{"id":75844,"date":"2021-05-25T12:58:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T12:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=75844"},"modified":"2021-05-25T15:57:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:57:08","slug":"no-excuses-fittler-puts-heat-on-cook-in-blues-no-9-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=75844","title":{"rendered":"'No excuses': Fittler puts heat on Cook in Blues' No.9 race"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW coach Brad Fittler<\/a> says there are "no excuses" for incumbent Blues No.9 Damien Cook<\/a> in the race to retain his Origin spot ahead of the June 9 series opener.<\/p>\n

Cook's form has been indifferent to start the season and despite previously having represented NSW under Fittler, the Souths star is no certainty to be named this year.<\/p>\n

Fittler admitted that Cook's game had suffered in the absence of Souths and Origin teammate Cameron Murray<\/a>, and urged Cook to lift his game with Murray returning.<\/p>\n

"Damien Cook's now got Cameron Murray back," he told 2GB's Wide World of Sports Radio.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Damien<\/p>\n

"That's someone who he really relies on for quick play-the-balls and different parts of Cameron's game complement Cook's, so there's no excuses. <\/p>\n

"They've had a couple of big losses lately so you've got to think they're going to be at the top of their game. <\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/wide-world-of-sports\/brad-fittler-disappointed-to-lose-key-blues-player\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

"I really look forward to when they play and I'll be watching intently." <\/p>\n

Another contender for the Blues' No.9 jersey is Parramatta hooker Reed Mahoney<\/a>, and Fittler admitted that the Souths' clash with the Eels in Round 12 could be pivotal in which team's hooker represents New South Wales.<\/p>\n

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

NSW coach Brad Fittler says there are "no excuses" for incumbent Blues No.9 Damien Cook in the race to retain his Origin spot ahead of […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/75844"}],"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=75844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75846,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75844\/revisions\/75846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}