Question that left Daley lost for words as under-siege coach responds to ugly Blues leak

Laurie Daley was left struggling to find the words to respond to one question that stumped the under-siege Blues coach while fronting media ahead of a baptism of fire on Wednesday night.

Daley’s Blues outfit face a monumental challenge in the Origin series decider when they face a red-hot Queensland outfit on home soil at Suncorp Stadium in a bid to lift the trophy.

NSW secured a Game I victory after a lacklustre first half display, before surging back into the contest following Kalyn Ponga’s send off before being dominated in Game II at the MCG.

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Only three times in the history of the Origin series have the Blues won a decider at Suncorp Stadium — and Daley was asked where a win on Wednesday night would “rank” in his list of achievements.

In his response it was clear a victory would mean a lot to the embattled coach, who has been hit with a wave of criticism regarding his second tenure.

“Oh, I just think... the players, I want them to feel it again,” Daley said.

“Two years ago when they won up here, that was pretty special. You want to try and recreate that for them and any time you win a decider, it’s really special.

“Any Origin series is great so yeah, I think it’s a wonderful achievement if you can win up here but there’s a lot of work to be done between now and 10 o’clock tomorrow night.

“But the way we are tracking, the way we’ve built into it, just confident we are going to get our best performance.”

Daley’s selection decisions have consistently been questioned by the media and supporters, while the Blues’ slow starts have also come under the microscope.

Criticism of the NSW side has come from far and wide and Daley was asked if he was “surprised by the criticism that came from within NSW”.

“I think just being a part of this, it has just got bigger and better State of Origin,” he said.

“With Origin comes comments, so you’ve got to put that to one side and you can’t sort of focus too much on that.

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“You’ve got to worry about what you can control, and that’s performance, my performance, and that’s players and the way they go about training.

“I haven’t read but I have been told. You just put it to the side, and the players are pretty good at focusing, I am pretty good at focusing on what needs to be done.

“So just looking forward to tomorrow and the ability of this team to play their best football, I am confident we are going to play our best football tomorrow night.”

One of the major criticisms of NSW was their ugly fade out in the second half of Game II, holding a 12-8 lead at the break.

Queensland went on to score 36 points and win by 20, scoring six second half tries with a dominant attacking barrage.

Daley conceded his side came away from that game with some demons, and also conceded the noise surrounding that display was partially deserved.

“I think this group were disappointed just in their performance in the second half, so I think that’s given them a real steely focus,” he said.

“Like anything, I think in this business you don’t like the criticism but you know it’s coming when you lose and there’s the criticism you look at and go ‘yep, you’re right’.

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“There’s other parts where we have to go ‘well we didn’t get that right’. So you throw it all into the mix and the boys bounced back into camp.

“They have got strong self belief... it just gives me great confidence that we’ll play our best footy tomorrow night.”

Daley was also quizzed on his future and as it stands, he is without a contract for next Origin series after signing a two-year deal.

However, he batted away the question, saying: “I’m just all in, all in on this game.

“For me, it’s exciting. Just relaxed, calm. Boys give me confidence because of what they’ve done and all I ask is they give their best performance.”

Blues skipper Isaah Yeo also backed his embattled coach in his press conference when asked “what it’d mean to silence the noise surrounding ‘Loz’”.

“Yeah that’d be nice. Within the group, we feel like it’s not warranted. We’ve got the utmost confidence in him and he instils that in us as well,” Yeo said.

“He’s in our corner, he loves us, he gives us exactly what we need so then ultimately it’s up to us to go out there and perform for him.

“We haven’t done that consistently enough just yet, he’s a tremendous man, he has done a lot for this jersey, not just as a coach but as a player before.

“I’d love to win just for him, to see that smile on his face and know it’s all been worth it. But ultimately that comes down to the group.”

Elsewhere, Ethan Strange’s fitness has been a hot topic after the young gun utility suffered an ankle injury during training.

After a fitness test on Monday, the Raiders star was given the green light to take his place on the Blues bench and Daley was pleased to have him in his team for the decider.

“Yesterday we were probably unsure, and when he first did his ankle it wasn’t looking great,”

“But the amount of work the physios and Ethan put in, it’s been amazing. He did everything that was required yesterday and he has pulled up really well this morning.

“So it’s all systems go.”

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