NSW winger Brett Morris says he’s ready for State of Origin after coming through 80 minutes against Penrith for St George Illawarra just 17 days after undergoing knee surgery.
Morris’ side were on the wrong side of a 19-0 loss to the Panthers on Saturday, but the 26-year-old was in an upbeat mood and declared himself ready to take on Queensland on June 5 at ANZ Stadium.
Laurie Daley will name his team on Sunday and Morris is set to be included having told the Blues coach on Saturday morning he’d felt no ill effects from a training session on Friday.
“I pulled up good, obviously it was a fair task to get to the game today,” Morris said.
“For the medical staff to get me on the field was huge effort by them. It felt good out there and hopefully it pulls up pretty well on Sunday.
“There’s only a little bit of pain where the scars are. Other than that it’s probably better than before I hurt it.
“I have full movement, full speed so it’s not an issue.”
Morris has stayed in touch with Daley throughout his rehabilitation after sustaining the injury in the defeat to Manly in round eight.
But he admitted he feared the worst when he limped off against the Sea Eagles and went under the knife to repair the meniscus at the back of his knee.
“I spoke to Laurie during the week and we kept in pretty close contact,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to lie to him. I told him the truth from the start and let him know how we were going and what it was looking like. But I was pretty filthy when it happened.
“I spoke to him (Saturday) morning and he was pretty pumped I was playing. It was good to get out there and have a run.”
One player who looks set to miss out on Origin is Penrith’s Tim Grant who’ll be overlooked in favour of Cronulla’s Andrew Fifita despite playing well last year in games two and three.
Grant produced another strong display against the Dragons clocking 139 metres and making 39 tackles.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said his player can feel hard done by to miss out and is in better form now than when selected last year.
“I think he would be unlucky if he did (miss out), he certainly wouldn’t let anyone down,” Cleary said.
“His form’s improved a lot, I think the last month’s been his best four weeks in the last couple of years I reckon.
“Three games is a long period so I’m sure he’ll be very close to getting a look in.
“If he keeps playing the way he is whether or not he gets the nod tomorrow night, there’s another couple of games so hopefully he gets a shot and he certainly wouldn’t let anyone down.”