Gold Coast Titans coach John Cartwright says he almost feels sorry for rival NRL teams missing their stars during the State of Origin period.
Cartwright renewed calls for stand alone Origin games as he questioned how fair it was to make clubs play without their key players.
He could not hide his frustration over the uncertainty created by Origin week as he sweated on Titans stars Greg Bird and Nate Myles emerging from Wednesday night’s series decider in Brisbane unscathed.
“If they are in Origin they are important parts of your side – it affects your training, your preparation, it affects everything,” he said.
“There’s no way around it. Hopefully they look down the track maybe making these games one off – that would be a lot fairer for the clubs.”
Cartwright said he empathised with the likes of Queensland rivals the Cowboys and Brisbane when Origin came around.
“You don’t feel sorry for anyone but you have got to sympathise for the Cowboys and the Broncos who were up against winning their games with the amount of players they had out (last weekend),” he said.
“It is just that period of year when the focus goes to State of Origin and the clubs are on the back foot.
“From our point of view we can’t let it do that.
“We played pretty well through the Origin period. If we can win this one and get all our troops back on deck with eight games to play we are not in such a bad position.”
Cartwright is also keeping his fingers crossed Luke Bailey gets the all clear ahead of Saturday night’s Skilled Park clash with the New Zealand Warriors.
Bailey – sidelined for a month with a painful rib injury – will wear a specially designed guard for a fitness test this week to determine whether he returns for what looms as a bruising Warriors showdown.
“It’s always a very physical game against the Warriors. We like to be close to our best as we can (against New Zealand) but that’s out of our hands,” Cartwright said.
“We won’t risk him (Bailey). He had a really bad injury and a very painful one as well.”
But Cartwright was hopeful another forward – Matt White – would run out on Saturday night after a shocking case of tonsilitis.
The case was so bad White developed a cyst in his mouth, ensuring he lost 5kg and spent three nights in hospital.
“I couldn’t move my jaw. It wasn’t too much fun,” White said.
Fresh from a bye, the Titans (10th; 6-9 record) also hope to welcome back centre Beau Champion (ankle).
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