NSW insider answers key question surrounding Nathan Cleary before Origin decider
Haas and To'o have not taken part in any training session ahead of the captain's run on Tuesday with some concern around the duo. And Cleary has been struggling with a groin injury heading into Game 3, which limited his impact in Perth.
Cleary injured his groin in the captain's run ahead of Game 2, which saw him handover the kicking duties to Zac Lomax. Both Cleary and Lomax have struggled with the tee in the series having only slotted four from nine attempts across both games.
Cleary has the best goal-kicking record at club level of any of the NSW players in the team, but questions have remained over whether he will once again drop his goal-kicking duties in the decider due to his injury.
And speaking to SEN Radio on Monday morning, Melbourne Storm and NSW Blues high performance manager Ponissi claimed Cleary won't be kicking for goal in the decider. "Yeah, probably unlikely he will be doing the kicking," Ponissi said of Cleary goal-kicking.
"We are going to stick with Zac Lomax. But everything else with Nathan, he hasn't missed a beat at training...he hasn't had to be managed in terms of his workload. General play kicking he is fine, it's just goal-kicking...he won't be kicking."
NSW struggled in the first 40 minutes against Queensland in Game 2 with Cleary opting to avoid most of the general play kicking duties due to his injury. Although the halfback emerged in the second-half with the Blues trailing and took back control in a huge improvement for NSW. And it appears he will be kicking from the first whistle in the decider in a massive boost for his state.
After the squad was selected last week, coach Laurie Daley backed the Eels winger Lomax to step-up in the decider having already suggested Cleary is set to skip the duties due to his injury. "I doubt whether (Cleary) will goal-kick," Daley said. "I think we'll go with Zac, and Latrell (Mitchell) or Steve Crichton will be on stand-by if something happens to Zac."
The stats show Latrell Mitchell and Stephen Crichton are both arguably better options than Lomax, whose kicking percentage declined in his last few seasons with the Dragons. Although NSW fans should expect Lomax to line-up for goal with the Blues relying on the winger to step-up during Cleary's struggles.
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Another player who has been a huge talking point heading into the decider is To'o. The Penrith Panthers winger was outstanding in Game 2 having scored two tries and ran for more than 200m. However, he injured his knee in the Panthers' win over the Bulldogs in round 17 and hasn't trained with the side yet.
Jacob Kiraz was a surprise 18th man selection for NSW and it meant he couldn't line-up for his side against the Broncos on Friday night. And while Ponissi explained the importance of Kiraz's selection in the squad, he does expect To'o to play for the Blues.
"It's going to be rare that a team in Origin, in the middle of the season, to have 20 fit players...Game 1 we handled it really well, and probably Game 2 we didn't. There were a few disruptions. And the way we selected our 20 was to make sure the injury concerns weren't going to disrupt the team," Ponissi said.
"That's why we selected a winger in 18th man. Jacob Kiraz. He has been basically training for Brian To'o all week. If Brian was not going to make it, it would be a smooth transition. We still expect Brian to play. We expect everyone to train this afternoon and the 17 selected to play on Wednesday night." "
NSW will be looking to win their second series in a row in front of their home crowd. Queensland coach Billy Slater has made a number of changes ahead of the decider and will be looking to avoid a second series defeat as coach.
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