{"id":398569,"date":"2024-05-31T02:09:27","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T02:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398569"},"modified":"2024-05-31T03:05:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T03:05:36","slug":"guerilla-warfare-behind-surprise-blues-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=398569","title":{"rendered":"'Guerilla warfare' behind surprise Blues move"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffndrew Johns<\/a> says "guerilla warfare" is likely the reason New South Wales<\/a> moved away from its "spiritual home" ahead of the State of Origin<\/a> opener.<\/p>\n

New Blues coach Michael Maguire<\/a> has taken his squad west to hunker down in the Blue Mountains to prepare for game one in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Journalists have noticed a stark difference to typical Origin camps.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> What Gutherson said to to the ref after 'nervous' return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Booze banned at Roland-Garros after player uproar<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coach clips 'flat' Sharks in 'men against boys' shocker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Blues are normally based in Coogee in Sydney's east, and train at Coogee Oval in full view of the public – and eagle-eyed media.<\/p>\n

At their Blue Mountains training base, journalists have been allowed to watch about 15 minutes of warm-up before being booted out. The NSW players then train in privacy.<\/p>\n

\"Zac<\/p>\n

It's led to intrigue from reporters who were forced to ask a cagey Brian To'o on Tuesday whether halfback Nicho Hynes had been able to train<\/a> with the team.<\/p>\n

But what the media don't know, the Maroons also can't find out.<\/p>\n

"It's siege mentality isn't it? Surprise attack, guerilla warfare," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behavior<\/em><\/a>.<\/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

"I can see the logic in Madge (Maguire) taking the team up to the Blue Mountains, because there's no real distractions.<\/p>\n

"You can't duck off to Bondi Junction, or go to the movies, or go for a surf.<\/p>\n

"They've got to live in each other's pockets. The big key word nowadays is connection – they get that connection in a short period of time.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

The Blues have ventured into the mountains during previous camps, and have also dabbled with basing themselves further outside Sydney.<\/p>\n

\"Johns<\/p>\n

They've gone to Kingscliff in past years when preparing for games in Brisbane, but a review in 2022 found Coogee was where the team was best suited.<\/p>\n

\ufeffOrigin fans have also delighted in seeing the superstars walking around Sydney's eastern beaches in the days leading up to games.<\/p>\n

"I'm a bit biased, because I see Coogee as our spiritual home," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"Even as a kid watching, you would see them in camp… that great era of the early 90s, you would see them in the build-up in Coogee.<\/p>\n

"Then when you got the opportunity you were like 'I'm following in their footsteps'.<\/p>\n

"But it's a new idea and let's see how it goes."<\/p>\n

The 2024 Origin series kicks off at Accor Stadium on Wednesday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffndrew Johns says "guerilla warfare" is likely the reason New South Wales moved away from its "spiritual home" ahead of the State of Origin opener. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398571,"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\/398569"}],"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=398569"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398574,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398569\/revisions\/398574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/398571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}