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CAMERON Smith has explained his decision to retire from representative football so close to the State of Origin opener — rolling rugby league coverage.

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5:31 pm June 6, 2018

ORIGIN CAN FIRE DRAGONS UP IN NRL

St George Illawarra NRL captain Gareth Widdop believes the State of Origin experience gained by the Dragons’ representative stars will benefit the team for the big games at the end of the season. 

While Tyson Frizell is an established NSW second-rower, the rest of the Dragons’ Origin crew are relatively unexposed to the juggernaut that is the interstate rivalry. 

Queensland halfback Ben Hunt played sparingly off the bench in last year’s decider, while NSW forwards Jack de Belin and Paul Vaughan will get their first taste in the series opener. 

With the second-placed Dragons in strong contention to advance to this year’s finals, Widdop is banking on the occasion to help the club at the business end of the year. 

“For a lot of them, it’s the biggest games of their careers so far. They’ll certainly learn a lot from the players that play, with the coaching staff they’ve been around,” Widdop told reporters on Wednesday. 

“They get to play in front of a packed MCG, it’d be incredible and, hopefully, they can bring a little bit of what they’ve learned from their camp back to the Dragons.” 

All four were included in the Dragons’ squad to back up on Monday against Canterbury, aiming to bounce back from their comprehensive last-start defeat to Penrith. 

The 28-2 loss was easily their biggest of the season, and Widdop challenged his team to make amends against the Bulldogs.

“You win some – you lose some. It’s how you respond to that. We understand we didn’t play to our standards, which is disappointing,” Widdop said. 

“But it’s gone and we’ve moved on. We’ve got an opportunity to respond now.” 

– AAP 

3:19 pm June 6, 2018

SMITH: I WOULD HAVE LET QUEENSLAND DOWN

Cameron Smith has explained his decision to retire from representative football so close to State of Origin and says he’d be letting Queensland down if he played on. 

The longtime Test and Queensland captain stunned the rugby league world three weeks ago when he announced his exit, leaving him to focus solely on NRL duties with Melbourne. 

Some have questioned the timing, so close to Wednesday’s Origin series opener opener, and whether that was right for the Queensland team. 

Smith revealed his mind was pretty well made up before the season began but said he needed more time to confirm it.

“I probably had made the decision before I started this year,’ Smith told reporters at a pre-Origin I lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday. “But I just wanted to make sure that it was the right decision. “I wanted to play a few games which I think I said after the World Cup when I was asked whether I’d continue playing rep football. 

“I’d have my time away over the off-season and then get back into training and see how I started in the first month or six weeks.” Smith – who holds the record for most Origin games and wins, as well as seven man-of-the-match awards, wanted to see if he felt the urge to return to Origin camp. 

Midway through last month, he made the call.

“It just wasn’t there,” Smith said.

“So playing 42 matches and being involved in Origin for 15 years, it was the right time for me to step away and I really did feel that if I chose to play on, I would’ve been letting my teammates down. 

“I would’ve been letting my state down, because I wouldn’t have been fully committed to it.” Smith was a notable figure in the Maroons’ captain’s run at the MCG on Tuesday, where he spoke to coach Kevin Walters and also gave successor Andrew McCullough some advice before his debut. 

However Smith insisted he still felt comfortable he had made the right decision.

“There was no feeling of jealousy of not being out there training or having that Maroons jersey on, running in a captain’s training session,” he said. “I felt at ease and really happy to be there to say g’day to the team, wish them good luck and watch them go through their final paces.” 

– Matt Encarnacion and Scott Bailey

2:42 pm June 6, 2018

SCOTT CONTENT, BUT KNOWS HE HAS MORE TO OFFER

Overlooked veteran Matt Scott believes he can still contribute at State of Origin level but he’ll be content if the curtain has already been drawn on his representative career. 

Having debuted in 2006 and played 22 games for Queensland, the powerhouse prop must have felt strange training in Townsville on Wednesday while the Maroons were preparing for the Origin opener in Melbourne. 

He will return from a one-match suspension for North Queensland to play Parramatta this Saturday, having missed selection in Kevin Walters’ side. 

