Maroons coach Billy Slater lavished reward on skipper Daly Cherry-Evans for his heroic chasedown of Stephen Crichton and emphasised there was “a whole heap of Queenslander” within the act.
With slightly below 10 minutes left within the first half Crichton made an intercept near the Blues’ line and sprinted into the open discipline forward for what regarded like a sure attempt.
But Cherry-Evans flew throughout the sphere on the pace of sunshine to convey down simply previous the 20-metre mark and ship the Suncorp Stadium crowd into delirium.
The 34-year-old’s phenomenal chase and sort out was then backed up by his Maroons teammates as they defended their line valiantly earlier than an error from the Blues on the fourth sort out gifted possession to the hosts.
Slater joked Cherry-Evans’ chasedown was considerably aided by some additional metres he had on Crichton, however reiterated the steely mentality that sparked the massive play from the skipper.
“It starts with a headstart,” Slater mentioned in his post-match press convention.
“And he needed a headstart because Stephen Crichton is an athlete and he is quick.
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“But when you want to do something, and want is a very undervalued stat. You can’t actually put it into a stat, but you can see it.
“And there was a whole heap of want in that action, a whole heap of Queenslander in that action.
“Like I said, he had some mates there to back him up. He put himself in a position, you move your feet, you put yourself in a position to make a play.”
Despite his legs transferring as quick as they ever have, Cherry-Evans conceded he felt something however quick when looking down the New South Wales centre to forestall the attempt.
“It’s funny moments like that where everything goes so slow,” Cherry-Evans mentioned.
“I felt like I was running on a treadmill.
“But again, as Bill said, there’s a bit of mentality. You just got to keep moving your feet and if you keep moving your feet, you’re going to make the play for the team.
“That’s as simple as it was.”
Source: www.foxsports.com.au