Queensland captain Cameron Smith has dismissed NSW coach Ricky Stuart’s claim that his record-breaking State of Origin team are smug and feign graciousness in victory.
“It’s water off a duck’s back for me because I know it’s not true,” said Smith on Monday of Stuart’s comment in a newspaper column before his NSW team attempts to level the Origin series in game 2 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney in Wednesday.
“There’s no point getting all flustered about it.
“We know what we’re about and we know what we believe in and we can’t let this distract us.
“We’ve got a job to do Wednesday night and we’re going to do it.”
Asked by a reporter if Stuart’s barb had hit an “all time low” in verbal sparring between the camps, Smith said: “I don’t know if it’s a new low. Obviously Ricky is entitled to his opinion.
“He’s probably trying to fire his team up a little bit.
“For us we know what we believe in. We’ve had to work hard over the years for our last six wins.
“We’ve been extremely proud of what we’ve done.
“I guarantee you, every time we come into camp (coach) Mal (Meninga) talks about being humble with our success and making sure we remember our past players and showing humility when we have wins.
“We’re not hiding the fact we really enjoy Origin games because we know how hard it is to do that.
“I have to disagree with Ricky because this is a very humble group and we don’t show any smugness at all.”
While Smith brushed off Stuart’s claim, some of his teammates were clearly offended by them.
Queensland are having their last day at their camp in Coolum before heading to Sydney on Tuesday.
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