Blue bloods … (left to right) John Raper, Graeme Langlands and Bob Fulton front the media as members of the NSW Team of the Century yesterday.
Photo: Tim Clayton

Smith will cry chicken if Bellamy's men adopt arm-twisting tactics

Andrew Webster | May 20, 2008

QUEENSLAND captain Cameron Smith says he won't hesitate to bellow "chicken wing" if he sees anything resembling a WWE wrestling move in the State of Origin opener - but he is adamant NSW won't bring back any biff under Craig Bellamy.

While the Blues have selected a team built for overt aggression, Smith reckons his Storm coach will ensure they do not overstep the mark.

"Some of you media are from the old school, where you used to see the biff all the time," Smith said yesterday. "I'm pretty sure Craig Bellamy won't want any of that on Wednesday night. He likes his team to be very disciplined and he wouldn't want his players to be giving away any cheap penalties.

"I'm quite certain he won't be telling his players to go out and intentionally put on a stink. It's a different approach by NSW this year. I always knew that's how they'd approach the game because I know the way Craig coaches. He's that style of coach. We know they're going to be well prepared, they've had their heads down and bums up getting ready."

When told of the remarks at the unveiling of the NSW Team of the Century yesterday at the NSWRL's Phillip St headquarters, Bellamy smirked: "Cameron would know."

Bellamy, then, should also know this: "I told Craig before I came into camp last week if I feel someone's got hold of my arm [illegally] that I'm going to yell out to the referee that I'm being 'chicken-winged'," Smith told AAP. "Two points goes a long way in Origin."

While Bellamy has been hell-bent on plotting a crucial win in game one, he has been conscious of introducing Blues tradition to the camp - something former coach Graham Murray was criticised for failing to do.

Bellamy has asked the living members of the NSW Team of the Century to present the current players with their jumpers at an intimate dinner tonight. Andrew Johns will hand the No.7 jumper to rookie Peter Wallace, who has been mentored by Johns since coming into camp last Tuesday.

"They're spending a fair bit of time together," Bellamy said. "They're almost rooming together. Joey's had a wonderful influence on him. They've spoken about a lot of things as far as halfback play goes: his kicking game, ways of taking control. But we've been very aware that we don't want to fill his head with too much stuff. He's obviously played very well to get into the team. We don't need him changing too much for Wednesday night. Just a couple of subtleties that Joey's been working on with him."

While Bellamy has every faith in Wallace not being overawed, he and selector Bob Fulton refused to follow the advice of former NSW halfback Steve Mortimer yesterday that they stick with Wallace for all three matches of the series. "We need to see what happens on Wednesday night and go from there," he said. "We're not looking past that at the moment."

Fulton said: "I agree with Craig. That's the only way to go. Let's jump each hurdle as they come up. We've got one game on Wednesday night - let's see what happens. I'm sure he'll do a job and with the assistance of Craig and Joey I'm confident the kid will really handle it."

NSW were given the day off yesterday and will have a closed training run at ANZ Stadium tomorrow afternoon. While neither side has any injury worries, both have added an 18th man to their squads: Penrith utility Luke Lewis for the Blues and Gold Coast back-rower Ashley Harrison for the Maroons.