Blues: We’ll do it for Boyd

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Retired Sydney Roosters and New South Wales captain Boyd Cordner in action during last year’s State of Origin game one. The Blues will be playing to honour him on Sunday.

SYDNEY: Gone but not forgotten, retired New South Wales (NSW) skipper Boyd Cordner has emerged as the inspiration for a Blues outfit hoping to ice a rare State of Origin series-winning game at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday night.
Cordner played the last of his 16 Origins in the 2020 series opener and was never sighted again on the football field due to concussion issues after coming off second best in a tackle involving Maroons back-rower Felise Kaufusi in the Adelaide clash.
However, Cordner will be very much present for the Blues ahead of this weekend’s game two with NSW appearing to adopt a “do it for Boyd” mantra following the workaholic back-rower’s emotional retirement last week.
Cordner fought to hold back tears as he told media he had been forced to prematurely draw the curtain on his glittering career that also featured three NRL premierships for his beloved Sydney Roosters at the age of 29 due to repeated head knocks.
The emotion-charged press conference may have been more than a week ago, but it was still fresh in the memory of Angus Crichton who vowed to honour former Roosters and Blues teammate Cordner on his NSW return on Sunday.
After missing the Blues’ record 50-6 game one win in Townsville due to suspension, Crichton earned a recall off the NSW bench due to a pack reshuffle forced by a hip injury to prop Jake Trbojevic.
While thankful to NSW selectors after holding out the challenge of Melbourne’s Dale Finucane to win an interchange nod, Crichton says his main focus would be to pay tribute to Cordner when he runs out against the Maroons.
“I will play for Boyd every time I pull on the Roosters and the NSW jersey,” Crichton said.
“I learned a heap off him, about the way he goes about his football and learned a lot as a person.
“He is a great friend and a great captain.
“A player who still has so much to offer our game had to hang up the boots early… it was devastating news.” The man who has taken over the Roosters and NSW captaincy from Cordner — fullback James Tedesco — confirmed the Blues were not only thinking of their ex-skipper ahead of game two, they also hoped to welcome him into their camp which has been relocated to Kingscliff, just south of the Queensland border, to avoid any Covid-19 issues in Sydney. – NRL