{"id":81201,"date":"2021-06-06T10:55:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T10:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=81201"},"modified":"2021-06-06T12:57:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T12:57:29","slug":"origin-icon-delivers-blues-frightening-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=81201","title":{"rendered":"Origin icon delivers Blues frightening warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

A "brutally honest" Phil Gould<\/a> has warned NSW<\/a> that the Queensland<\/a> side they're about to face will be "extremely hard to beat" – and he's identified star halves Daly Cherry-Evans and Cameron Munster as the Maroons' most dangerous weapons.<\/p>\n

Despite the fact Queensland will host two games and NSW only one<\/a>, the bookies have again backed the Blues to lift the State of Origin<\/a> shield.<\/p>\n

One chief reason is coach Brad Fittler<\/a>'s strategy to call upon six of the high-flying Panthers<\/a>. Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo are incumbents, while Jarome Luai, Brian To'o, Liam Martin<\/a> and 18th man Api Koroisau are first-time selections.<\/p>\n

But Gould, who coached NSW to six series wins across the 1990s and 2000s, isn't convinced the Blues are destined to clinch the series.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

"I think they'll be very hard to beat, if I'm being brutally honest. I think Queensland will be extremely hard to beat, particularly in this Game I and Game II in Queensland …" Gould said on Wide World of Sports' The Final Whistle<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"People underestimated Queensland last year and particularly the experience of their two halves: Cherry-Evans and Munster. I think that's the key for them."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Panthers hadn't lost a game this season until eight of Ivan Cleary's men were unavailable for the Wests Tigers clash on Friday<\/a>, in which Penrith fell 26-6.<\/p>\n

On top of the six Panthers stars on Blues duties, Kurt Capewell is set for another run in a Maroons jumper and Moses Leota copped a suspension.<\/p>\n

The 2020 grand finalists had become just the third team in Australian first-grade rugby league to have started a season with 12 wins, while their plus-306 points differential had been the greatest in premiership history after 12 rounds.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the most recent round, Blues halves Luai (14) and Cleary (12) led the competition in try assists, gelling beautifully as they dismantled opposition teams.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The young NSW side – they've awarded a lot of young kids, there's a lot of debut players on club form and they're deservedly there," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"But this is going to be another step up again from what they've experienced. In club football over the last 18 months there haven't been many Origin-type games. This is going to be a completely different complexion for them.<\/p>\n

"I think they'll get better the further the series goes, so I hope they persevere with them.<\/p>\n

"But … this is going to be an awesome experience for those young players on Wednesday night."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Despite underlining the strength of the Queensland outfit, Gould pointed out that the work ethic of the NSW forward pack was superior.<\/p>\n

"I'm a little worried about Queensland's work-rate in the forwards. I think players are going to have to come off the bench and contribute there. They're going to have to watch their interchange really closely. I think NSW have a much more hard-working pack," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"But I keep coming back to Cherry-Evans and Munster because in the key moments and when the game gets down to the wire and if it goes down to the back end and a close finish, they're the ones that have been there and done it before.<\/p>\n

"So that's going to stand Queensland in really good stead."<\/p>\n

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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A "brutally honest" Phil Gould has warned NSW that the Queensland side they're about to face will be "extremely hard to beat" – and he's […]<\/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\/81201"}],"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=81201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81203,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81201\/revisions\/81203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}