{"id":764027,"date":"2026-06-27T16:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764027\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:24:17","slug":"nrl-2026-jeremiah-nanai-pushing-for-origin-selection-in-game-iii-will-he-be-picked-cowboys-v-penrith-news-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/764027\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Jeremiah Nanai pushing for Origin selection in Game III, will he be picked, Cowboys v Penrith, news, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremiah Nanai has laid bare his burning desire to return to the State of Origin arena after leading North Queensland to a thrilling 26-12 upset of the Penrith Panthers.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a><\/p>\n

Nanai soared through the air to score the match-sealing try at the death and could have finished the match with a hat-trick if not for a contentious no-try call in the first half.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Cairns Kangaroos junior has been battling a shoulder injury all season and said he was getting restless watching Origin from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys have been outstanding, Queensland, and I\u2019m getting itchy feet just watching them and supporting them from home,\u201d Nanai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I want to be in the arena again and pull that jersey on, it means a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get the call-up, we\u2019ll see, but I\u2019ve just got to focus on what I\u2019m doing here. Hopefully if I get that call-up I\u2019ll take it with both hands and make sure I get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his best Nanai is the most dangerous forward in the NRL in an aerial contest, proving his credentials when he flew over Brian To\u2019o and Dylan Edwards to score.<\/p>\n

“Oh my God! What a catch, what a try!” | 00:38<\/p>\n

He said he was running on empty but knew he had to dig deep and create a special play to win the game for his childhood hero Jason Taumalolo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just trying to find something, I was a bit buggered at the end there but I just wanted to do something,\u201d Nanai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to find an effort there and the boys got me through that, so credit to the boys for pushing me and making sure I got through the game. It was a special try and it was pretty cool to get that tonight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot. A very special win for Hulky (Taumalolo). A lot of emotions this week going into it. I\u2019m very proud of the boys, they turned up tonight and it was great to get the win too for his 300th.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah Nanai scoring one of his two tries against Penrith.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nanai said he was still working on his match fitness after his first experiences with this year\u2019s new six-again rules and interpretations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo games now under my belt and it\u2019s good to get the game fitness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is a lot different now, it\u2019s my first time getting those six-agains and stuff like that, but I\u2019m trying to get used to it. So the fitness is getting there and I\u2019m trying to get fitter so I can do my job for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowboys coach Todd Payten said Nanai had played himself into contention for a Maroons call-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see how important he is for us in two games,\u201d Payten said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were pretty good performances and what I like is he\u2019s spent a fair bit of time out of the game but he hasn\u2019t missed a beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he was hurting with 15 or 20 minutes to go, we got the message up in the box, should we consider taking him off and making a change, but the people around him pushed him along and we left him out there and he came up with a play like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s only going to be better in a month.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremiah Nanai has laid bare his burning desire to return to the State of Origin arena after leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-764027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764027","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=764027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}