{"id":410279,"date":"2024-07-08T00:58:36","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=410279"},"modified":"2024-07-08T02:06:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T02:06:05","slug":"nsw-back-up-plan-unveiled-as-best-faces-injury-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=410279","title":{"rendered":"NSW back-up plan unveiled as Best faces injury cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/nsw-blues-1lvd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NSW Blues<\/a>&#x27; preparations for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/state-of-origin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State of Origin<\/a> decider hit its first hurdle before players even arrived in camp.<\/p>\n<p>Recalled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/newcastle-knights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Knights<\/a> gun <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/bradman-best-6g4y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bradman Best<\/a> was sent for scans on a fresh hamstring complaint only hours after he was recalled to the side to replace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/latrell-mitchell-1n2p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Latrell Mitchell<\/a> at centre.<\/p>\n<p>Best reported hamstring tightness to medical staff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/live-scores-2024-round-18-roosters-dragons-raiders-knights-results-updates-latest-news-20240707-p5jrpc.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"after his sides&#x27; \ufeff16-12 win over the Raiders\">after his sides&#x27; \ufeff16-12 win over the Raiders<\/a> in Canberra on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2024-roosters-dragons-round-18-jared-waerea-hargreaves-sin-bin-high-tackle-max-feagai-20240707-p5jrq0.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Fiery Roosters prop faces long ban after milestone game\ufeff\"><strong>Fiery Roosters prop faces long ban after milestone game\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/state-of-origin-qld-maroons-team-list-2024-game-three-players-20240708-p5jru6.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Ponga recalled as Maroons name new look team<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\ufeff<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2024-parramatta-eels-jason-ryles-head-coach-2025-20240708-p5jrtc.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Eels land prized Bellamy pupil as head coach<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He was sent for scans on his way into Blues camp on \ufeffMonday morning. A hamstring niggle kept him out of contention for selection in the opening two games.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"bf940b94-eef6-4e78-967a-6b0135245af3\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/bf940b94-eef6-4e78-967a-6b0135245af3\" alt=\"Bradman Best trains during a New South Wales Blues State of Origin squad training session at Coogee Oval on July 05, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe\/Getty Images)\" data-width=\"3819\" data-height=\"2148\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Best scored two tries on a stunning debut in his only Origin appearance in the third game of last year&#x27;s series.<\/p>\n<p>Although the niggle is not believed to be serious, Bulldogs five eighth Matt Burton has been brought into the reserves as precautionary cover.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to media on Monday morning, Blues coach Michael Maguire said Best had been &quot;on fire&quot; for the Knights, and suggested he would&#x27;ve been picked earlier in the series if he was available.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Watch the 2024 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/9now.app.link\/1QDVFYZrWab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><em><strong>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"f1cad20f-3379-49f7-b45d-ff1afab29e0c\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/f1cad20f-3379-49f7-b45d-ff1afab29e0c\" alt=\"Bulldogs teammates swamp Matt Burton after a match-winning field-goal against the Sharks in round 17.\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"780\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;He&#x27;s been there before, he was probably one of the best players in the last game last year, and he&#x27;s shown he can play at that level,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve had a lot of thoughts about him before we started the series, but he was out injured. It&#x27;s nice to see him back out and running around.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Burton has made only two Origin appearances, in the second and third games of the 2022 series. He was picked in the extended Blues squad for this year&#x27;s series-opener in Sydney, but left out altogether for game two.<\/p>\n<p>He kicked the winning field goal in each of the Bulldogs back-to-back golden point victories across the last two rounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The NSW Blues&#x27; preparations for the State of Origin decider hit its first hurdle before players even arrived in camp. Recalled Knights gun Bradman Best <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=410279\" title=\"NSW back-up plan unveiled as Best faces injury cloud\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":314022,"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\/410279"}],"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=410279"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410283,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410279\/revisions\/410283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/314022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=410279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=410279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=410279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}