Smith up for challenge
QUEENSLAND captain Cameron Smith has admitted the Maroons are under pressure to salvage the Origin series but will not shy away from the challenge.
Rather than try to pretend the blowtorch is on the Blues as they try to seal just their second series in 12 years, Smith admitted the revamped Maroons faced their sternest test in more than a decade as their transitional side attempted to send the series to a decider.
“I’d say we are, wouldn’t we be?” Smith said when asked which team was really under pressure.
“We’re 1-0 down, we’re the ones that have to go to Sydney and win. So I’d say our team is.
“But we’re not shying away from that pressure. We’re embracing the opportunity that we’ve got to go down to Sydney and win.
“But we know that it’s going to take a lot of effort to get it done – there’s not doubt, a lot more effort than what it did in Game One.”
The question presented Smith with the perfect opportunity to play mind games with the Blues – turn the pressure back on Boyd Cordner and his team, most of whom have not experienced a series win.
But smith was searingly honest. After their decade of dominance, the Maroons suddenly look vulnerable.
But with their backs against the wall, Queensland have always come out fighting and it’s what Gold Coast product Darius Boyd has backed them to do again tonight.
“I’m confident,” he said. “There’s been plenty of years in the past where people have written us off and time and time again we’ve proven them wrong.”
Unlike Smith, Boyd feels like the pressure is on the Blues given the talk in NSW after their Game One win.
“Everyone expects them to win – it’s their year, it’s their time,” he said.
“That’s fine, hopefully they believe that. Everyone’s talking about them and what they’re going to do on their home turf, saying (they’re going to win) 3-0.
“We just need to go out there with the right intensity and the right frame of mind to do a good job.”
Four players will debut for Queensland tonight, while Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk could finish their Origin careers in Brisbane next month. Billy Slater and Smith himself will not be far behind.
But Smith challenged his team to embrace change.
“The guys that have been left out for this game, it’s hard to see those guys go,” he said.
“But the way I see it is we should celebrate what they’ve actually done for this team and the state – they’ve won more series than most guys play during their career.”