League: Gasnier ready for Boyd threat in Origin II

Mark Gasnier. Photo / Getty Images

NSW centre Mark Gasnier says the Blues have come up with plans to combat the suffocating defence which all but nullified his impact in the State of Origin opener.

Gasnier was closed down by Queensland winger Darius Boyd in the Maroons' game one win, Boyd doing a brilliant job of reading the every move of his St George Illawarra teammate.

But Gasnier says he and coach Ricky Stuart have come up with a strategy to ensure there is no repeat of the blackout in Wednesday night's rematch at ANZ Stadium, with the in-form centre one of the key attacking weapons in the Blues side.

"Darius read it really well, but I hope to mix it up in game two and go looking for the ball a bit more and get it in different situations," Gasnier said.

"No matter what the expectations are on you, you still have a level of expectation of yourself and a certain amount of involvement you want to achieve.

"We were going at the wrong times, we were going off slow play the balls and they were on the front foot defensively.

"We've got a couple of other options there as well and a few other areas we can go to as far as putting a bit of indecision in his defence."

Boyd turned up the defensive pressure on Gasnier after Queensland centre Willie Tonga suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first half of Origin I, with the Newcastle-bound winger knowing he had to try and protect his centre partner in defence.

Gasnier was limited to just 66 metres on 12 runs in Origin I - the lowest output of any NSW outside back.

Asked if he became frustrated with seeing Boyd in his face every time he touched the ball, Gasnier said:

"God yeah - it's always frustrating when that happens.

"But I've got to give credit to Darius, he read it well and he's a great player - that's why he's in Origin."

Meanwhile, Gasnier conceded the Blues panicked in game one, with a review of the Suncorp Stadium clash revealing instances when they lost composure.

There was no better example of this than when hooker Michael Ennis opted for a short kick down the blindside just after NSW had taken an unlikely lead late in the contest - Queensland taking advantage of the good field position to set up the match-winning play.

"There's desperation as far as panicking and then there's desperation as far as a willingness and an eagerness to work hard for one and other on the field," Gasnier said.

"He (Stuart) doesn't want the desperation to force us into panic.

"There's probably a couple of scenarios that we saw earlier in the week with the video sessions and we panicked a bit in different situations.

"You can only learn from game one - it was new team, a lot of them guys will have a run under their belt."

The Blues on Monday called Canberra prop Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah into camp as 18th and 19th men respectively.

Manly front rower Jason King and Dragons rake Dean Young - who were both dropped after game one - were due to serve in the roles.

But after speaking with the pair Stuart deemed that neither player would be 100 per cent fit on Wednesday after both took niggling injuries into club games on the weekend.

Learoyd-Lahrs made a barnstorming return to form for the Raiders on Sunday, with his devastating charges a big factor in Canberra's ultimately futile comeback against Brisbane.

Farah made a desperate dash back from Auckland to join up with the squad on Monday night, with the rest of his Tigers teammates remaining stranded in New Zealand.

- AAP