Daley stumped in telling response to Origin legacy question
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Laurie Daley was lost for words when asked about how a State of Origin decider win on Queensland soil would rank in his playing and coaching career in rugby league’s ultimate cauldron.
The Blues coach confirmed Ethan Strange has been passed fit to play, and the team was well aware of the commentary around their second half collapse in game two.
Laurie Daley speaks to media on Tuesday morning. Nine
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday morning, Daley also addressed some of the criticism that has been levelled at him while stating the team is confident of playing their best game of the series in the decider.
However, when the Blues coach was asked how he would view a win on Wednesday night, the legendary former player struggled to answer.
“Oh, I just think... the players, I want them to feel it again,” Daley said.
“Two years ago when they won up here, that was pretty special. You want to try and recreate that for them and any time you win a decider, it’s really special.
“Any Origin series is great so yeah, I think it’s a wonderful achievement if you can win up here, but there’s a lot of work to be done between now and 10 o’clock tomorrow night.
“But the way we are tracking, the way we’ve built into it, just confident we are going to get our best performance.”
Daley’s Blues outfit face a tall task in the Origin series decider, with only three NSW teams taking victory in such circumstances throughout history.
Negative reporting around the coach has been bubbling since game one, when the Blues allowed a 20-point deficit to build, only for Kalyn Ponga’s send off to break the game open.
Criticism only intensified when NSW capitulated from a strong position in game two, losing by 20 points after leading 12-8 at half-time.
Daley was asked if he was surprised by the criticism that came from those within NSW.
“I think just being a part of this, it has just got bigger and better, State of Origin,” he said.
“With Origin comes comments, so you’ve got to put that to one side and you can’t sort of focus too much on that.
“I haven’t read but I have been told. You just put it to the side, and the players are pretty good at focusing, I am pretty good at focusing on what needs to be done.
“I think this group were disappointed just in their performance in the second half, so I think that’s given them a real steely focus.
“Like anything, I think in this business you don’t like the criticism, but you know it’s coming when you lose and there’s the criticism you look at and go ‘yep, you’re right’.
NSW Blues Getty Images
“There’s other parts where we have to go ‘well we didn’t get that right’. So you throw it all into the mix and the boys bounced back into camp.
“They have got strong self belief, it just gives me great confidence that we’ll play our best footy tomorrow night.”
Daley is unsigned for next year’s Origin series and refused to buy into talk about his future.
“I’m just all in, all in on this game,” he said.
“For me, it’s exciting. Just relaxed, calm. Boys give me confidence because of what they’ve done and all I ask is they give their best performance.”
