NSW Blues call Matt Burton into camp due to concern over Ethan Strange ankle injury
Updated ,first published
Kingscliff: Canterbury star Matt Burton has been called into the NSW camp ahead of Wednesday’s State of Origin series decider due to growing concerns about the fitness of playmaker Ethan Strange.
Strange rolled his left ankle at training on Thursday, and spent the night in his Kingscliff hotel room being treated by an ice compression machine.
“I just rolled it – I should be sweet,” Strange told this masthead on Thursday.
But the Blues are leaving nothing to chance, and have asked Burton to fly north in time for Saturday’s training session.
Burton was not required for club duty this weekend because the Bulldogs have the bye.
He will join clubmate Lachie Galvin, who has spent the past few days with the Blues, on the field. Galvin is due to return to Sydney after Saturday’s training session.
Blues players have a rest day on Friday, with most of them enjoying a morning dip at the beach, while Haumole Olakau’atu and Addin Fonua-Blake squeezed in an early round of golf.
Strange, 21, has been working with medicos to improve the same ankle he rolled a few weeks earlier.
“Ankles are a funny thing; they can feel like the worst things in the world when you do them, but in two or three days, you realise you can run and strap them up,” Blues back-rower Liam Martin said.
“I’m not a doctor, but I’m backing Strangey to be right. He’s a tough cookie, and if anyone can get through it, I’m sure he will.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Crichton said his move into the halves at the Bulldogs had helped take some of the pressure off Galvin.
“I’m enjoying my time at No.6,” Crichton said. “Lachie still runs the show, but I feel my communication and clarity makes other people’s roles a bit easier, and he can roam and do what he does best.
“Since I’ve come into the No.6, I feel Burto [Burton] has also been loving his footy in the centres. I love the combination I have with him, and I try to feed him the ball. His communication has gone through the roof as well.”
Just as Blues coach Laurie Daley commended Galvin for being able to stay focused and block out the “outside noise”, Crichton said: “I don’t know how I’d go with that much media scrutiny at that age. I’ve learned a lot now, but at his age, what he’s gone through, and what his family has gone through, it will hold him in good stead in the future, not just physically but mentally as well.
“This year he has been one of our best, even though we didn’t start the year we wanted to.
“The way he’s developed as a player, he deserves to be here [with the Blues] training with the boys, and learning from the best players.”
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