TITANS ON NOTICE AS GRAHAM FIRES UP
BEWARE Titans, there is a fired-up Wade Graham heading your way.
The NSW bench forward was shattered after the loss at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night extended the Blues’ drought to one series win in the past 12 years.
Graham was solid in a badly beaten side, making 29 tackles in 49 minutes, and after the match encouraged his Origin teammates to return to the NRL scene hellbent on upping their game.
That shapes as an ominous sign for the Gold Coast tomorrow night, when they host defending premiers Cronulla.
The Sharks have named all four of their hurting Blues stars to back up at Cbus Super Stadium: James Maloney, Andrew Fifita, Jack Bird and Graham.
“It’s hard to process right now … it probably slipped away in Sydney and then (Game 3) it was probably our worst team performance of all ,” Graham said after the 22-6 loss.
“Effort, energy, that all was there but execution just wasn’t there. They were just better than us.”
Asked where NSW goes now to turn the tide in their favour from 2018, Graham said it started this weekend.
“Where to now is to go back to club land, all of us put our best foot forward as individuals with our teams and try to make sure we’re better next year,” he said.
While Blues coach Laurie Daley is expected to confirm that Wednesday night was his last game at the helm, Graham believes there is little need for wholesale changes.
He backed the 17 who played all three games this year plus the extended squad members.
“We have got to stick solid as a group and as a state,” he said.