RUGBY LEAGUE
SURELY there’s nothing worse than being a New South Welshman living in Queensland come State of Origin time.
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Particularly over the course of the last 10 years, with the Maroons successfully claiming nine of the series on offer.
Surely.
Not according to Orange product Dan Mortimer.
The former CYMS gun has been with the Gold Coast Titans since the middle of the 2014 season and with the state allegiances in the Titans squad, he says, split virtually right down the middle, being a Blue in enemy territory isn’t all that bad.
“You’d think it would be,” Mortimer laughed.
“But there’s a heap of NSW guys up here as well. We’re going ok.”
The Blues take on the Maroons in game one of the 2016 series at ANZ Stadium in Sydney tonight and Mortimer was particularly pleased with the inclusion of one of his former teammates and another Orange product in James Maloney.
Maloney first played junior league with St Joseph’s Sheahan in the early 90s while his father Brian captain-coached CYMS’ first grade side.
The now Cronulla Sharks five-eighth forced his way back into the Blues side after debuting in 2013 before missing out on both the 2014 and 2015 series.
Mortimer says Maloney is primed to fire, he even went as far as predicting the Blues to win by two points on the back of a Maloney penalty kick late in the series opener.
“He’s underrated if you ask me,” Mortimer, currently recovering from hamstring surgery, said.
“He cops a lot of flak for his defence but he gives it everything he has and he’s just a champion bloke.
“You only have to look at how the Roosters are going this year to see how much they miss him. He’s on fire for the Sharks and he’ll be eyeing off a good game on Wednesday night.”
Even with Josh Dugan being ruled out through injury, Mortimer says the inclusion of Josh Morris benefits the Blues as a whole, with the likes of Dave Klemmer, James Tamou, Paul Gallen, Andrew Fifita and Wests Tigers skipper Aaron Woods forming an intimidating prop rotation for Laurie Daley.
“I really like this year’s team,” Mortimer said.
“The halves are in form and the pack has matched it with, if not out-played Queensland in the last couple of series.
“They’re a champion side, that Queensland team, and they’ve played a lot of footy together.
“I’d have had Josh Morris in the team from the start. We don’t lose anything with him there and he’s done the job on Inglis and their gun outside backs in the past.
