MORGAN MUST CLIMB A MAROONS MOUNTAIN
MAROONS fullback legend Gary Belcher has challenged Michael Morgan to lift his game as the Cowboys $5 million man fights to retain his Queensland jumper for Origin I.
The out-of-sorts Morgan has 24 days – starting tonight against the in-form Panthers at Carrington Park in Bathurst – to convince Maroons hierarchy why he should not be axed for the Origin opener.
The chilly NSW bush town is miles away from traditional NRL venues and Morgan is currently a world away from the imperious form that underpinned the Cowboys’ surge to last year’s grand final.
When Maroons halfback Cooper Cronk announced after last December’s World Cup final that he would follow Johnathan Thurston into representative retirement, Morgan was regarded as the blue-chip investment to fill the Queensland scrumbase void.
Now the alarm bells are ringing. Morgan’s earlyseason form, not helped by a niggling abdominal injury, has mirrored that of a spluttering Cowboys team that arrives in Bathurst languishing in equal last spot.
With Origin playmaking rivals Cameron Munster and Ben Hunt playing superior football, Morgan, according to Belcher, is running out of time to clinch the Maroons No.6 or No.7 jumpers.
“Morgan has to lift his game,” said Belcher, who played 16 Origin games for the Maroons between 198693.
“He might be a victim of how his Cowboys team is going but he’s not himself at the moment.
“When he first came back (after missing two weeks with his abdominal strain), he could probably still feel the injury, but he has to come to terms with carrying a bit of pain.
“It might be one of those things he has to battle through.
“He just needs one good performance.”