MYLES PLAYS LAST GREAT ROLE FOR MAROONS PROPS
IT may have been his last great act for the Maroons.
Nate Myles will not be on the field tonight but his legacy lives on in starting props Dylan Napa and Jarrod Wallace. Many criticised the Queensland selectors’ decision to bring Myles into camp for Game One.
But it was made with an eye to the future.
Myles’s role in Camp Maroon was as much about bringing a new generation of Maroon forwards up to speed as it was about charging into the fray at Suncorp Stadium.
Johnathan Thurston, who will end his own Origin tenure this season, said passing on knowledge had been Myles’s great parting gift.
“He’s been one of the best forwards that has played for Queensland in the middle,” Thurston said of Myles.
“So it’s great that he’s been able to pass on some of that knowledge that he’s been able to experience to those younger boys.”
Napa and Wallace will line up against NSW tonight having soaked up as much information as they could from the former Gold Coast Titans captain.
“That’s what I tried to do,” Napa said of learning from Myles.
“Nate’s played 32 Origins, so he has a fair idea of how to approach the game and I just tried to take it in and feel relaxed.”
Wallace will make his Origin debut tonight but he was brought into camp as 18th man for Game One and was a sponge around Myles.
“I didn’t know Nate too well, I’d obviously played against him but when he was here, he just took charge of all the young forwards and helped all the boys out, especially Naps (Napa) because he was starting with him,” Wallace said.
“It’s good to see how much he cared about the young fellas and how much he cares about Origin. I know that (those dropped ahead of tonight’s match) will be disappointed, I know Nate’s injured, but they definitely helped out in Game One.”
Despite questions over his form, Myles played an integral part in last year’s winning series, with coach Kevin Walters hailing his aggressive defence.
With the old bull gone, Wallace and Napa will have to play that part.