NSW hooker Reece Robson hopes to prove his critics wrong after there was blowback over his selection for the State of Origin decider following a tough night at the MCG where he was asked to play 80 minutes.
Robson will reunite with Blayke Brailey, who missed Origin II with a broken arm, but was dynamic off the bench in the series opener when he came on for his Roosters rival with 31 minutes to play.
Api Koroisau replaced Brailey on the bench in game two but wasn’t used, with Robson forced to play 80 where he made 42 tackles, missed five and only had two runs despite being a threat through the ruck.
It led to calls for him to be dropped for the decider, but Blues coach Laurie Daley has stuck solid.
“People can have opinions, but I’m happy with where I’m at with my game. I’m looking forward to getting out there on Wednesday night and hopefully proving them wrong,” Robson said.
“The way the game went, we were doing a lot of defence in the second half, and it definitely makes it a lot harder.
“I think when you’ve got the rub of the green and everything’s flowing well, it’s easier to get through an 80-minute performance.
“When you’re on the back foot like we were in the second half with a lot of that defence, it wasn’t an easy job out there.”
Robson said he would play the full game if required next Wednesday and game plans could go out the window pretty quickly with bigger benches if someone got hurt early.
“The way the game is today, it’s so uncertain with the benches,” he said.
“It’s not the old four-man bench where you have your rotations set in place and that’s how it kind of works out every time.
“There are so many contingencies in place with the six-man bench and it depends on how the game goes with injuries. There is a plan in place, but it’s definitely a rough guide of things going perfectly, which it hardly does in Origin.”
Meanwhile, star centre Stephen Crichton says he’s the “best I’ve felt” after he made the agonising call to withdraw from game two due to a shoulder injury that would have ruined his training preparations.
He said his shoulder pulled up well after a wrestle session on Wednesday, with Crichton to play a key role on the right edge as the Blues try to stop Queensland’s left edge of Kalyn Ponga, Cameron Munster, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Selwyn Cobbo, who carved up in Melbourne.
“They’ve got strike all over the park, especially down that left edge,” he said, with Crichton starring at five-eighth for Canterbury in recent weeks.
“Ponga loves coming down there, so does Munster, and then their centre and winger are quality players as well, so it’s going to be a massive task for our right edge.
“But I’m very excited to walk towards the challenge and be at my best.”
Originally published as ‘Proving them wrong’: Reece Robson responds to criticism over NSW selection t