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New South Wales and Queensland go head to head tonight at ANZ Stadium for rugby league supremacy and it has some more excited than others.
In this week’s At The Bar, Michael ‘Speedy’ Stratton and The Area News sports journalist Ben Jaffrey talk all things Origin, from injuries to a former Griffith player returning to the side.
Ben: Origin is here. Are you pumped or what?
Speedy: Not really, you get used to it after all these years with Queensland’s domination.
Ben: That’s a bit of a buzz kill.
Speedy: Well, my heart says NSW but my brain says Queensland. If NSW don’t win the first one, they won’t beat Queensland up there.
Ben: It makes it hard, the first one is always the most important. Josh Dugan getting injured has helped us I think.
Speedy: I like Dugan as a footballer but he’s not the best defender. I’ve seen him miss tackles that a halfback would make – Adam Reynolds would definitely make them.
Ben: Josh Morris has done a great job in the past on Greg Inglis too.
Speedy: He’s never let us down, I was surprised when they omitted him.
Ben: I think it was more wanting to get Dugan in at any cost.
Speedy: You have to give Dugan credit, though. It takes a lot of guts to withdraw yourself from such a big game.
Ben: It’s good to see him putting the team first, shows there’s a good culture going on there.
Speedy: He knows what he was up against. It’s 80 minutes of brutal, physical contact.
Ben: You go out there underdone and get injured early – it would be hard for the team to recover.
Speedy: He’d be letting the Dragons down too.
Ben: For sure. Queensland have had a few injury concerns of their own.
Speedy: Mate, that’s a gee-up. They do it every year. If Cronk’s not out there I’ll walk backwards down Banna Avenue next Saturday at 11am in a jock strap.
Ben: I hope he plays then.
Speedy: He will, don’t worry about that.
Ben: I’ll try not to worry but that image is burned in my mind now. Back on topic, how good is it seeing a former Waratah Andrew Fifita back in the side?
Speedy: It’s great, he deserves his spot 120 per cent. He’s the form forward in the competition as far as I’m concerned.
Ben: He’s a damaging ball runner and I reckon he’d love to take that first hit-up.
Speedy: Aaron Woods is a good footballer, he’ll do alright with the kick off.
Ben: No doubt. I’ll leave you with this: Go the Blues!