Here’s another reason for NSW fans to play for a miracle recovery for Robbie Farah from his hand injury, Michael Ennis’ poor State of Origin record.
Farah went under the knife on Tuesday, before being banned from board a flight to the Blues’ Coffs Harbour base on Wednesday so soon after surgery.
He remains a 50/50 proposition to play in the Origin decider next week.
Melbourne’s Ryan Hinchcliffe trained in the hooking role in the Blues’ first training session on Wednesday.
Ennis, who will likely take over from Farah if he is ruled out of Origin III, was expected to arrive at Coffs Harbour on Thursday after his date with the judiciary on Wednesday night.
However Ennis’ Origin record will hardly instill Blues fans with confidence. From 2009 to 2011 Ennis played seven games for the Blues, before Farah took over from him, winning just two matches.
All of those games bar one were against Queensland maestro Cameron Smith.
Farah is so crucial to the Blues set-up that he will be given until the last minute to prove his fitness.
However Ennis is likely to train in the position from Thursday onwards, with shadow players Hinchcliffe and Josh Reynolds and interchange forward Josh Jackson also given stints there.
If Farah isn’t good to go, NSW halfback Trent Hodkinson is hopeful his former club combination with Ennis at Canterbury, will stand the Blues in good stead.
“Obviously I have played a bit of footy with Mick, he is a great player, he has been in great form of late and he has played Origin before so he knows what is is all about,” Hodkinson said.
“He will tick all the boxes, no doubt.
“We will just have to see how it goes.
“We have a number of options, we will just wait until Robbie gets up here and see how we go.”
NSW back-rower Ryan Hoffman said Farah’s remarkable recovery from a shoulder injury to play Origin II at the MCG, proves his is a chance to play game three.
“He is confident, he is doing everything he can and that’s all we expect from him,” Hoffman said.
“He worked really hard to get his shoulder right for game two and that shows the kind of bloke he is.
“The only good thing about him getting the injury is that he has been a mainstay of the team and he knows how to prepare for an Origin game, he knows how to mentally prepare and that is what it is all about.”
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