{"id":396740,"date":"2024-05-24T13:38:28","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=396740"},"modified":"2024-05-24T14:05:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T14:05:15","slug":"freddy-backs-manly-nightmare-for-blues-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=396740","title":{"rendered":"Freddy backs Manly 'nightmare' for Blues debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Blues<\/a> coach Brad Fittler<\/a> has backed Manly<\/a> enforcer Haumole Olakau'atu \ufeffto make his State of Origin<\/a> debut in game one.<\/p>\n

Having been on the fringes of selection last season, Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold has turned Olakau'atu into one of the form second-rowers of 2024.<\/p>\n

Fittler said in March Olakau'atu nearly got the phone call last year<\/a>, before Manly's form dipped at exactly the wrong time.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> NRL Round 12 Friday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Desperation tackle' lands Maroons veteran in hot water<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Not up to NRL standard': Joey rips sloppy Storm<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But Fittler believes now is the time.<\/p>\n

"A real weapon \u2013 just put him onto a halfback," he said on Nine's<\/em> post-game coverage of Manly's thrilling win over the Storm.<\/p>\n

\"Haumole<\/p>\n

"He is so hard to tackle one-on-one … he just looks a nightmare to tackle."<\/p>\n

Against the Storm, \ufeffhe made seven runs for 52 metres, but also made 25 tackles for only one miss.<\/p>\n

But Fittler said he wasn't just "big hits and big contact", but was a player who had gone away and worked on their game to be able to put in big efforts week in, week out.<\/p>\n

"Speaking to him and coaching staff around him (over) the last couple of years about his repeat efforts, there's no problem anymore," Fittler explained.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

"He's gone and trained hard, he's fit, getting back on side, coming off the line, doing it regularly.<\/p>\n

"He plays 80 minutes all the time now so he's obviously gone away, corrected that part of his game and he is ready to go.<\/p>\n

"There's no way they'll be playing without him."<\/p>\n

The Blues squad is expected to be announced on Monday morning, but may also be released on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Manly are one of seven clubs with a bye next weekend, and will meet the Panthers after Origin.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Blues coach Brad Fittler has backed Manly enforcer Haumole Olakau'atu \ufeffto make his State of Origin debut in game one. Having been on the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":396742,"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\/396740"}],"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=396740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396745,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396740\/revisions\/396745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/396742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=396740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=396740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=396740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}