Nine\u2019s Danny Weidler reported<\/a> Moses ran at 80 per cent during Monday\u2019s fitness test with the Eels.<\/p>\nThe Blues have also been told the Eels \u201cwould have picked him to play this week\u201d.<\/p>\n
And in an even more telling sign, Izzy Katoa – their squad cover for Moses – left camp at 1pm on Wednesday to rejoin his club.<\/p>\n
Moses was confident when speaking to reporters on Tuesday that he would be good to go after being ruled out of the series opener with a hamstring strain.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday the Eels playmaker trained away from the main group and warmed up on his own in the 15-minute period that media was able to attend training in Wyong. <\/p>\n
Fox Sports News reporter Cody Kaye was on the scene and said that while Moses has until Thursday to prove his fitness, based on what he saw on Wednesday it wasn\u2019t a good sign for the 31-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is Mitch needs to train at pretty close to 100 per cent not today but by tomorrow to prove that he\u2019s not going to be a liability and that hamstring won\u2019t let him down in Game 2,\u201d Kaye said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that gives an indication that right now Mitch Moses isn\u2019t in a position where he\u2019s ready to go and train at 100 per cent with the main group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues coach Laurie Daley told reporters on Tuesday that Moses would need to \u201ctrain flat out\u201d on Thursday to prove he will be fit enough to play in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe probably won\u2019t have him do all the session, but he\u2019ll need to be going at full clip, and he\u2019s on track to do that. There are no issues as far as we\u2019re concerned,\u201d Daley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIzzy will go back and play with the Dolphins on Friday night. I think if we had a lot of concern, we probably would have made the call to have Izzy in the 20 somewhere, so we\u2019re comfortable with where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell Moses trained away from the group.Source: FOX SPORTSMoses needs to prove his fitness on Thursday.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u2018HE\u2019LL GET GAME TIME\u2019: DALEY\u2019S STRANGE ASSURANCE <\/p>\n
Laurie Daley has revealed Ethan Strange will get on the field for the Blues in Game 2 despite losing his spot in the starting side to the more experienced Mitchell Moses \u2014 in comments made ahead of Moses\u2019 concerning training appearance, which may have the rookie star in line to again start at five-eighth.<\/p>\n
Eels halfback Moses told reporters on Tuesday that he is \u201cpretty confident\u201d he will be right for next Wednesday\u2019s game, with Strange otherwise part of the extended squad as insurance.<\/p>\n
However, if Moses is able to line up as planned it casts doubt on what role Strange could have. <\/p>\n
The Raiders young gun was a standout in his Origin debut and Daley told \u2018NRL 360\u2019 that there \u201cwill be options\u201d to get Strange into the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be options to put him on as a five-eighth. There will be options to put him on as a 13,\u201d Daley explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I know about Ethan (is) he\u2019s strong, he\u2019s a ball runner and that\u2019s valuable at Origin level because there\u2019s fatigue in everyone and if you\u2019ve got someone that can identify a fatigued player and they run the ball at strength and with speed, they\u2019re going to be a handful and that is what Ethan will provide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strange had 101 run metres and five tackle busts along with a try and three linebreak assists in the Game 1 win, and if he does in fact get playing time it begs the question as to who else on the interchange will miss out. <\/p>\n
Jacob Saifiti didn\u2019t see the field in the series opener, which suggests Addin Fonua-Blake may be the man to miss out if Daley follows a similar plan.<\/p>\n
Loz opens up on his role for Strange | 02:25<\/p>\n
Although the decision to bring Matt Burton on for a brief stint may have been influenced by the fact the Blues were chasing points. <\/p>\n
Blayke Brailey played 31 minutes off the bench, so you can lock Apisai Koroisau in for a stint while Cameron Murray and Victor Radley also got 51 minutes. <\/p>\n
Mark Nawaqanitawase is likely to be just there as cover for injuries in the outside backs, which leaves Strange and Fonua-Blake as the two options Daley could turn to depending on how the game goes. <\/p>\n
Although Daley said on Tuesday that Strange \u201cwill get game time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got no issue with where I throw Ethan,\u201d Daley added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a footballer and I think sometimes we overanalyse as coach. We think, \u2018I\u2019ll leave him on the left, he can only play left side\u2019. I don\u2019t think like that as much. I\u2019m more of a, \u2018If he can play footy, he can play footy\u2019… Ethan Strange is a wonderful player and he\u2019ll get game time.\u201d<\/p>\n
CLEARY: OLAKAU\u2019ATU\u2019S RESPONSE TO AXING HAS BEEN \u2018UNBELIEVABLE\u2019<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the Strange call has somewhat faded into the background given Laurie Daley\u2019s bold decision to drop Haumole Olakau\u2019atu.<\/p>\n
There have been suggestions Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s work off the ball may have influenced Daley\u2019s decision<\/a>, although when asked about it on Tuesday night the Blues coach didn\u2019t give much away.<\/p>\nHaumole out and Walsh in for Origin 2 | 04:48<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think we\u2019ve got a number of good players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDylan\u2019s in form. Haumole did nothing wrong. We just felt like this for this game it\u2019s an opportunity to give Dyl a game. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll our debutants in Game 1 when they came on changed the game for us so I\u2019ve got no hesitation in promoting young guys. Haumole was unlucky, he does a lot of great things. But we just felt for Game 2 Dylan (is) in form, let\u2019s give him an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blues halfback Nathan Cleary said Olakau\u2019atu has handled the setback well, describing the second rower\u2019s response to his axing as \u201cunbelievable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been great,\u201d Cleary said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough for someone like Haumole and he\u2019s been in amazing form the whole year but his reaction to it has been unbelievable and I think that speaks to him as a man. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to still have him in camp. He\u2019s a great person to have around and he\u2019s keeping his positivity high. It shows he still values the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daley did confirm that Dylan Lucas, Olakau\u2019atu\u2019s replacement, would line up on the right edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t worry me,\u201d Daley responded when asked about shifting either Lucas or Hudson Young from the left side, where they play in club land.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a backrower. Hudson played right (edge) for Australia. You can get technical if you want, but if you back and support your players to do a job \u2014 which I\u2019m going to do \u2014 then they\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NSW Blues will be looking to wrap up this year\u2019s State of Origin series next Wednesday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-727241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n