Former NSW captain Paul Gallen has hailed Andrew Fifita's performance in the Blues' series-opening win as one of the finest by a front-rower in State of Origin history.
Fifita scored a try and set up another in the Blues' record victory at Suncorp Stadium in an effort some have compared to rugby league Immortal Artie Beetson.
The Cronulla star finished the night with 168 metres from 15 carries, seven tackle busts and 20 out of 21 tackles to earn man-of-the-match honours over fullback James Tedesco.
"Tedesco was very good as well, but Fifita started it," Gallen said on Triple M's Dead Set Legends
"The way he started the match, the way he ran through them, offloaded, defended, I thought he was just outstanding. One of the best if not the best performance by a front-rower."
Gallen, who this year made himself unavailable for Origin selection to focus on his NRL commitments at Cronulla, praised Fifita for overcoming his discipline issues at club level.
In his first run-on start for the Blues, the Kangaroos prop made no errors and gave away no penalties against the Maroons.
"He makes mistakes trying too hard. He's almost 130 kilos, six-foot-three or four, and can run fast and step," Gallen said.
"When he just runs hard, he just finds the offload will come because they simply can't tackle him. Two to three blokes hang off him, he's got his arm free, comes up with a beautiful offload.
"When he comes into the run thinking about offloading first and trying to create something first, that's generally when he comes up with errors.
"I think (Blues coach Laurie Daley) had a word to him throughout the week and said, 'Mate, let's just keep it really simple. Run straight and hard first and if an offload comes, we'll do it'."
Daley insisted it was too early for Fifita to be compared to Beetson, and urged his front-rower to repeat his heroics against the Maroons in game two on June 21.
"Arthur was an Immortal," Daley said.
"Andrew has got a long way to go before he reaches that status, but his performance last night was very good and we need him to do be like that for the rest of the series.
"A very good performance from Andrew, showed why he's one of the most destructive front-rowers in the game. He was terrific for us and we need him to be like that again in game two."
Fifita and the rest of his Sharks teammates will enjoy the bye this week and next face Melbourne before he heads back into Blues camp for game two.
Share
