KATT FIGHT
BOYD OUT T O PROVE BOB AND O THER DOUBTERS WRONG
A DEFIANT Darius Boyd ( right) has hit back at his Origin detractors and warned he can get even better at fullback as part of his plan to finish his career in the Queensland No. 1 jumper. The shockwaves surrounding Billy Slater’s omission for Origin I has even reached the political sphere, with Federal MP Bob Katter ( above) accusing selectors of a Broncos bias by opting for Boyd.
Queensland’s three selectors — Gene Miles, Darren Lockyer and coach Kevin Walters — played a combined 668 firstgrade games for the Broncos club Boyd now captains.
But Maroons fullback incumbent Boyd yd returned serve yesterday, labelling Katter a “silly politician”. He admits the firestorm of criticism over Slater’s snubbing is motivating him to be even more dominant in the Origin opener.
“I heard about it,” he said of Katter’s stinging attack.
“One of my mates texted me ... apparently some silly politician ( Katter) was going off, bagging me about Billy Slater missing out.
“You don’t like to hear those things but to be honest, it just motivates me more.
“I’m not trying to make it sound cliched, but there’s been a lot of talk around who should be selected ( as Queensland fullback) and it’s out of my control.
“But the one thing I want to prove is that I can be the Queensland No. 1 for the long term.”
Boyd says he has no ill- feeling towards Slater, who took an active role in educating the Broncos ace last year when in- vited into Camp Maroon as an assistant coach.
With Slater watching from the coaching box, Boyd went on to win the Ron McAuliffe Medal as Queensland’s player of the series and he insists he is not the finished article at Origin level.
“I want to better what I did last year,” said Boyd, who equals Slater with his 27th Origin game tomorrow night.
“I like what I bring to a team and I’m challenging myself to do it again for Queensland.
“There’s no issue with Billy. He is a legend of the game and I understand why people are shocked that he didn’t get picked, myself included.
“But the selectors saw what they saw and they have backed me and I’m determined not to fail. It’s my job to deliver and that’s what I plan on doing.”