‘Don’t worry about that one’: Michael Maguire says criticism of Nicho Hynes irrelevant

Nicho Hynes struggled in the final round before the Origin teams were picked, but Blues coach Michael Maguire says his star halfback won’t be rattled in game one.

Michael Maguire has scoffed at suggestions Nicho Hynes is out of form. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Blues coach Michael Maguire says anyone who doubts Nicho Hynes’ credentials based on one half of footy against the Panthers only needs to watch his first nine games of the season to know the rookie half is ready to handle the pressures of playing in front of 80,000 fans on Wednesday night.

The former Dally M winner has been one of the form players this season and has been a key reason why the Sharks were leading the league, but his 12 try assists and accuracy in front of goal have been forgotten because of his struggles in his most recent start.

Hynes kicked two balls out on the full, came off for an HIA and didn’t return in the second half due to a calf concern as the Sharks were spanked 42-0 at home by Penrith, but Maguire says that means nothing despite calls from north of the border for the Maroons to target him in game one.

The NSW halfback will step up for the biggest game of his career looking to make amends for a difficult debut off the bench 12 months ago after which he was dropped for the rest of the series.

Michael Maguire is expecting great things from Nicho Hynes in the Origin opener. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“Don’t worry about that one. Not at all. Have you watched the previous 10 games that he’s played?” Maguire responded when asked about the Penrith performance.

“But you roll on, and no doubt, he’s a human being. He’s thinking about Origin. You’re thinking about all sorts of things. I’ve had many a player go through exactly what he went through in that last game. It’s actually irrelevant.

“That’s history (his Origin debut). You’re thrown into the deep end in a quick game, it’s moving. To be honest, if anything, it’s a great experience for him.

“Everyone faces a little bit (of adversity) in their career and he’s no different. He’s prepared really well and he knows his role coming into this game, so I don’t look at (last year) to be honest.”

Hynes was in some doubt last week due to the calf injury, but Maguire says his playmaker is “100 per cent”, with the halfback likely to beat out Zac Lomax and Stephen Crichton for the goalkicking duties.

And while Queensland great Cameron Smith urged the Maroons to target Hynes, coach Billy Slater said that wasn’t part of the game plan.

The Maroons say they won’t target Hynes after his poor game against Penrith. Picture: Tom Parrish

“If you put too much energy into one opposition player, you forget about your task,” he said.

“I’ve played this game at this level, I was fortunate to play for Queensland 31 times. Every position is under pressure, it’s a tough game. Fatigue sets in. We will be trying to get our game on and that will flow on to pressure on the opposition.

“There is no one individual we are isolating or trying to zone in on.”

The build-up to this year’s Origin series has been very tame so far, and Maguire didn’t want to fuel any potential fires created by Maroons legend Gorden Tallis who said he would have been embarrassed if he’d been dropped and then recalled to the squad as NSW fullback James Tedesco was when Dylan Edwards got ruled out.

“I’m not paying attention to anything. I haven’t even paid attention to it. I haven’t cared what’s gone on around us. It’s all about what we’re doing in camp, and that’s how I’ve always done it,” Maguire said.

“It was a big decision, but I said all the reasons why I picked Dyl, but it’s not about Teddy coming in and bringing in his wealth of experience. He’s playing great footy, so he’s one hell of a player to bring in when you’re in a moment like this.”

The Blues won’t need to overhaul their tactics with James Tedesco brought in. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The injury is a heartbreaking setback for Edwards, who led Dally M voting before it went private and had done everything to earn an Origin debut, but it opens the door for Tedesco to reclaim his No.1 jersey, with the former skipper to adapt to the new game plan while also bringing his own strengths.

“We’ve discussed how we want to set our game up, but Teddy will be able to express himself,” the rookie coach said.

“They’re pretty similar in how they play with how they work hard, but Teddy has his own combinations that we’ve discussed with players, and he’ll fit in perfectly.

“We’ve made a few changes with how we wanted to play, but I’ve also looked at the players that I’ve selected. I really like to bring in the qualities of the players that are in each position out in the way that we want to play.

“I think it’s important to play to the strength of players because you don’t want to hold them back from doing the things they want, but they’ve also got a bit of a structure to play towards.”