Laurie Daley has confirmed Nathan Cleary was indeed hampered by a groin problem of Game 2 of the State of Origin series, and said he was happy with Jarome Luai's performance despite a loss which has ensured a live decider in Sydney.
Alarm bells were raised around the fitness of Cleary early in the game after the first two long kicks were made by Luai and Latrell Mitchell, with Luai putting his out on the full.
Cleary also had his groin heavily strapped.
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Daley said he had suffered groin tightness in the lead up to the match, but that there was never a risk of Cleary not playing.
"He just felt a bit tight in his groin, so we wanted to limit the amount of force that he put through there. He is a tough kid Nathan, and we know what a quality player he is," Daley said on Cleary during his post-match press conference.
"His groin was tight, but he got through okay."
Luai had what could only be described as a mixed night on his return to the Origin arena, having been a late call up for Mitchell Moses who suffered a calf injury in training last week.
A poor first half saw a kick out on the full, while errors and missed tackles littered his performance, before he was able to restore some dignity with a far improved second half.
The controversial figure, in his first season at the Wests Tigers, was backed by his coach though.
"I thought he was good. He certainly brought good energy to the performance. Like all the players, he had some good moments, but we can be a lot better. That's on me, it's on the team, so I have to make sure I review myself first and foremost, and I'll do that, and then we will come back into Game 3," Daley said on Luai, who has also been charged by the match review commitee for an alleged eye gouge.
The coach also refused to blame either Cleary's injury, or Luai's late arrival into camp for the Blues woes.
"I just think we missed the jump with completions. It really was just errors and penalties, and it just compounded. We made it really hard for ourselves. Queensland were good, and we knew what we were going to come up against, and they delivered," Daley added.
