Jarrod a ‘different’ man

Titans and Maroons forward gets skipper backing

MAROONS captain Greg Inglis warns NSW will see a “different” Jarrod Wallace tomorrow night after Queensland’s pack held a clandestine meeting in order to hash out a plan to combat the Blues.

The 26-year-old and his Queensland forward cohorts came under scrutiny following their underwhelming effort in the series opener, with Wallace running for just 43m against a big and dominant NSW pack.

A secret meeting between the Maroons’ big men in camp at Sanctuary Cove now promises to help unleash Wallace’s inner beast in the biggest match yet of his four-game Origin career.

“Origin’s all about winning the ruck and winning the forward battle. It always has been,” Inglis said.

“They know they’ve got a challenge ahead and they do take it personally. I know when we came together on day one, they got together as a group.

“I don’t know what’s been said in that group but I know they’re looking forward to the challenge down in Sydney.”

Amid calls for his axing, Wallace this week vowed to make amends in Game Two – and Inglis is right behind him.

“I back Jarrod, I know he’s going to be a different player and I know that he’s learnt from it (Game One) – just like the rest of our forward pack, and the rest of our team,” Inglis said.

“We learnt a lot from Game One and that’s why we picked them because we know they’re going to be better.”

Inglis wants to be able to repeat his Game One heroics in a match he regards as the most important he has played in the Origin arena.

“For me personally, this would be the biggest game I’ll ever play in the Queensland jersey going in as captain and 1-0 down,” he said.

“It’s challenging, like every Origin game, but I’m not going to approach it any different to what I have in the last 30-odd Origins I’ve played.”

Wallace is keen to test himself against Blues prop David Klemmer, who rebounded from criticism of his own to make 134m in Game One and get his team on the front foot.

Klemmer narrowly avoided the axe ahead of the series opener before demonstrating his worth for the Blues.

“I don’t really understand why he was under pressure, I thought he was really NSW’s best forward last year over the three games,” Wallace said.

“We’ve just got to make sure we do a good job on him.”