At 32, Maloney says he’s in for the long rep haul
NSW veteran James Maloney has vowed to play representative rugby league until he gets dropped, as he strives to cement a vacant halves spot in the Kangaroos.
The 32-year-old will run onto Suncorp Stadium for tonight’s Origin III as the oldest player in the NSW line-up.
The match marks the representative farewell of Queensland champion Billy Slater, who announced before game one that this Origin series would be his last.
But Maloney has no intentions of following in the footsteps of Slater, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Darius Boyd in solely focusing on club football.
With just 11 Origin matches and three Tests against his name, the Penrith playmaker is keen to squeeze as much as he can from the rest of his career.
Slater, Smith, Cronk and Boyd have all played upwards of 20 games for Australia.
“I’ll probably get dropped before I actually retire from it,” Maloney said.
“Obviously the guys you’re talking about that have done it recently – (Johnathan) Thurston, (Cooper) Cronk, Smith, Billy – they’ve played a hell of a lot more rep footy than I have. They’re probably at a different point.
“I’ll just keep taking them (representative games) when they come.”
A prime contender to take out this year’s Wally Lewis Medal as the player of the Origin series, Maloney is also likely to be in consideration for Test selection at season’s end.
Injured Maroons star Michael Morgan partnered Cronk in Australia’s most recent Test – their World Cup final win over England in December last year.
However, Queensland five-eighth Cameron Munster and Blues halfback Nathan Cleary could also come into calculations.
Maloney was part of the Kangaroos’ World Cup squad as a back-up playmaker.
“I’ve been on the fringe there,” he said.
“With some guys that have had the jerseys for so long not being in there, it’s a good opportunity.
“But that’s not really a focus (right now). You know it can happen and hopefully it can, but you just go through the process.
“Hopefully having a series win in Origin has a good impact on what you do there.
“Not just me, but hopefully there’s quite a few of these Blues, if they finish the season well, can find themselves in them (Kangaroo) jerseys.”
— AAP