NSW Blues assistant coach Matt King has lavished praise on key playmaker Nathan Cleary, who tonight surpasses both Andrew Johns and Mitchell Pearce to become the most capped NSW halfback in State of Origin history.
Speaking ahead of the Game III decider at Accor Stadium, an upbeat King talked of Cleary’s remarkable calmness and focus as he approaches one of the biggest games of his rugby league life.
“Nathan is an exceptional young man and a very calm and collected human being,” King said.
“He goes about his business with a diligence I haven’t seen before—it’s as great as I’ve ever seen, and I’ve played with Cameron (Smith), Cooper (Cronk) and Billy (Slater).”
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Asked how tonight’s performance would impact Cleary’s footballing legacy, King suggested he was simply looking forward to Nathan playing his own game and not worrying about the external noise.
“He doesn’t have to be the best player on the field,” King said.
“I think Nathan Cleary’s legacy is already written.
“Everyone’s talking about him ‘needing to do this’ at Origin to be considered one of the greats, I don’t buy into that.
“He already is one of the greats, he just needs to go and do his thing—and I’m so, so glad he’s in our team.”
‘They’re the best of the best’
King also shed light on the disruptions that have shadowed the Blues ahead of tonight’s decider, explaining Laurie Daley and NSW team management have always had complete trust in their injured stars, particularly Payne Haas and Brian To’o.
“We knew we had to manage Payne right up to today, which we’ve done,” King said.
“You guys have been wondering whether he’s going get there (kick off) or not, but from our point of view it’s been really clear and thankfully everything we hoped for has come true, Payne is ready to go.”
“At this level there’s so much trust that goes into the players,” he continued.
“They get picked for a reason, they’re the best of the best, guys who have proven they’re built for this occasion, this arena, so as a coach you just trust them.
“If Payne Haas hadn’t have trained two days ago, I still would have played him—he’s that influential, he’s that good, and Brian To’o is exactly the same.
“We trust them, we love them and we know what they can do for us, so we’ve given them every chance.”