Slater has the Blues worried
NSW wants to rain on Billy
Slater’s parade.
The Blues are expecting Queensland to take its game to another level on Sunday night in a bid to keep its Origin campaign alive and edge one step closer to sending out one of its favourite sons as a winner.
Slater, a cornerstone in the Maroons’ dominance over the past decade, announced his impending retirement from representative football in May.
The Blues’ James Tedesco says the Maroons will do everything they can in Sydney to ensure Slater gets the opportunity to lift the shield in game three, for a fairytale farewell at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
“His inclusion will be very big for them, I think. Him coming back for his last few games for Queensland means they will be lifting for him,” he said.
Queensland lacked direction at times during the seriesopener in Melbourne, but Tedesco said Slater’s inclusion would go a long way to rectifying that on Sunday night.
“The experience he brings, the way he organises the defensive line and what he can do in the attack ... we’ll have to be at our best to defend against him,” he said.
In game one, Tedesco delivered a performance described by many as the best by a NSW fullback in recent memory.
He ran riot through Queensland’s middle, causing headaches each time he touched the ball.
As a result, he’ll be a marked man on Sunday and he expects the Queensland defence won’t afford him the same space.
“I don’t know about target me but I don’t think I’ll have the same opportunities in game two,” he said.
— Fatima Kdouh