‘He’s gone’: NSW injury mystery deepens as ‘furious’ Blues to investigate spying drama

Blues centre Stephen Crichton remains under an injury cloud ahead of the Origin decider despite two of his teammates declaring on Monday that he will be good to go.

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Both Angus Crichton and Connor Watson told reporters it was “just a cork” and a “precautionary” measure when Crichton limped off the field at training on Monday.

But former Blues advisor and Panthers legend Greg Alexander poured cold water on that when speaking on SEN Radio on Tuesday morning, going as far as to claim Crichton is “gone”.

“Well he’s out. He’s gone. He’s done,” Alexander said.

“… Payne Haas is playing but Stephen Crichton isn’t. The cork he picked up in the training session was bad enough to rule him out.”

Bulldogs general manager of football Phil Gould tweeted on Tuesday that he has received word from Origin camp that while Crichton has “pulled up well” and the medical staff is “optimistic” about him playing there are “no guarantees”.

That was echoed by Blues coach Laurie Daley in his final press conference before Wednesday’s series opener, telling reporters they are “quietly confident” but will see how Crichton pulls up in the morning.

Gould added that versatile Bulldog Matt Burton remains on standby to be 18th man, with Campbell Graham to start in Crichton’s place should he be ruled out.

In a welcome boost, Daley said front rower Payne Haas will play on Wednesday night unless there are any unforeseen circumstances.

Speaking of Crichton, the Blues are expected to use drone footage to try find the culprit after vision surfaced of the centre limping off.

New South Wales trained at Brisbane’s Ballymore Stadium and allowed the media to attend for the first 15 minutes before they were asked to leave, as is usually the case during Origin series.

However, footage circulated online, first on the Sydney Morning Herald, of Crichton hobbling from the field.

It left the Blues scrambling for answers as to how the vision got out given it was a private training session.

In fact, there have even been suggestions someone has been filming all of the Blues’ training sessions and that the vision has been given to the Queensland team.

“The Blues don’t know where they’ve got it from,” Braith Anasta said on Fox League’s ‘NRL 360’.

“Laurie Daley and Frank Ponissi are furious. They believe someone inside the camp of Queensland have possibly been spying on the Blues. Now they are worried if they have actually filmed the whole session.”

Daley addressed the issue in his press conference on Tuesday and said that while the team will “have a look” at it, their focus for the moment is on Wednesday’s game.

“You prefer none of that to get out, but when we do our game one review, we’ll have a look at that,” the Blues coach said.

“That’s not my focus at the moment. My focus is on being able to prepare the team, do some little things today just to top off, and we’ll be ready to go.

“I don’t know (if the Maroons were behind it), but you’d like it to be a private session. At the end of the day, it is what it is.

“I’m not concerned about that now, but I’ll worry about that after the camp.”

WHY MUNSTER WON’T BE SAYING MUCH ABOUT NSW RIVAL

NSW Blues enforcer Liam Martin reignited his feud with Cameron Munster earlier in the month, but the Queensland five-eighth has no interest in giving it back — at least for now.

The pair first clashed during the 2021 State of Origin series when Munster put the boot into Martin, literally, as he lay on the ground after a collision midway through the second half of Game 1.

Then, in 2022, Martin made it known he would target Munster’s injured ribs before the Storm five-eighth said ahead of last year’s NRL grand final that he never really liked the Panthers backrower.

Munster later apologised for those comments at the request of his own mother, but the rivalry came to the forefront again this season when he came under scrutiny for a dangerous tackle on Martin and then was involved in a scuffle with the Panthers star near the end of the game.

It is safe to say there is plenty of history between the two, but Munster won’t be giving it much weight in Wednesday’s series opener because he has learned his lesson to let his actions speak for themselves.

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