League: Blues in defensive mode after storm

Michael Ennis distanced the Blues from Benny Elias' controversial comments. Photo / Getty Images

Last year, it was the Andrew Johns-Timana Tahu-Greg Inglis racism controversy. This year, another former player, Benny Elias, may have opened the floodgates of Queensland wrath for Wednesday's opening State of Origin match.

New New South Wales Blues coach Ricky Stuart has pieced together a united, committed team for Origin this year, according to observations by many rugby league experts across the Tasman - even bringing Johns back into the Blues camp after the upset of 2010.

Johns was forced to quit the NSW coaching staff in the lead-up to game two last year after Tahu stormed out of camp following alleged racist remarks directed at Queensland's Greg Inglis. Stuart, from all accounts, has knitted the underdog Blues together as a team - even leaving out star fullback/winger Jarryd Hayne because the Parramatta hero's ego had got too big for Stuart's liking.

All seemed well but the only thing Stuart feared was interference from another former player. It came at a special Origin function after which NSW legend Ben Elias was forced to offer an unreserved apology. His comments, made at the team's Legends Blue- Tie Ball on Thursday night, compared the preparation for the opening game of the series to the flood disaster that tore through Queensland.

The reaction on both sides of the border was one of disgust. Current NSW hooker Michael Ennis felt so strongly about the issue he volunteered to front the media to distance the Blues from the potentially explosive row, according to the Weekend Australian.

Stuart made it clear before the series began that any former player who broke ranks would be barred from the Blues' inner sanctum. It remains to be seen how former NSW captain Elias is treated in the wake of his comments, but the feeling was one of disdain among players, the Australian reported.

On Fox Sports on Thursday night, Elias said: "They are so cocky, they are so confident, they believe that they're bullet-proof and I can assure you there's something coming up there. They're going to make these floods... look like an absolute mimic when it comes to us coming up there because we're going to certainly create a massive storm."

Later, Elias said: "It was one of those unfortunate things. I humbly apologise about what was said. I apologise for saying it but I don't apologise for being passionate about Origin.

"The day we lose the passion for Queensland, and the six weeks of the year that is Origin, we will lose the passion for Origin.

"Actions are louder than words. I have contributed more than a lot of people. I have put my hand in my pocket. I have a letter from [Queensland premier] Anna Bligh saying how much she thanked me for my support. I have one of my dearest friends in the Lockyer Valley. There is no person more supportive of the disaster situation than me."

The distraction was the last thing the Blues needed as they attempt to end Queensland's five-year stranglehold on the series.

"Benny Elias will be Benny Elias," Ennis said. "I am not going to get into a slanging match about Benny and his personality. One thing I will say is the NSW Rugby League, also my club at the Bulldogs and these players here did a hell of a lot of work up in Queensland with the floods.

"For me personally, I spent a lot of time in the Lockyer Valley and it hit home for me a lot of things. It changed my life, some of the stuff I saw up there. At the end of the day, it's a footy game compared to people's livelihood, and some of the people's lives that were torn apart.

"I am extremely disappointed [given] what I saw and the relationships I built with the people up there and the communities through the Lockyer Valley, which were the most devastated areas. I think it [Elias' comment] was uncalled for."

AMONG THE work Stuart has done with his players is to force them to sit through some of the most embarrassing defensive moments of the past five years as he looks to stiffen their resolve and end Queensland's domination.

Blues captain Paul Gallen told The Weekend Australian the side had reviewed a number of the tries they had leaked during their losing streak, which stretches back to 2006. Some, Gallen claimed, were soft.

"We watched a couple of tries that Queensland scored and they were real simple tries that you would be disappointed if they were scored at club level - let alone Origin level," Gallen said.

"That's something we've spoken about. We don't want to let simple tries in. If they're going to score, they're going to have to earn it."

The Maroons might boast a near-test team and some of the most brilliant attacking players the game has ever seen in Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater, but the Blues feel they have had a simple stroll to victory in recent times - without having to pull out anything dazzling.

Stuart has selected a team that includes seven players from St George Illawarra, which boasts the best defensive record in the NRL.

The NSW coach will be hoping his team can replicate the defensive attitude of the Dragons, which has seen players muscle up because they don't want to let down their team-mates.