That meant Valentine Holmes, who played fullback in Game 1, was moved off the wing and back into the fullback spot, bringing Ronaldo Mulitalo off the reserves list and onto a wing.Īs if it couldn’t get any weirder, New South Wales then claimed Mulitalo was ineligible to represent the Maroons because he had lived in New Zealand until he was 14. His inclusion, which had been slammed as ‘desperate’ by Origin legends, was necessitated by Kalyn Ponga’s continued absence with a groin injury as well as AJ Brimson’s knee injury.īut Walsh succumbed to a leg injury of his own during training. First, they made headlines after handing Warriors rookie Reece Walsh a debut at fullback despite the 18-year-old having played just seven NRL games to date. It capped off a truly wild week of selection news for the underdogs. That meant Xavier Coates, who’d been dumped from the squad altogether after a horror performance in Game 1, was parachuted into the starting line-up after all. The Maroons were forced into three late backline changes after Ronaldo Mulitalo was ruled ineligible to play Origin. Queensland’s ordeal in naming a team for Game 2 was one of the most unbelievable in State of Origin history. He’s out of the side, meaning 18th man Francis Molo gets another opportunity. However, they’ve been hampered by David Fifita’s one-match suspension for a late tackle. In better news, fullback Kalyn Ponga will play and Queensland will unleash teenager Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to see what he can achieve in the dead rubber. Dale Finucane has come into the team as a replacement with the Blues adding two players as cover including Clint Gutherson and Stefano Utoikamanu.Īs for the Maroons, hooker Harry Grant will once again miss the match with a hamstring injury. Penrith hooker Api Koroisau has also been named on the bench to make his debut.įittler was forced to make further changes with an injury to Daniel Saifiti. He’ll be joined by Jack Wighton in the halves. Mitchell Moses has been named by Fittler to make his debut in the no.7 jersey. He’s already been ruled out of Origin 3, while the Penrith Panthers are considering surgery which would likely end his NRL season. The NRL integrity unit issued the breach notice following allegations Arrow brought a woman outside the bubble into his hotel room.īarely 24 hours after NSW secured the 2021 Origin series, news broke that star halfback Nathan Cleary’s season is in jeopardy with a badly injured shoulder.Ĭleary reportedly suffered the injury early in the Blues’ 26-0 win at Suncorp Stadium, but battled through the match. There’s been late drama in the Maroons camp after Jai Arrow was suspended for two matches and fined $35,000 for breaching COVID biosecurity bubble. The Maroons regained some pride by winning Game 3 20-18. The Blues won Game 2 26-0, therefore winning the series after their 50-6 triumph in Game 1. This is how the teams lined up for the last State of Origin in 2021 between NSW and Queensland. The in-form fullback, who was possibly closing in on his first NSW jersey as a bench utility for the Origin series opener on June 8, will miss at least a month.įor Queensland, Selwyn Cobbo will make his debut for the Maroons while Jeremiah Nanai has also been named in the squad and is expected to make his debut off the bench. Ryan Papenhuyzen was also due to miss 4-6 weeks after the after suffering knee and hamstring injuries against St George Illawarra. There were massive blows before the series with Tom Trbojevic dislocatating his shoulder in Manly’s loss against the Parramatta Eels. There were a fair few surprises when the Blues team was initially announced with four debutants named in the 18-man game-day line-up and Josh Addo-Carr dropped from the side. Maroons hooker Harry Grant is over his bout of the flu and has trained well for Queensland, who are also as per program.īilly Slater had said that he plans to keep Grant on the interchange with Ben Hunt to remain as starting hooker. “I can see the fact with Penrith players all around, those combinations are always good. “I’ll leave that up to you guys to decide,” Fittler told reporters. There was speculation floating around that Brad Fittler would make a late change by bringing Stephen Crichton into the starting line-up and relegating Jack Wighton to the bench.īrad Fittler on Tuesday was coy about the prospect of a late switch but in the end he stuck with the selected squad.
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