NSW wrecking ball Payne Haas beware, because Queensland prop Tino Fa'asuamaleaui has vowed to "take it personal" in Perth and fire up the underperforming Maroons pack.
The Maroons have been baited by NSW forward Angus Crichton, who said the Queenslanders had been told not to kick off to Haas or Blues bench enforcer Spencer Leniu.
Leniu called the Maroons "pussies" for not kicking to him in game one of the State of Origin series in Brisbane, won 18-6 by NSW, but Fa'asuamaleaui said he would "not take a backward step" against Leniu.
Fa'asuamaleaui was not happy with his start in Brisbane, where his ill-discipline gave away an early penalty.
The Gold Coast skipper has wrangled with Haas since they had a classic Origin confrontation in game two of 2020 when both were sin-binned after throwing punches at each other.
Fa'asuamaleaui isn't interested in replicating that set-to, but in 2020 he announced himself as a dominant Origin force and outplayed Haas in the Maroons' 2-1 series win. Series wins over a Haas-led NSW pack in 2022 and 2023 followed.
Haas was man of the match in Brisbane, and now it is Fa'asuamaleaui's turn to lead the Maroons to victory and save the series.
The Maroons were slammed for being out-muscled and ill-disciplined in game one and must find a balance.
"I take it personal, every game I play," Fa'asuamaleaui said.
"Every time I put that Queensland jersey on, it means so much to me.
"There were obviously a lot of emotions that first game, but any game I get to put this jersey on, I take it personal and hopefully I can do a job for my teammates.
"I think we have just got to be smart. We've got to treat the ball like gold and make sure that we don't hand it over and give silly opportunities, but the fire's there definitely.
"There's a lot of little discipline things that we did (wrong in game one) and we've identified that."
The 25-year-old prop brushed aside claims the Maroons were too scared of Leniu to kick to him.
"We'll find out our game plan this week," he said.
"Whoever's in front of us, we're not taking a backward step and we're excited to play."
Fa'asuamaleaui played 12 Origin games in a row and won three series out of four until an ACL tear rubbed him out of last year's 2-1 loss to the Blues.
His joy at being back for game one spilled over when there were tears during the anthems in Brisbane.
"Putting that Queensland jersey on after watching it as a fan last year, then obviously finding my way back in the team this year ... all the emotions came out," he said.
Big Tino must get down to business and channel his emotions in Perth after coach Billy Slater conducted a brutal review of game one on Monday night in camp.
"We've had a real honest conversation between players and coaches about what we need to do," Fa'asuamaleaui said.
"I'm excited to get into training, practise good habits and find our (best) game."
