Coates all clear for big debut

MAROONS winger Xavier Coates has been cleared to play tomorrow night despite spraining his shoulder during Sunday’s training session.

Scans yesterday revealed the 19-year-old had suffered a “low-grade sprain” after landing on his shoulder on Sunday, leading to fears he would be ruled out of the series opener.

Queensland’s medical staff have assessed the Brisbane flyer who has “shown significant improvement” and they anticipate he will run out for the Maroons in Adelaide.

It will bring a collective sigh of relief among the Maroons, who had already been decimated by injuries to star players leading up to their Origin campaign, including Michael Morgan and Kalyn Ponga.

It will mean Coates – dubbed “little Greg Inglis” – will continue his journey to making his highly anticipated Origin debut.

The Queensland backline could still see several changes, with 18th man Kurt Capewell likely to play at left centre and Coates to pair up with fellow debutant Brenko Lee as the Maroons’ rookie right-side pairing.

Titans flyer Phillip Sami has also been a standout during Queensland’s training sessions and is on standby to play on the wing.

Queensland skipper

Daly

Cherry-evans said the inexperienced Origin players could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“The less we’ve seen of these players at Origin level, there’s not much to review in their (NSW’S) video sessions,” Cherry-evans said.

“They’re not coming in here with any fears which is always a scary thing.

“I don’t see that as a false reading of what’s to come. Everyone’s working really hard.”

The Blue are heavy favourites for tomorrow’s clash but it hasn’t rocked the confidence of the Queensland players.

Cherry-evans said the mix of young and old in the camp was the “right recipe” to cause an Origin upset.

“Expectation can do some funny things in sport sometimes,” he said.

“We just have to keep our head down and keep working hard.

“We have a lot of belief in the systems that we’re applying at training.

“We’ve got a hell of a lot of belief in the squad so I think that’s the right recipe for a successful series.”

The Queensland players will be put through one last training session today after having yesterday off.

The squad will then fly to Adelaide tomorrow morning to prepare for the series opener at the iconic Adelaide Oval.