{"id":95320,"date":"2021-07-05T00:37:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T00:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=95320"},"modified":"2021-07-05T02:59:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T02:59:22","slug":"saifiti-injury-blow-rocks-blues-whitewash-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=95320","title":{"rendered":"Saifiti injury blow rocks Blues' whitewash hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

NSW front-rower Daniel Saifiti has been ruled out of State of Origin III<\/a> due to a rib injury, dealing the Blues a crushing blow in their hopes of securing just their fourth series whitewash.<\/p>\n

Melbourne workhorse Dale Finucane<\/a> has been added to the starting 17 after originally being named 18th man.<\/p>\n

While another forward is expected to join the extended NSW squad, it's believed that Manly inspiration Jake Trbojevic (glute)<\/a> won't be available to return.<\/p>\n

NSW coach Brad Fittler is likely to shift Brisbane wrecking ball Payne Haas from the bench to the front row, with Finucane slotting in on the bench.<\/p>\n

Saifiti suffered damage to his rib cartilage in Newcastle's 38-0 thumping of North Queensland on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Fittler this morning took time out of a virtual press conference to speak to Blues doctor Nathan Gibbs, who told him that the 25-year-old wouldn't be available for next Wednesday's clash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Storm back-rower Finucane played four games for NSW across the 2019 and 2020 series.<\/p>\n

Saifiti has played seven Origin games since making his debut in Game Two of the 2019 series.<\/p>\n

In other changes to NSW's team for next week's clash, Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses won the battle to replace Nathan Cleary (shoulder), while Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton has been moved from the bench to the starting 17 to fill the void left by Jarome Luai (knee).<\/p>\n

Panthers hooker Apisai Koroisau has also been promoted from the extended squad to fill Wighton's spot on the bench, while Storm sensation Nicho Hynes<\/a> has been added to the reserves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/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<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NSW front-rower Daniel Saifiti has been ruled out of State of Origin III due to a rib injury, dealing the Blues a crushing blow in […]<\/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\/95320"}],"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=95320"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95322,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95320\/revisions\/95322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}