Scott thought he had done enough to earn a recall after missing last year’s campaign with a knee injury but, copping his snub on the chin, says he has been around long enough to know how Queensland sides are picked. 

“I thought my last four or five weeks of footy have been pretty good, back to what I knew I was capable of doing,” he said.

“I thought I was pushing to get my spot back, but Kevvy’s shown a lot of faith in the guys that did the job last year and that’s a credit to him. 

“That’s the Queensland way; it was up to me to claim my spot back and I didn’t do that and that’s part of footy.” Scott, 32, will watch the series opener intently and says he’s okay with whichever way his representative career pans out from here. 

“I’ve still got enough to contribute on the Origin stage; I’d love to get back in there, love to pull on the jersey again,” he said. 

“But if I never do I’m pretty happy with my career so far … I played more Origins than I ever thought I would.

“If I didn’t play again I’d be happy but at the same time I’d love to be back in that arena.”

– Murray Wenzel

2:05 pm June 6, 2018

SMITH PLAYING MIND GAMES EVEN IN ABSENCE

By Gilbert Gardiner

RETIRED Queensland captain Cameron Smith has planted a seed of doubt in NSW’s outside backs, indicating the Maroons could target Blues centres James Roberts and Latrell Mitchell.

Smith, 34, who retired from Origin football on the eve of the best of three series, said getting the ball into the hands of Greg Inglis and Will Chambers close to the try line could expose the Blues defensively.

“I don’t think they’ve got too many weak links to be fair,” Smith said today at Crown before the gala Melbourne Storm Origin luncheon.

“You look at them across the board and they’re extremely good, if anything, if we can control the ball we can have a fair share of the possession and have good field position we can put a lot of pressure on their defensive line.

“Both centers have probably given away a few points throughout the year that they wouldn’t have been happy with, so giving the ball to

Greg Inglis and Will Chambers when they have opportunity close to the line I think that can be a way for us to get some points.

“Again, this is State of Origin, those guys will be up for it and Freddie’s got them well prepared for what’s coming tonight.”

Smith said injured Maroons winger Dane Gagai could probably expect to be targeted with high balls and kick returns.

Gagai sustained a compound dislocation of his finger during the Maroons’ captains run.

The excitement machine, who has scored seven tries in as many Origin appearances, is expected to take his place in the starting line up.

1:59 pm June 6, 2018

Remember the Cooper Cronk field goal that won Queensland the 2012 series?

Yeah I wish I didn’t either…

1:32 pm June 6, 2018

WHAT PRESSURE?

Our snappers were on deck this morning as the Blues side set out for their morning stroll. With 11 debutants the side wouldn’t be blamed for seeming nervous, but they appear anything but on the morning of the big game.

1:18 pm June 6, 2018

NO PRESSURE ON BUNNIES TO BACK UP

High-flying South Sydney will put no pressure on their State of Origin stars to back up for Friday night’s NRL clash with Gold Coast. 

The Rabbitohs named representatives Damien Cook, Angus Crichton, Greg Inglis and Dane Gagai in their team to face the Titans two days after Origin 1, but stand- in skipper Sam Burgess was confident the club could stretch its winning streak to six games with or without the quartet. 

“Greg, Dane and Cookey are all starting and will play big minutes so we’ll see how they pull up … but there’s no pressure on them from our end,” Burgess said. 

– Emma Kemp

12:35 pm June 6, 2018

Throwback to Trent Hodkinson’s oh so glorious series winning try in 2014. What a moment…

12:31 pm June 6, 2018

Mood.#uptheblues pic.twitter.com/oySBuBg0uo

— NSW Blues 🏉 (@NSWRL) 6 June 2018

11:48 am June 6, 2018

GAGAI A CONFIRMED STARTER

By Laine Clark

Star winger Dane Gagai is a confirmed starter for Queensland in Wednesday’s State of Origin opener in Melbourne after being cleared of a finger fracture. 

Queensland appeared in disarray when Gagai suffered the injury at Tuesday’s training run at the MCG barely 24 hours after veteran fullback Billy Slater pulled out with a hamstring complaint. 

But Queensland assistant Josh Hannay said Gagai – last year’s Wally Lewis Medal winner as player of the series – would take his place in their backline after the Maroons held their traditional pre-game team walk.