Carrigan leans on Barty mind bender
MAROONS hero Pat Carrigan said the mindset coach behind tennis star Ash Barty’s grand slam triumphs was the secret to his State of Origin dominance.
Carrigan crowned a remarkable debut Origin campaign by claiming the Wally Lewis Medal as player of the series following Queensland’s gripping decider win at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
Carrigan, 24, credited the help of three-time grand slam champion Barty’s mentor Ben Crowe, who works with the Broncos, for his rise from the Red Hill rehabilitation room to Origin star.
Carrigan, who will be rested from
Saturday’s derby against the Titans, said he had some doubts about whether he was up to dominating in the Origin arena, but overcame them quickly.
“A little bit, at the start you have those thoughts,” he said. “You play against these guys every week, but when you put two teams of such high quality together, sometimes it makes you think (if you’re up to it).
“Being around these coaches, the greats of the game, they talk to you about it all. They’ve had the same feelings. It makes it a bit more personal and makes you back yourself.
“The Broncos brought in Ben Crowe throughout the year and I did some stuff with him. He talks about owning your own game and doing you, no matter what the circumstances are. That has really helped me throughout this return to play from the ACL (knee). I am just loving footy.”
Carrigan made a statement that he was no Origin chump with a match-turning performance from the bench in Queensland’s 16-10 Game One win in Sydney.
While Cameron Munster was man-of-the-match, Carrigan blitzed the Blues with 18 runs for 165m in a 64-minute effort.
He was the only Maroons forward to crack 100m in Queensland’s 44-12 loss in Perth, before punching out 67 minutes in the decider to once again make the most metres of any Queensland forward (124).