Courtesy of The Courier-Mail
Maroons skipper Cameron Smith said strike centre Greg Inglis would be ready to rumble in his 25th Origin game after a three-day stint in hospital to speed up his recovery.
“He looked good as new yesterday,” he said.
“He looked ordinary at the start of the week, but he’s had a few days to recover now. He was at our training session yesterday but we’ll give him another day’s rest and the flight down yesterday, he looked better.”
Asked if he will be 100 per cent fit, Smith said: “Greg will be OK, he’s had three days to do nothing, if anything, he will be pretty fresh, it would have been nice to have him there at training, but his fitness will be fine, he’s played a lot of football of late.
“He looks fresh physically and mentally, sometimes being away from football is a good thing.”
The Maroons are enjoying a rest day on Monday at Coogee before shifting to Parramatta on Tuesday to complete the captain’s run at ANZ Stadium.
Smith had a warning for the Blues and any critics who believe Queensland have lost their edge after a record eight consecutive Origin triumphs.
“I don’t think we ever lost the hunger,” he said.
“This team has never been bored of winning. It’s a great feeling, if anything it (losing last year) has placed an emphasis on our preparation and making sure that we can do everything possible to get ourselves right.
“Maybe that was something we lacked last year. Apart from the mishaps and guys going down ill, we’ve trained strongly on the park. All the guys are healthy now which is great, we’re ready to go.”
Maroons launch 18th Man
