NSW coach Laurie Daley has declared captain Boyd Cordner a certain starter for the State of Origin decider, but is unsure if he will last the entire 80 minutes.
Cordner proved he has overcome a nagging calf problem by completing Tuesday’s captain’s run on the Gold Coast, meaning the Blues will field the same 17 for the entire series.
“He’ll definitely play. I just walked off the training paddock and he’s good to go. Everyone’s right. We’ve just had the medical staff go through everyone. We’ll be 1-17,” Daley said after the run.
However Daley admitted he was unsure whether Cordner would play the entire match and that getting 40 minutes out of the Sydney Roosters star was enough to make an impact.
Bench second-rower Wade Graham is likely to spell Cordner on the left edge, with Tyson Frizell on the right and Josh Jackson playing as the third middle forward.
“I think if (Cordner) played half a game, that’d be great for us,” Daley said.
“But he’s going in with all the intentions of playing 80. Whether he gets through 80 or not in terms of fitness, that’ll be yet to be decided.
“But the thing about our team is we’ve got plenty of backrowers that do play 80 minutes for their teams and we’ve been sharing the workload around with those other players.
“If he needed a spell, we’d be able to give him one because we’ve got a lot of depth there.”
Daley denied taking an underdone Cordner into the match is a gamble.
“I’m not a gambler so I wouldn’t be targeting him with this game if I didn’t think he was fit, because we’ve got fit guys there ready,” he said.
“He’s proven himself and we’ve given him right up until today to work with him on the decision. But what he’s been able to do has just confirmed that he’s right.”
Craig
Guest
I get Boyd is captain and not a bad player, but if there's one position that NSW have depth its in the backrow. They have numerous options, most of them are better than Cordner. More minutes out of Graham and/or Trbojevic will only help NSW. It's a problem carrying a bloke with an injury but if you had to pick one bloke in their team to sit out the second half -, its him. Doesn't this tell you that perhaps they haven't selected the strongest team? I really fail to see how Cordner is one of 3 best backrowers in NSW.
Nat
Roar Guru
Ohhh good luck to both of them on this call. Boyd, for all his qualities, will get skewered if he can only do 40 mins. Worse still, Daley just signed his resignation letter if Boyd reduces this team to 16 men.