Cooper Cronk says Harry Grant needs to be the hero for the Queensland Maroons in Origin III
Queensland legend Cooper Cronk has challenged hooker Harry Grant to take the heat off a grieving Cameron Munster and be the Maroons’ match-winning hero in the decider.
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Queensland legend Cooper Cronk has challenged hooker Harry Grant to take the heat off a grieving Cameron Munster and be the Maroons’ match-winning hero in Wednesday night’s decider.
Cronk outlined a three-point masterplan for the Maroons to shock the Blues in what he predicts will be State of Origin’s first golden-point game in 20 years at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Munster rejoined the Maroons on Tuesday following the shock death of his father Steven three days ago and is determined to play in the 2025 decider in honour of his dad.
Queensland skipper Munster produced a superb captain’s knock in Game Two, claiming man-of-the-match honours to spearhead the Maroons’ series-saving 26-24 defeat of the Blues in Perth.
But on the eve of the Homebush decider, Cronk says it’s another Storm star, Grant, who must produce the game of his life to engineer Queensland’s greatest series win in Origin’s 45-year history.
“Harry Grant needs to be the main man,” said Fox League analyst Cronk, the 22-game Queensland halfback champion.
“The talking point (from Game Two) was Munster and his leadership, but I think Queensland needs another all-star player.
“All eyes are going to be on Cameron in the decider and NSW defensively will stop him running the football.
“Someone else needs to win the game for Queensland – not Cameron Munster.”
Grant had an off-night in the series opener, making a number of poor decisions out of dummy-half in Queensland’s 18-6 loss at Suncorp Stadium, but the underfire take hit back superbly in Perth.
Amid queries over his 0-4 as a starting Origin hooker, Grant was sensational in Origin II, putting Munster over in the 32nd minute for the try that fired Queensland to a 20-6 lead they never surrendered.
Grant said he learned valuable lessons from Game One not to overplay his hand and is relishing with Queensland’s new-look spine in the decider, which features Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow at fullback.
“It is a good spine to work with,” Grant said.
“When you have Munster and Tommy who are really strong runners of the ball and then Hammer has got such a genuine feel for the game, it’s a well-rounded picture.
“Everyone else does their job and it’s a flow-on effect.
“I understood a little bit from Game One and what that looked like for me.
“I just had to knuckle down and work on execution and decision-making.
“I felt like that was there in Game Two, but the challenge is doing that again.”
Cronk said the other two keys for the Maroons are not falling to an early deficit and making sure NSW centres Latrell Mitchell and Stephen Crichton do not run riot.
“If Queensland are to win, they can’t let Stephen Crichton and Latrell Mitchell get early effective ball,” he said.
“In Game Two, every time they touched the ball, it looked like something was happening.
“So for Queensland to win this game, they need to defend like their lives depend on it.
“Those two centres cannot get early effective ball.
“Queensland’s first tackle on the centres has to be the best tackle ever. If Latrell or Stephen fend off their centres, it will give them confidence and give Nathan (Cleary) and Jarome (Luai, NSW halves) more reason to go there.
“So they need to stop them from the word go.
“The second thing, Queensland need to get to the front. If the scoreboard ticks over and they are behind, I’m worried they might not be able to chase down the points.
“Scoreboard pressure comes into play and the attack of NSW looks like it can chase down points, so Queensland need to get to the front.”
Cronk famously broke a 20-20 deadlock in the 2012 decider with a booming 40-metre field goal and he believes Maroons winger Valentine Holmes could be the difference with the Origin shield on the line.
“I will say this – Queensland will win in golden point,” he said.
“Valentine Holmes kicks it (the winning field goal).
“We’ve only had two golden points in Origin history, one to NSW in 2004 and one to Queensland in 2005, this will be the third and Val Holmes is the guy that can kick it from anywhere.”
HAMMER TIME
Look out New South Wales. The ‘Hammer’ is about to drop.
