Queensland show vested interest in Fifita

There are no prizes for guessing who Queensland will target in State of Origin II after their first official training session for the must-win clash in Sydney.

Maroons forwards such as Dylan Napa took turns wearing a coloured vest to represent hulking NSW prop Andrew Fifita in Queensland defensive drills at their Gold Coast camp on Friday.

Time and again the name “Fifita” was called before up to four defenders swarmed on the vested player once he received the ball.

But Maroons bench utility Michael Morgan admitted stopping Fifita was easier said than done.

Queensland are still smarting from the Cronulla enforcer’s man of the match effort which inspired NSW’s record 28-4 game one win in Brisbane.

“He’s been in some really good form for Cronulla and obviously he had a great game in game one so we’d be silly not to do a bit of preparation on him as an individual,” Morgan said.

“Across the park they have good individual players but him in particular really stood out in game one and he took that form back to the Sharks as well.”

Morgan tried to explain why Fifita was just so hard to stop.

“As a team defensively he’s not your typical front-rower where he will take it up and a normal three-man tackle and it’s over,” he said.

“He’s got really good footwork. He’s a different shaped body, really long legs and he is hard to handle.

“It’s as a team that we’ll have to try and control him.

“When he’s carrying, as a team we all have to be alert because he’s the kind of player who can create something out of nothing.”

Morgan said it was important to blunt Fifita and stop NSW “feeding” off his energy.

“You saw Jimmy Maloney score a try off the back of him, (James) Tedesco through the middle (in game one),” he said.

“They play off the back of him so yes they do get a lift out of it.

“When he’s carrying they all probably expect something to happen so everyone gets that little bit of energy and something happens.”