‘I don’t think it’s a risk’: Moses given timeline to prove fitness for Origin II

Blues five-eighth Mitchell Moses will need to be running at full capacity by Thursday if he’s any chance of lining up for NSW in next Wednesday’s Origin II clash in Melbourne.

Moses has been nursing a hamstring injury he picked up in Origin I camp two weeks ago. The Eels half was ruled out two days before the series opener in Sydney, which paved the way for Ethan Strange’s Origin debut.

However, NSW coach Laurie Daley said he was confident that Moses would be fine by Thursday, despite sitting out of the Eels loss to the Bulldogs on Monday. Daley said Dolphins half Isaiya Katoa, who is in the extended Blues squad, will return to NRL action on Friday night for the Dolphins.

“I don’t think it’s a risk. I’ve got full confidence in Mitch, he’s ticking every box, so you just don’t hold someone back thinking that something may happen,” Daley said.

“You’ve got to be confident enough to run with it, and we’ll see what happens, but I’m very confident that he’ll be right to play, and you’ve got a guy like Ethan Strange there, who was terrific in game one, so if something did happen to him during the game, he just goes straight into that position.

“He’ll have to train flat-out on Thursday, so there’s no issue there. We probably won’t have him do all the sessions, but he’ll need to be going at full clip. And again, he’s on track to do that. Izzy [Katoa] will go back and play with the Dolphins on Friday night, so I think if we were concerned we would have made the call to have Izzy in the 20 somewhere. We’re comfortable with it.”

Moses said he was feeling good and had been doing “everything” at training. To him, there was “no question” whether he would be right to play in game two.

“I’m not too sure what the plan is,” Moses said of his training schedule.

“I think everyone is restricted, to be honest, these days. That’s the way training is. The joys of having 20 people in your squad, the loads are definitely watched.”

Strange has again been named on the bench as cover if Moses fails to meet fitness requirements.

The Blues have already overcome one injury hurdle, with centre Stephen Crichton sidelining himself as he nurses a shoulder injury. The Bulldogs centre was originally named in Daley’s team on Monday afternoon, but Crichton’s injury forced the Blues into a late pivot on Monday night, with Roosters winger Mark Nawaqanitawase named as 19th man and Penrith’s Casey McLean moved to starting centre.

“After the game last night, so around 7pm I spoke to Critter [Crichton], and he’s been carrying an AC joint injury, and he’s a bit banged up, so he wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of training, and in particular contact [training], which is always a concern,” Daley said.

“What Casey did in game one was terrific, coming off the bench, and someone that probably wasn’t going to get any game time, but was thrust in, and then to handle it as well as he did was pretty special. No hesitation with putting a guy like Casey in. Confident, he handled it, so that gives us great belief.”

McLean – who played 23 minutes in Origin I after Tolu Koula came from the field concussed – came from the field early in Penrith’s match with an ankle injury, but was cleared of any serious damage late on Sunday.

Daley put the call into Nawaqanitawase late on Monday night who said the news of his Origin inclusion was a surprise.

“I was quite shocked, actually. The squad had been announced everything, so it wasn’t until close to 8pm that I got the call from him,” Nawaqanitawase said.

Daley said picking the former Wallaby was a no-brainer, following his performance for the Kangaroos last year and hat trick for the Roosters against the Raiders on Friday night.

“I relayed the message, and he was very excited, so they’re always good phone calls to have,” Daley said.

“Mark played for Australia last year, and has got a good rapport with the guys, and I know how much he wants to play for NSW. So, yeah, it was an easy decision for us.”

However, there was a selection shock with Manly’s Haumole Olaka’atu omitted from the starting side, with Newcastle’s Dylan Lucas instead the starting second rower alongside Hudson Young.

“Always difficult to have those chats, but you’ve just got to make the decision on what you think is in the best interest in the team and what the team needs,” Daley said of Olakau’atu’s exclusion.

“It was difficult obviously, we tried to see whether we could put him on the bench, but just the balance of the side and the balance of the bench with another back rower there … It’s just one of those hard calls you’ve got to make.”