‘Isn’t ready to go’: Moses update as D-day nears; Laurie’s big bench hint — Origin Daily

The NSW Blues will be looking to wrap up this year’s State of Origin series next Wednesday night, and there will be plenty of pressure on Laurie Daley after a few curious calls.

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In this edition of Origin Daily, the Blues coach explains why he dropped Haumole Olakau’atu. Plus, the latest on how Mitchell Moses looks.

‘ISN’T IN A POSITION’: LATEST MOSES UPDATE

D-day has nearly arrived for Mitchell Moses and his hamstring.

For the time being though, it doesn’t look like the five-eighth is a sure thing to play next week.

Moses was confident when speaking to reporters on Tuesday that he would be good to go after being ruled out of the series opener with a hamstring strain.

But the Eels playmaker trained away from the main group and warmed up on his own on Wednesday in the 15-minute period that media was able to attend training in Wyong.

Fox Sports News reporter Cody Kaye was on the scene and said that while Moses has until Thursday to prove his fitness, based on what he saw on Wednesday it wasn’t a good sign for the 31-year-old.

“The reality is Mitch needs to train at pretty close to 100 per cent not today but by tomorrow to prove that he’s not going to be a liability and that hamstring won’t let him down in Game 2,” Kaye said.

“I think that gives an indication that right now Mitch Moses isn’t in a position where he’s ready to go and train at 100 per cent with the main group.”

Blues coach Laurie Daley told reporters on Tuesday that Moses would need to “train flat out” on Thursday to prove he will be fit enough to play in Melbourne.

“We probably won’t have him do all the session, but he’ll need to be going at full clip, and he’s on track to do that. There are no issues as far as we’re concerned,” Daley said.

“Izzy will go back and play with the Dolphins on Friday night. I think if we had a lot of concern, we probably would have made the call to have Izzy in the 20 somewhere, so we’re comfortable with where it’s at.”

‘HE’LL GET GAME TIME’: DALEY’S STRANGE ASSURANCE

Laurie Daley has revealed Ethan Strange will get on the field for the Blues in Game 2 despite losing his spot in the starting side to the more experienced Mitchell Moses — in comments made ahead of Moses’ concerning training appearance, which may have the rookie star in line to again start at five-eighth.

Eels halfback Moses told reporters on Tuesday that he is “pretty confident” he will be right for next Wednesday’s game, with Strange otherwise part of the extended squad as insurance.

However, if Moses is able to line up as planned it casts doubt on what role Strange could have.

The Raiders young gun was a standout in his Origin debut and Daley told ‘NRL 360’ that there “will be options” to get Strange into the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“There will be options to put him on as a five-eighth. There will be options to put him on as a 13,” Daley explained.

“One thing I know about Ethan (is) he’s strong, he’s a ball runner and that’s valuable at Origin level because there’s fatigue in everyone and if you’ve got someone that can identify a fatigued player and they run the ball at strength and with speed, they’re going to be a handful and that is what Ethan will provide.”

Strange had 101 run metres and five tackle busts along with a try and three linebreak assists in the Game 1 win, and if he does in fact get playing time it begs the question as to who else on the interchange will miss out.

Jacob Saifiti didn’t see the field in the series opener, which suggests Addin Fonua-Blake may be the man to miss out if Daley follows a similar plan.

Although the decision to bring Matt Burton on for a brief stint may have been influenced by the fact the Blues were chasing points.

Blayke Brailey played 31 minutes off the bench, so you can lock Apisai Koroisau in for a stint while Cameron Murray and Victor Radley also got 51 minutes.

Mark Nawaqanitawase is likely to be just there as cover for injuries in the outside backs, which leaves Strange and Fonua-Blake as the two options Daley could turn to depending on how the game goes.

Although Daley said on Tuesday that Strange “will get game time”.

“I’ve got no issue with where I throw Ethan,” Daley added.

“He’s a footballer and I think sometimes we overanalyse as coach. We think, ‘I’ll leave him on the left, he can only play left side’. I don’t think like that as much. I’m more of a, ‘If he can play footy, he can play footy’... Ethan Strange is a wonderful player and he’ll get game time.”

CLEARY: OLAKAU’ATU’S RESPONSE TO AXING HAS BEEN ‘UNBELIEVABLE’

Elsewhere, the Strange call has somewhat faded into the background given Laurie Daley’s bold decision to drop Haumole Olakau’atu.

There have been suggestions Olakau’atu’s work off the ball may have influenced Daley’s decision, although when asked about it on Tuesday night the Blues coach didn’t give much away.

“I just think we’ve got a number of good players,” he said.

“Dylan’s in form. Haumole did nothing wrong. We just felt like this for this game it’s an opportunity to give Dyl a game.

“All our debutants in Game 1 when they came on changed the game for us so I’ve got no hesitation in promoting young guys. Haumole was unlucky, he does a lot of great things. But we just felt for Game 2 Dylan (is) in form, let’s give him an opportunity.”

Blues halfback Nathan Cleary said Olakau’atu has handled the setback well, describing the second rower’s response to his axing as “unbelievable”.

“He’s been great,” Cleary said.

“It’s tough for someone like Haumole and he’s been in amazing form the whole year but his reaction to it has been unbelievable and I think that speaks to him as a man.

“It’s great to still have him in camp. He’s a great person to have around and he’s keeping his positivity high. It shows he still values the team.”

Daley did confirm that Dylan Lucas, Olakau’atu’s replacement, would line up on the right edge.

“It doesn’t worry me,” Daley responded when asked about shifting either Lucas or Hudson Young from the left side, where they play in club land.

“He’s a backrower. Hudson played right (edge) for Australia. You can get technical if you want, but if you back and support your players to do a job — which I’m going to do — then they’ll do it.”

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