Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Sport
Murray Wenzel

Bellamy spray has Harry Grant primed for Maroons

Harry Grant has returned to the Maroons camp in perfect nick for Origin II thanks to Craig Bellamy. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Billy Slater can thank Craig Bellamy for a textbook spray that returned hooker Harry Grant to his devastating best in time for State of Origin II.

Grant's Melbourne have gone full circle in the two NRL rounds since Queensland's series-opening win in Adelaide.

Mercilessly thumped 45-20 by North Queensland, Grant and the Storm took it out on Cronulla 54-10 a week later.

Grant ran amok against the Sharks and said their turnaround wasn't without some coaching intervention.

"There were a few words; we're lucky we've got Belza (Bellamy) at the top and he takes a loss harder than anyone else," Grant told AAP.

"When you have your main man, your leader so driven to win and hates losing, that's pretty infectious."

That Sharks rout meant Grant returned to coach Slater's Maroons camp in good spirits in a period, he said, tested players emotionally and physically.

"It's hard, that's for sure," he told AAP.

"You miss a lot of time with the team and crucial reps, come back in and try to play the same style and things just don't work for you.

"You try and strip it back and we had the intention to do that against the Cowboys but didn't do it well enough.

"But we flipped that and did that well against the Sharkies and I'm 100 per cent focused on Origin now."

Grant announced himself with a match-turning performance off the bench in his debut in the final game of the 2020 series.

Set to play his seventh Origin on Wednesday, he's formed a wicked one-two tactical punch with fellow hooker Ben Hunt that's left NSW searching for answers.

After picking just one specialist hooker for game one, Blues coach Brad Fittler has included specialist No.9s Reece Robson and Damien Cook for the Suncorp Stadium clash.

That's left former Storm playmaker Nicho Hynes on the outer, after he was used late and out of position by Fittler on debut in the loss in Adelaide.

Ironically it was Grant's Storm who sealed Hynes' fate when they thumped his Sharks on selection eve, Mitchell Moses leapfrogging the Cronulla half to fill the injured Nathan Cleary's boots.

"A little disappointed for him, he's a good mate and I want to see him succeed and play on the biggest stage," Grant said of Hynes.

"But it's out of my control, can't do anything about that. They've gone with Moses and that's who we've got to focus on this week."

The 25-year-old said there was no complacency as the Blues scramble to find a team to take the series to a Sydney decider.

"Not at all, look across that team, they've got a lot of superstars in there," he said.

"They have incredible players and the luxury of a lot to pick from. We will have to play well to counterattack them."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.