Unchanged Blues hurt by schedule
NSW coach Laurie Daley named an unchanged side last night but the Blues have been frustrated by an anomaly in the NRL draw which heavily favours Queensland.
Queensland had 16 of their 17-man squad finish their NRL club commitments over the weekend by Saturday.
Conversely, NSW had 10 players in matches on Sunday and yesterday. NSW and Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner would have made it 11 players but he withdrew before the Tigers match with a leg injury.
That has given the Maroons a 48-hour edge, which Daley called a “massive” advantage in such a short build-up.
NSW have had to delay their first training session until Thursday to aid recovery.
“We have had to change our preparation because we had so many players play late in the round, when all their players were finished,” Daley said. “The other thing in Queensland’s advantage is that 16 of their players finished on Saturday. That’s an extra two-day recovery, which is massive.”
However, Daley was thrilled to name an unchanged side.