Josh Dugan has revealed a throwaway line from St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor is behind his inclusion as centre for NSW.
Dugan was recalled to the Blues’ State of Origin side by coach Laurie Daley on Tuesday to replace the injured Josh Morris despite having just two NRL encounters in the role under his belt.
The 24-year-old has made all four of his previous Origin appearances at fullback but lost out to Jarryd Hayne for game one in Brisbane.
But after bagging a hat-trick of tries in the Dragons’ win over Cronulla on Saturday, he did enough to convince Daley he could do a job against Queensland in game two next Wednesday.
“I am enjoying it and I played there a bit in the juniors and Jersey Flegg in 2007,” Dugan told AAP.
“Before the Melbourne game about six weeks ago, he kind of made a joke about me making a good centre and I just laughed it off.”
“But when Mary (McGregor) took over from (Steve) Pricey, he asked me if I wanted to play there and I told him I’d do it.”
McGregor was an outstanding centre in his own playing days and said after the win over the Sharks, Dugan had the ability to play in the No.3 jumper in Origin.
And Dugan said that faith shown in him by someone with such a rich pedigree had given him the belief he could shine in a new position.
“Mary and Matt Cooper have helped me out massively,” he said.
“They are both Dragons and NSW legends and having them there to guide me along has been really beneficial.
“Getting the chance to part of the side that stopped Queensland’s run would be the best moment of my career and I just hope I don’t let anyone down.”
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