CHILL IN THE HEIR
Relaxed Keebra rookie tipped to handle Origin inferno
THE swagger that Corey Norman carried through his Keebra Park footy days is the same one that will leave the Maroons rookie the most chilled man on the field in tonight’s white-hot Origin cauldron.
Amid the hype of an electrified decider at ANZ Stadium, Queensland will usher in a new No.6 but one armed with a quiet selfassurance that has propelled 28year-old Norman from NRL rascal to his state’s big playmaking hope.
Maroons coach Kevin Walters last week ratcheted up the pressure for Game Three by declaring tonight the “biggest match in Origin history”. Some players may wilt under that sort of spotlight but don’t expect Norman’s heartrate to climb.
“He has always been very cruisy,” long-serving Keebra Park mentor Glen Campbell said.
“(Being a high pressure match) won’t faze him because he was a casual sort of kid.
“Some have superstitions before games but he was always relaxed and was cruisy.”
Norman, who has played 180 NRL games for Brisbane, Parramatta and St George Illawarra since his 2010 debut, has endured a rocky road to stardom.
A series of off-field misdemeanours have been put behind Norman (pictured inset during his Keebra days) since his switch to the Dragons this year in a sign of a maturing talent.
“That (off-field issues) is part of growing up,” said Campbell, who was Keebra’s strength and conditioning coach during Norman’s stint in the school’s senior league sides of 2007 and 2008.
“Since he’s been at the Dragons he’s realised that you only get one shot at these sort of things.
“But he’s always been a talent. He was always a classy sort of talent; some kids would try to manhandle you but he wasn’t that sort of player. He just showed touches of class.”
Norman, who was raised in the Logan suburb of Eagleby by single mum Sandy, this week admitted he broke character when he learnt of his impending Maroons debut.
“It means everything,” he said.
“When I got the phone call and Kev told me I got the jersey I was so excited but I was keeping it in.
“When I got off the phone I was ‘yes, yes, yes’, screaming pretty loud and there was so much excitement running through the body.
“I might get a bit emotional (when I put the jersey on).”
Campbell said Norman’s history in big games, albeit being schoolboy ones, would add hope to Queensland fans.
“We had this game against Wavell at Suncorp (Stadium) and he was man of the match,” he said. “He was always in the mix for best on the field.”
THE two Queensland playmaking legends who subjected Mitchell Pearce to a decade of Origin torment believe the recalled NSW halfback will carry some psychological scars into tonight’s decider.
Former Maroons duo Darren Lockyer and Johnathan Thurston have urged Queensland to put early pressure on Pearce to prise open old wounds in Origin III at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.
Back in sky blue after a twoyear absence, Pearce runs out for the decider at Homebush armed with one of the worst win-loss records in State of Origin’s 39-year history.
The 30-year-old has won just five of 18 Origin games for a 27 per cent success rate, having lost all seven series he has contested dating back to his debut in the NSW No.7 jumper in 2008.
In 1411 minutes of Origin football, Pearce has made just two line breaks.
Ex-Maroons playmaker Thurston was Pearce’s primary nemesis, famously sledging him in the 2015 decider, while Lockyer steered Queensland to victory as skipper in the Blues halfback’s first full series in 2011.
While Lockyer insists Pearce is a more composed and mature playmaker to his darkest days in the NSW jumper, the now Queensland selector urged Maroons players to pick at his scar tissue from the opening seconds tonight.
“It would be natural for Mitchell Pearce to have some selfdoubts,” said Lockyer, the 36game Origin champion.
“Queensland need to put some scoreboard pressure on Pearce early in the game while there will be some trepidation.
“He is coming into a team that won well in the last game (38-6 in Perth), so the guys around him will have a lot of confidence and he will have to strike a combination with James Maloney, with whom he won a premiership at the Roosters in 2013.
“A lot will be made of Pearce’s past record from 18 Origin games and seven losing series, but he is better equipped to perform in this arena than what he has been in his last stint in the sky blue jumper.
“Times have changed for Pearce. In the past, he was up against (Cameron) Smith, Thurston, (Cooper) Cronk and (Billy) Slater, but now he is playing the best football of his career.
“At 30, he is more attuned to his game, so Queensland need to test him early.”
Thurston, who handed Pearce a 16-10 loss in his NSW Origin debut in 2008, says the Blues veteran will be determined to atone for his turbulent past.
“Obviously there is a lot of mental scars from those years,” he said.
“But he seems like he’s in a more relaxed place now.”