Queensland’s Daly Cherry-Evans has warned the Maroons captaincy is set to take his game to another level in next week’s State of Origin series opener.
Halfback Cherry-Evans is confident he has overcome a long term ankle complaint after running freely at Thursday training and is ready to put his stamp on the Queensland captaincy.
Cherry-Evans underwent ankle surgery five weeks ago but is not feeling any pain after being unveiled as Queensland’s 15th skipper earlier this week.
“I would love to find another level at Origin and hopefully captaincy will be that thing that will trigger it,” Cherry-Evans said.
“It’s not an overwhelming feeling to be captain. I have grown accustomed to it at club level.
“That comes off the confidence I have in the role I have in the side.”
Cherry-Evans capped one of the great Origin comebacks when he replaced retired greats Greg Inglis and Billy Slater and was named the next Maroons skipper.
He ended a three-year exile in last year’s Origin III game, ending speculation he had fallen out with Maroons senior players during an ill-fated 2015 stint.
“I have got my head around being captain to be honest,” Cherry-Evans said.
“That’s not saying I know everything about captaining my state – I don’t know everything.
“But I am confident with the person and the leader that I am in this side.
“I will continue to build trust with my teammates. The more trust I build, the more they will listen to me out on the field.”
Cherry-Evans gave himself the green light to run out on June 5 after making a remarkable recovery from a serious ankle injury.
The halfback showed no signs of discomfort at Thursday’s training session at Davies Park in a huge relief for Queensland coach Kevin Walters.
Other injury concerns – debutant bench utility Moses Mybe (groin) and prop Jai Arrow (quad) have already declared themselves certain starters.
“I am confident with the week ahead. I will grow in confidence the more I train with the side but I am feeling really good,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I am not nervous. There has been a lot of hard work put into it (recovery).”
