\ufeffAnd it took less than a day for the Maroons to fall into line this time around.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Emotional Nadal crashes out of Roland-Garros<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Gould's theory behind star's shock Blues snub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> 'One of a kind': Basketball icon dead after cancer battle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Superstar hooker Harry Grant<\/a> missed Tuesday's first training run due to illness.<\/p>\n He was a notable absentee as media arrived at Red Hill to view the 2024 squad together for the first time.<\/p>\n Word out of Queensland camp is Grant is suffering from a 24-hour bug and should be fine to join his teammates on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \ufeffThe Maroons famously thrive when going into a game or a series as the underdog.<\/p>\n In recent times it was supercoach Wayne Bennett\ufeff who pulled off one of the great Origin heists in 2020, taking what was dubbed the "worst Queensland team ever" to a series victory over the sorry Blues.<\/p>\n Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n But don't try telling current coach Billy Slater who's the underdog and who's the favourite to win.<\/p>\n "\ufeffI could not care less," Slater bit back at one journalist at Monday's press conference.<\/p>\n "That is totally irrelevant to me, so I couldn't care."\ufeff<\/p>\n Queensland was installed as the early favourite to win the 2024 series with bookmakers.<\/p>\n Grant has been named to start on the bench in next Wednesday's series opener in Sydney.<\/p>\n He provides a lethal one-two punch with Ben Hunt in the dummy-half role.<\/p>\n The rest of the Maroons squad reportedly got through Tuesday's training run unscathed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n