Three rounds of concussion and calls for his retirement won’t stop Boyd Cordner from going hell for leather in pursuit of a third consecutive NSW State of Origin-series win.
The inspirational Blues skipper has declared himself “all good” for the series opener in Adelaide on November 4 despite missing seven games for the Sydney Roosters in 2020 because of repeated head knocks.
“I’m sweet. All good, ready to go. So I’m looking forward to a good series,” Cordner told AAP after joining the Blues camp.
“That’s been the case the last couple of weeks and the last few weeks that I’ve been back playing now.”
The second-rower first suffered his first bout of concussion in the Roosters’ round-eight loss to Melbourne, before returning a fortnight later and copping a knock to the head in training.
He was then sat out for a further five weeks, seeing a specialist about headaches, before returning in round 16 and suffering another knock against Newcastle in round 18.
Cordner came back from that setback in round 20 but was a shadow of himself in the premiers’ semi-final loss to Canberra.
Despite some doubters calling for the 28-year-old to hang up the boots for the sake of his long-term health, Cordner will not only play on but is giving no thought to modifying his courageous all-out approach to the game.
“I’ve got no second thoughts or anything,” he said.
“If I did have that, I wouldn’t be standing here right now. So I’m ready to go.”
The Roosters’ premature elimination, having also lost to Penrith in week one of the finals, will give Cordner almost a month between games.
“I’d rather still be playing. So it is disappointing but we just weren’t up to scratch in those last two games we played,” said the Blues’ two-time series-winning skipper.
“We let both games get away from us at the start. We just ran out of time in both games to run them down.
“But I’ve had a little bit of a rest now coming into State of Origin so I have to look at the positives in that.”
Cordner says relinquishing the NRL title after two years is a tough pill to swallow but he can’t say whether it will be Penrith or Melbourne who takes the Roosters’ crown.
“I can’t choose, to be honest. Penrith have been the benchmark all year but Melbourne have got experience now and they’re finding their straps at the right end of the year,” he said.
“So it’s going to make for one hell of a grand final, that’s for sure.”
