Meninga to blood his young Maroons
Steve Ricketts
January 31, 2007 11:00pm
Article from The Courier Mail
QUEENSLAND'S bid to stay a step ahead of NSW at State of Origin level will include fringe players being invited into camp with the Maroons before each match of the 2007 series.
Queensland coach Mal Meninga said yesterday he wanted as many players as possible to be exposed to the pressures of Origin football as he continues his mission to return the Maroons to the glory days of the 1980s.
Meninga said Queensland's prime motivation this year would be the chance to become the first Maroons outfit to win successive series since the late 1980s.
But he warned NSW would be equally motivated to regain the title in a season when two of the three matches will be played at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.
"Motivation won't be an issue with the Blues and the fact they have stolen a leaf out of our book and held a pre-season camp is proof," Meninga said.
"We must step up and meet the challenge and that means rekindling a lot of the things we did last year, such as the mentor groups, while making a few subtle changes.
"We've done away with a pre-season camp because we think there is more value in bringing players from outside the top 17 into camp before each of the three games so they can get conditioned to what is required.
"The concept is subject to the approval of the clubs but we're not looking at bringing the players into camp until late and with a lot of clubs having byes I'm hoping there won't be a problem."
Traditionally the Maroons bring an 18th man into camp on match eve but now three or four players could be involved in training and pre-match warm-ups two or three days out.
Meninga said he was very happy with the depth of talent at his disposal for 2007 even though there were only about 50 Queenslanders of proven worth in the NRL.
He said there was a core group of just over 30 players who would form the nucleus of the Maroons' campaign.
"But the bottom line is we need our senior players to be fit and well," Meninga said. "Players like Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva, Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis, Karmichael Hunt and Shaun Berrigan are crucial."
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