Club duty the next mission for sky-high Blues
Dragons Den News
HOW GOOD: Blues forward Tyson Frizell. Picture: AAP
DRAGONS forward Tyson Frizell says he could play against Parramatta on Thursday night on pure adrenaline, with the high of Sunday’s Origin series victory showing no sign of abating quickly.
The Blues ushered in a new Origin era in overcoming a 10-0 deficit to take out game two 18-14, defending the last 10 minutes with just 12 men on the field.
It was a case of one from one for Brad Fittler’s 11 debutants but, having felt his fair share of Origin heartbreak in recent seasons, it was extra special for Frizell.
“Jimmy [Maloney] and I were just speaking about that when we walked into the sheds, these kids are probably ‘thinking how good’s this’,” Frizell said in a jubilant NSW shed on Sunday.
“For us guys who’ve experienced those losses and been that close in the second half and just let it slip away… it's just happened too many times.
“I’ve seen it happen in the past as well so being a man down and being able to hold them out to the end and, to not only defend our line but attack there’s as well in the back end, is just so pleasing.
“It was a different mentality. We knew we couldn’t sit back and do our best to hold out Queensland, we had to attack them at every opportunity, even [while] a man down.
“With and without the ball we had to go after them and, even with a man down, that’s what we did. That last 10 minutes felt like an eternity but I’m so proud of the boys, we got the job done.”
While there’s nothing that will dampen those spirits, the Dragons representative contingent will need to quickly shift focus to club duty ahead of Thursday’s clash with the Eels in Wollongong.
There are no major injury concerns for the Dragons, who had eight players involved in the rep weekend, ahead of their toughest turnaround of the season.
English duo Gareth Widdop and James Graham left Denver injury-free, though prop Leeson Ah Mau’s return was delayed by the cancellation of New Zealand’s scheduled return flight.
The club’s Origin contingent came through Sunday unscathed and the returning Blues will have the words of coach Brad Fittler ringing in their ears.
“They’ve got to go back and play [well] for their club,” Fittler said in the post-match presser.
“It’s an important week for those players to go back and come down from and emotional high and go back and do it for their [club] team.
“We sort of did that between [games] one and two. There was a two-game break there and everyone did it one game and not the other.
“Queensland have set an unbelievable standard for a long time about playing for your state and then going back and playing for your club and keeping he standard high.
“That’s the one thing we need to do to keep the quality of our team going forward.”
Frizell said it’s a responsibility that the Blues experienced campaigners take seriously.
“It’s something [Fittler] wants us to do and it’s something we definitely want to do,” Frizell said.
“We don’t just want to play well for NSW, the club’s got us to this position so we need to reward them. We play with those guys week in, week out and they’re the people that gave us the opportunity to play for NSW.
“At the moment it is a short turnaround but, I’ll enjoy this for what it is and I’ll let Thursday come when it happens. We’ve passed the halfway point of the regular season and, in the past, we’ve probably struggled at this point of the year.
“This year there’s a lot more boys in the Origin side and we’ve come away with a win so hopefully we’ll all take a lot of confidence out of it and bring it back to club footy.”
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au...-the-next-mission-for-sky-high-blues/?cs=3713
