Josh Addo-Carr's chances of a State of Origin recall look more likely after receiving praise from NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler.
It was a shock decision when Fittler made the call to exclude Addo-Carr from all three Origin games considering his record in the arena, scoring 10 tries in 12 games. The Blues coach opted for Roosters winger Daniel Tupou and Panthers winger Brian To'o instead for this year's series, which was ultimately lost to Queensland.
However, months on from State of Origin and Addo-Carr has performed incredibly well in the World Cup. He finished as the top try scorer with 12 in the tournament.
“He was fantastic. What he did is he proved that he's the best person for that job. One thing that was really strong was his defence and he was carrying the ball out of trouble,” Fittler said while overseeing an NSWRL Talented Aboriginal Athletes Program.
“He was one of the best players in the Australian team.”
Fittler has also gone on to defend his Blues halfback Nathan Cleary who has been on the receiving end of criticism for his performances for the Kangaroos.
“He cops it a lot. For one of the better players in our game, he seems to get a lot of criticism, and I'm not sure why,” Fittler said.
“His game, he's not a Johnathan Thurston or an Andrew Johns, he's a Nathan Cleary. Sometimes he doesn't stand out, but I've never seen a game where he doesn't give 100 percent or he's not nailing the details that people don't see.”
“I snigger at the criticism.”
