New South Wales may have to bring in another five-eighth for Wednesday’s State of Origin series opener, with Mitchell Moses heading for scans after pulling up sore with hamstring tightness after a Blues training session on the Central Coast today.
Moses completed the full session run by Laurie Daley, which included some opposed work against the Knights’ NSW Cup side, before adding some post-training extras. It was during this extra work that he flagged he had been feeling some hamstring tightness and was whisked away for early tests. He’ll have more scans on the issue on Tuesday.
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Matt Burton has been called into training camp before these scans and will be on standby for Moses. Should Moses be ruled out, Daley will have to decide whether to play Burton or call on Canberra youngster Ethan Strange.
Strange has already been training with the team, while Burton comes in with 36 hours to game time.
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Burton does have form on this side — the 26-year-old just led the Canterbury Bulldogs to a huge 30–20 comeback victory over the Melbourne Storm in Sydney last Friday night, clocking up 70 post-contract metres, nine tackle busts, two linebreaks, a linebreak assist, and 327 kicking metres. He ran up 213 metres from 15 runs through the 80 minutes.
There is also the veteran element; Burton has played Origin before, though his last appearances came in 2022. He’s been in camp most series since then, with this 2026 selection round the first time he’s been left out of the squad.
Strange made the squad for the first time and was seen as a future option behind Moses and Nathan Cleary.
Origin game will be played at 8PM on Wednesday evening.
