Inglis ready to step up as captain for Maroons

GREG Inglis has declared himself ready to captain Queensland as the Maroons scramble to adjust to life without Cameron Smith.

With Cowboys prop Matt Scott an uncertain starter for Queensland after he suffered a medial injury in Saturday’s 20- 19 loss to South Sydney, the leadership of Inglis will be crucial with Smith joining Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk in representative retirement.

Inglis has captained Souths since 2015 and revealed the tutelage from Smith and Maroons legend Darren Lockyer in Origin camp had significantly helped his leadership skills.

“If it does come around, it’s a great honour,” Inglis said.

“I think it comes down to where I learned my leadership from, those two ( Lockyer and Smith) in that arena.

“I’ve got great support around me ( at Souths) from Seibs ( coach Anthony Seibold) down with ( Souths leaders) Johnny Sutton and Sam Burgess as well.”

Cowboys star Michael Morgan threw his support behind Inglis as the logical choice.

“Greg would do a very good job,” he said. “I’m not too sure who they will go with, but ‘ GI’ would get my support.

“It’s just the aura he has around the team and the respect he gets from everyone.

“He is someone who has already led by his actions and the boys will play for him. He’s been a great captain at Souths so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was chosen.”

The Cowboys are reeling after a Souths penalty goal in the dying seconds condemned them to a 3- 8 record, but were given a boost with Scott only expected to miss one to three weeks.

Scott was in grave danger of missing the Origin series opener on June 6 at the MCG after hobbling off in the 62nd minute of North Queensland’s crushing 20- 19 loss on Saturday night.

But Cowboys medicos believe Scott has suffered only a grade- one strain to his medial collateral ligament ( MCL). He will have scans today although it appears his hopes of a recall for Origin I remain intact.

“We can’t afford to lose him,” Cowboys co- captain Johnathan Thurston said. “He’s a big part of our team, cocaptain of the club, everyone looks up to him so he’ll be a big loss for us.”

Inglis can sympathise given he and Scott are both on the comeback trail from serious knee injuries.

“He’s a very important person to both sides ( Cowboys and Queensland) and hopefully he doesn’t sit on the sideline for too long,” Inglis said.

“When I saw him go down I was praying it wasn’t an ACL.”