Origin teams named

BRISBANE: Queensland have overlooked Manly half Daly Cherry-Evans for the deciding game of the State of Origin series at Suncorp Stadium next Wednesday.
Coach Kevin Walters, who was forced into a number of changes with injured stars Johnathan Thurston and Darius Boyd both missing from the side that levelled the series in game two, has brought in Brisbane’s Ben Hunt and Melbourne’s Cameron Munster into the Maroons squad.
Walters defended the decision to omit Cherry-Evans, insisting he has a future in the state team.
“I rang him this morning, just to make sure that he’s OK with the reasons why we haven’t selected him,” Walters said.
“The position we’re in with Michael Morgan and Cameron Munster, we feel that they deserve the opportunity just as much as what daly would have.
“Daly’s Origin career is well and truly alive; he was most disappointed with the media, and what has been a pretty personal attack on him, saying that certain members of this team and the Queensland Rugby League don’t accept him.
“These rumours are nonsense, hogwash. Rumours about him not fitting into the Maroons setup couldn’t be further from the truth.
“He’s worn that jumper extremely well in the past and if he keeps playing well he’ll wear it again next year.”
Once again Walters didn’t name positions for the players, however it’s expected Morgan will start at five-eighth with Munster in the centres, and Hunt, pictured, on the bench.
Earlier, New South Wales coach Laurie Daley named an unchanged side for game three, the first time NSW has named the same 17 players for all three games of a series since 1996.
The Blues are sweating on the fitness of captain Boyd Cordner, fullback James Tedesco, back-rower Tyson Frizell and centre Josh Dugan.
The addition of Jack De Belin as the 18th man is the only change made to the NSW team that suffered a 18-16 loss in the game two.
Cordner is fighting to recover from the calf injury he suffered in game two of the series, while Frizell and Dugan both failed to finish St George Illawarra’s loss to Gold Coast last Saturday.
Daley was glad to be able to keep the same team intact for the third-straight match.
‘’We started with this team, we want to finish with this team,’’ he said. “We’ve done a lot over the last couple of weeks, we weren’t good enough two weeks ago.
“It is a big game for us coming up, I know the guys are all determined and we will put in a strong performance.’’ After New South Wales scored a crushing 28-4 win over Queensland in the series-opening Origin match at Suncorp Stadium, they looked to have the series in the bag when they lead 16-4 at half-time in game two in Sydney.
They were unable to hang onto that lead as Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and co-engineered a stunning second half comeback that resulted in an 18-16 win.
NSW, who are chasing just a second series win in 12 years, haven’t won a series decider played in Brisbane since 2005.
Queensland: Billy Slater, Valentine Holmes, Will Chambers, Cameron Munster, Dane Gagai, Michael Morgan, Cooper Cronk, Dylan Napa, Cameron Smith (C), Jarrod Wallace, Gavin Cooper, Matt Gillett, Josh McGuire. Reserves: Josh Papalii, Coen Hess, Tim Glasby, Ben Hunt.
NSW: James Tedesco, Brett Morris, Josh Dugan, Jarryd Hayne, Blake Ferguson, James Maloney, Mitchell Pearce, Aaron Woods, Nathan Peats, Andrew Fifita, Boyd Cordner (C), Josh Jackson, Tyson Frizell. Reserves: David Klemmer, Wade Graham, Jake Trbojevic, Jack Bird. – nine.com