Having won two NRL grand finals in a row, Penrith Panthers lock Isaah Yeo – and his teammates Brian To’o, Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai and Liam Martin – will enter unfamiliar territory at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday.
Losing game one in Adelaide and the loss of Latrell Mitchell, has delivered the underdog tag to NSW as they attempt to rescue the series.
Yeo admits it’s not something he’s used to.
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“I’m pretty fortunate that hasn’t happened too often,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“I feel like any player, it seems to motivate them, it certainly does for this group, and it’s going to need to.
“I’ve been fortunate enough that I haven’t had to do that too often but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Having become a master of owning the middle of the field at NRL level with Nathan Cleary, Yeo will have a new partner in Mitchell Moses after the former’s injury.
For the lock, “nothing really changes”, but he’s not afraid to admit that he needs to improve on his game one performance.
“I guess I’m fortunate enough where I’ve got the ability (where) I can play as that link man or I can play as that bloke who carries the ball, it’s just a matter of making sure I do that better than what I was doing in game one,” he said.
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“I probably didn’t touch the ball as much in that game so I’ll try and get my hands on it a little bit more, just to help us get to our spots a little bit more and try and earn momentum.
“I feel like we actually did that (earn momentum) pretty good in game one … so I feel like I can help in that situation, I certainly won’t overthink it, just do my role as best I can and hopefully that’ll help the team.”
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With NSW heading to Brisbane knowing they’re the enemies, Payne Haas has described it as “the biggest challenges we’ve faced as a team”.
Yeo admits the weight of the occasion certainly puts it up there in his 10-game Origin career.
“We’ve obviously dropped game ones before but we haven’t been up there for that game two, so yeah I guess if you’re looking at it like that it probably is (the biggest challenge),” he said.
“History’s against us, particularly going up there, but I feel like you’ve got to enjoy that, you’ve got to embrace that challenge. I feel like that’s what State of Origin’s all about, back against the wall now and you’ve just got to go after it.”
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