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Queensland coach Mal Meninga has warned injured winger Darius Boyd is not out of the woods despite an earlier than expected appearance at training on Thursday.
Boyd, feared to have broken his ankle playing for Newcastle in last Sunday’s NRL match against the Warriors in Auckland, was put through a series of sharp drills by Queensland’s medical staff as teammates trained in steady rain on Thursday.
He moved freely enough to suggest with six days up his sleeve he had enough time to play his 15th Origin game at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night.
“He was better than we anticipated,” Meninga told AAP after Boyd did everything asked of him in difficult, greasy conditions.
“He had a bit of a run today (Thursday) and will do more tomorrow.
“He’s still not out of the woods yet but we’re quietly confident he will be ok.”
Boyd’s shadow Justin O’Neill again filled in on the left wing outside of Greg Inglis who left training with an ice pack strapped to his left ankle.
The Newcastle fullback will have to get through two more training sessions on Friday before Meninga stamps his Origin passport.
“We’re prepared to wait and see how he is, we don’t go to Sydney until Sunday,” said Meninga.
“Justin (O’Neill) is still a chance (to play).
“We’ll treat it as Justin’s playing; we’ll treat it as Darius is playing.
“We’ll make those decisions later on.”
Inglis welcomed Boyd’s rapid improvement, the pair forming a dangerous left side partnership in recent years that has bagged a lot of tries during Queensland’s record seven series’ streak.
“Justin’s a great quality player who deserves his spot if Darius is out,” said Origin’s all-time leading try scorer.”
Queensland’s again brushed aside suggestions the Ben Te’o assault saga, which took a twist on Thursday with police interviewing the 26 year-old for three hours, was proving a distraction to their game one preparations.
“We’re no different to you guys (media) – we’ve got a job and our job is to play football,” said Maroons interchange forward Corey Parker after Te’o joined teammates for training.
“We can’t worry or lose any sleep over things we can’t control.”
Meanwhile, the NRL’s integrity unit earlier suspended its own investigations into the assault allegations against Te’o at the request of the Queensland police.
NRL chief operating officer Jim Doyle, who supervises the integrity unit, said the NRL would fully co-operate with the police investigation.
“Given that the police are assuming that (investigative) responsibility it is important that we step back for the moment and let them undertake that role,” Doyle said in a statement.
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