Maroons.
Origin beamed to US
Meanwhile, Russell Crowe has helped broker a television deal to beam the Origin series live to 40 million viewers in the United States.
American sports giant Fox Sports will televise all three clashes, as well as the NRL grand final.
The announcement follows a broadcast deal struck with the assistance of Hollywood actor Crowe, the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, between the NRL and head of Fox Sports David Hill.
The deal sees the United States join the UK, Pacific Islands, Canada, north Africa and the Middle East, central and southern Africa and parts of Asia in broadcasting the Origin Series live.
- AAP
Tags: sport, rugby-league, state-of-origin, australia, nsw, sydney-2000, qld, brisbane-4000 First posted May 25, 2011 07:13:00
No comments:
Post a Comment