{"id":304010,"date":"2023-06-04T20:43:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T20:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=304010"},"modified":"2023-06-04T21:59:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T21:59:44","slug":"left-field-answer-to-almighty-fittler-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=304010","title":{"rendered":"Left-field answer to almighty Fittler headache"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the Blues<\/a> pick their team on form next week, then Kotoni Staggs<\/a> will have to come close to getting a centre spot.<\/p>\n

Staggs – who played one game for New South Wales last year – was outstanding in the Broncos' 20-12 win at Shark Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The strongly built centre scored a try, had a hand in another and ran for nearly 200 metres, winning his battle with another former Blue, Siosifa Talakai.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Almighty NSW blow as Cleary suffers injury\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Joey tees off on 'clueless' Tedesco axing calls\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Greats 'surprised' by judiciary's call on Dolphin\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Staggs has been strong all season in the new-look Broncos and has the toughness and 'whatever it takes' attitude necessary to be a success at Origin football.<\/p>\n

With the Blues struggling for go-forward and penetration in game one, they could go a lot worse than giving Staggs a recall for game two in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cowboys winger makes history with dream debut\ufeff<\/h2>\n

Semi Valemei barely rated a line in the press when he switched from the Raiders to the Cowboys recently.<\/p>\n

But the powerful winger wrote his way into the Cowboys record books in his very first game as North Queensland thumped Melbourne 45-20 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Valemei became the first Cowboy to score a hat-trick in his club debut – and against one of the NRL's best teams as well.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Big and strong, Valemei couldn't get a start in Canberra so moved to Townsville and was given a start ahead of club legend Kyle Feldt by coach Todd Payten this week.<\/p>\n

Valemei repaid the faith with an eye-catching performance, running for more than 150 metres as well as bagging his three tries.<\/p>\n

\"Cowboys<\/p>\n

Tedesco, Addo-Carr bounce back from Origin flop<\/h2>\n

Two under-pressure Blues bounced back to cement their spots for Origin two in Sunday's thriller in Gosford.<\/p>\n

Roosters fullback James Tedesco has been copping it from all quarters after a below-par game in Adelaide but bounced back to his best with a two-try effort against the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Winger Josh Addo-Carr, who got few chances in Origin I, showed how devastating he can be when given room to move, emulating Tedesco's feat with two tries.<\/p>\n

The Blues HAVE to make changes for game two – but these two blokes ensured they won't be on the chopping block with five-star performances in Gosford.<\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n

Latrell fill-in fires\ufeff<\/h2>\n

There's only one Latrell Mitchell – but the Bunnies are fortunate indeed to have a wonderful back-up in youngster Blake Taaffe.<\/p>\n

Souths looked in all sorts of trouble on the Gold Coast, down 12-0 early with Latrell watching from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

But Taaffe produced one of the best games of his short career to lead the Rabbitohs to a commanding 46-28 victory.<\/p>\n

The pint-sized utility shone at fullback, having a hand in two tries, running for more than 100 metres and booting seven goals for good measure.<\/p>\n

Souths believe Latrell will be back next week – but Taaffe should revert to the bench where he is becoming something of a 'super sub'.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Warriors recruit's stellar run of form<\/h2>\n

Tough edge forward Marata Niukore is shaping as one of the buys of the season.<\/p>\n

Niukore was all power and fear factor out wide against the Dolphins on Saturday, denting the line on a number of occasions as he carved out 146 running metres.<\/p>\n

The Eels are sorely missing Niukore's experience in the engine room and were desperate to keep the tough forward – but he decided to go home – and the Warriors are glad he did.<\/p>\n

Raiders halfback's brilliance\ufeff<\/h2>\n

Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty is fast developing a reputation as one of the smartest kickers in the NRL.<\/p>\n

Fogarty bagged two tries against the luckless Tigers on Friday night from kicks he deliberately aimed at the base of the uprights, collecting the rebounds to score.<\/p>\n

He also set up the Raiders' other try with a well-placed bomb.<\/p>\n

Fogarty isn't the quickest half in the NRL – but he is quick between the ears and that's a priceless asset in the modern game.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the Blues pick their team on form next week, then Kotoni Staggs will have to come close to getting a centre spot. Staggs – […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304016,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304010\/revisions\/304016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/304012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}