Queensland halves Cameron Munster and Tom Dearden have vowed to unleash in-form Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on the Blues as the Maroons plot the greatest title heist in State of Origin’s 45-year history.
Tabuai-Fidow faces the biggest test of his career when the Hammer starts at fullback for the first time in the Origin arena in Wednesday night’s decider against the Blues at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
One of the fastest men in the NRL, Tabuai-Fidow has been the Dolphins’ superstar fullback for the past three seasons but he is untested in the backfield in the code’s most unforgiving arena.
The 23-year-old is filling in for the injured Kalyn Ponga and will wage a blockbusting fullback shootout with NSW champion Dylan Edwards, who has won four consecutive premierships at the scene of the 2025 decider.
Tabuai-Fidow runs onto Homebush with the hot hand after scoring four tries in the Dolphins’ 50-28 rout of Souths last Saturday week and could tear NSW apart if given clean ball in open space.
Munster and Dearden are ready to ‘Hammer’ the Blues into submission.
“It would be nice to unleash him,” Munster said.
“He did it pretty well last week for the Dolphins scoring four tries.
“When you give someone like Hammer the ball with that much pace in open space, it’s an exciting sight, especially when you’re on his side.
“We’ll be trying our best to get his game on.
“Kalyn’s got good footwork but so does Hammer.
“We’ll try and do some stuff with him and see how he wants to play.
“But with his elusiveness around the ruck and on the edges, he’ll put a lot of fear into the Blues just because of his speed.”
While some of Queensland’s legends have struggled to cross the stripe in the Origin arena – Steve Renouf scored just twice and Wendell Sailor once in Maroon – the Hammer has been a revelation.
Tabuai-Fidow boasts the greatest tryscoring strike-rate in Origin history with 11 from nine games, including a double on the wing in Queensland’s 26-24 defeat of the Blues in Game Two in Perth.
Tabuai-Fidow will join Billy Slater, Dale Shearer and Dane Gagai (12 tries) if he scores in Origin III and he is on track to surpass Greg Inglis (18) and Darius Boyd (17) as the greatest tryscorer in Origin history.
Munster said Tabuai-Fidow has an Inglis-like instinctive brilliance that could torment the Blues.
“Indigenous players just know how to find the tryline,” the Maroons captain said.
“If you look at guys like Greg Inglis, Matty Bowen and Johnathan Thurston, they just know how to be in the right place at the right time.
“It’s not great when you’re playing against Hammer. He’s a class player and when he’s on, there’s no better person in flight.
“He’s probably got a bit more running ability than what Kalyn would, so we’ll try and get his strengths out in the game.”
Dearden played with Tabuai-Fidow at the Cowboys. The Maroons halfback is tasked with running Queensland’s offence and wants to release the Hammer chiming in on back-man plays.
“Hammer is one of the most dangerous ball runners and opportunistic players,” Dearden said.
“It’s important to be able to give him those opportunities on the field as well.
“He is just around the ball, around offloads and broken play and that’s Hammer’s game.
“He has so much speed. We will try and provide that for him as much as we can.”
Queensland coach Slater explained why he chose Tabuai-Fidow at fullback over superstar Broncos fullback Reece Walsh.
“I’m the No.1 fan of the Reece Walsh fan club. I love what he brings. I love him as a person,” Channel 9 analyst Slater said.
“Reece has done a great job in that No.1 jersey for Queensland, but I just feel that Hammer deserves this opportunity.
“It certainly wasn’t a guess. It was a calculated decision.
“Hammer has really developed his game over the last few years and the other thing he’s doing really well is stuff off the ball.
“You don’t necessarily get to see that on the angles that we show on television. So it’s important to actually watch the game from all different angles behind the goalposts and make sure we understand what habits he’s going to bring to the footy team in that position and that was a part of the process.
“He’s understanding the fullback position thoroughly and he’s doing a great job the times that he doesn’t have the footy in his hand.
“He is a very unique style of fullback to a lot of the other ones and we need to make sure that we adapt to that.”
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