NSW five-eighth Mitchell Moses is out of Origin II with a calf strain, with Jarome Luai called straight into the team in a shock blow to the Blues’ bid to wrap up the series in Perth.
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Moses suffered a calf strain at Blues training on Thursday, with Tigers halfback Luai rushed into Blues camp after starring in the team last season.
Blues coach Laurie Daley confirmed Moses would be out and Luai would come straight into the starting side. Daley phoned Luai before Origin I to tell him he’d been left out, and was immensely impressed by his reaction, but got to given him a recall after the Moses blow.
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“I said at the time Jarome handled [his Origin I snub] with such class, and he said that if I needed him, he’d be ready to go,” Daley said.
“So when I called him today, he said, ‘Sweet, I’m ready to go’.
“That filled me with confidence. I said, ‘What are you doing?’. He said, ‘I’ve just finished training’. I said, ‘You fit?’, and he said, ‘I am’.
“I said, ‘Do you want to play Origin?’, he said, ‘Yes’. It was as simple as that.”
Daley added of Moses: “It’s terrible isn’t it, Mitch played really well in game one and then started off really well this week,” Daley said.
“He injured his calf today, so we are unsure how bad it is, but he won’t be any good for Wednesday with the short turnaround. He has gone for scans, so we have had to make a decision to rule him out.
“Jarome Luai will come in. He played there last year and has a good combination with Nathan Cleary and he is a left side player, so he will do a fine job.
“He will come straight into the starting side and Burto will stay 18th man.”
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Daley has faith in Luai to get the job done and said so should his players.
“They should, he’s won four grand finals and also the Origin series last year,” Daley said.
“I think everyone has a lot of confidence and faith in him and I don’t know Jarome that well, but I think he would believe in himself too, that he could come in and do the job at short notice.
“There will only be a couple of training sessions, but the fact that he has played with that left edge last year is an advantage for us as well.
“It is not like we are bringing in a player that hasn’t played before and played with those players.
“It is what it is. We are disappointed for Mitch, but excited for Jarome.”
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Daley said it was tough to leave Burton out of the team.
“I had a chat to Matty, he would be disappointed, but he gives us a bit more versatility in that 18th man role and can play a few more positions.
“But I just think Jarome and Nathan’s combination, they have had so much success and I think back playing with each other, there will be an energy and a synergy there and that will bring a different style of energy and game, but one that they will all be confident in.”
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Earlier Blues manager Frank Ponissi confirmed Moses suffered calf strain in training on Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately Mitch Moses suffered a calf strain at training this morning about 20 minutes into the session just taking it down a short side,” Ponissi said.
“He has been ruled out of State of Origin II. We are not sure about the severity of it at this stage.
“Our medical team is working with the Parramatta Eels medical team. He will have scans and return back to Parramatta.
“At this stage in terms of a replacement we haven’t even discussed, so we have just come off the track and he has just been ruled out now.
“We will sit down with our coaching staff and work with the NRL from a procedure point of view on who we will bring into the 20 and we will make an announcement in the next few hours on who will be coming in and taking his spot.”
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Blues back-rower Hudson Young admitted Moses was a massive loss.
“It is going to be massive,” Young said.
“I’m not too sure of the severity of it, but he obviously didn’t get through training today and he is an integral part of what we did in game one, so next man up mentality is what we have had the whole camp and we are going to need it for game two.
“I don’t think there is any panic amongst the group. We have got tremendous leaders and we will lean on those guys and whoever they choose to stand up, I know that they are going to be in great stead to do a job.”
Young admitted Moses was disappointed to be ruled out, but was in a positive mood.
“I think he is OK, he is in good spirits, so he is doing well,” Young said.
“He pulled out straight away, so he knew it was pretty serious.”
Young was pressed on 18th man Burton potentially filling the role.
“I have a lot of faith in Burto, they are on top of the ladder for a reason and its probably on the back of what he has been delivering,” Young said.
