New South Wales legend turned assistant coach Andrew Johns has revealed a side-effect of Latrell Mitchell’s devastating injury.
Mitchell was ruled out of the State of Origin series opener on Monday after suffering a calf strain during training on Sunday.
His late omission brings Stephen Crichton into the team at left centre.
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And while Mitchell’s absence leaves a sizeable void on the field, his exit from camp has an impact not seen by the general public.
”He’s been so up, he’s so happy at training, he drives the enthusiasm,” Johns, who has been heavily involved in NSW’s preparations for the series opener, told Wide World of Sports’ Immortal Behaviour.
“I’ve never seen him so happy, so up, and he is so infectious.
“You’ve got him on one side jumping out of his skin like a 10-year-old, and on the other side you’ve got the Foxx (Josh Addo-Carr) screaming out and laughing and carrying on.
“It’s so infectious. When those boys are up everyone is up.”
Both Mitchell and Addo-Carr were absent from Blues camp last year, the former due to injury and the latter a surprise axing by the selectors, as NSW lost the series 2-1.
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The larrikin friends were set to reunite on the field at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday until Mitchell was withdrawn from the team.
Johns admits it is a crushing blow to the Blues, but is confident Penrith centre Crichton can do the job in Mitchell’s absence.
Latrell ruled out of Origin I
“Even at training some of the stuff (Mitchell) does, everyone just looks at each other and shakes their head,” Johns said.
“He had built that left-side combination with Hudson Young and they had worked out how they were going to play, so now Stephen Crichton will go there, now they’ve got to tweak things.
“They’ve got to tweak defensively and in attack with how we play on that left side. But Stephen Crichton is a world-class player.
“It’s a big loss this close to the game, because there is only one more (training) session (before the game).”
The Blues’ only remaining session is the captain’s run on Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
Johns added that his mail is that Mitchell’s injury is relatively minor. He said he was confident the superstar will be fit to line up in game two at Suncorp Stadium on June 21.
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