A midweek chat between Paul Green and Michael Morgan could help catapult the North Queensland star into contention for injured teammate Johnathan Thurston's State of Origin jersey.
A proud Queenslander, Morgan is desperately hoping Thurston will overcome a shoulder injury to play for the Maroons in the Origin opener on May 31.
But if he doesn't, the 25-year-old showed a little bit of what the Maroons might have up their sleeve if they give him the No.6 jersey in the Cowboys 30-14 win over Canterbury on Thursday night.
And the five-game bench utility has declared he's ready to start in the Origin arena.
"I'd like to think (I could handle it)," Morgan said.
"You always want to back yourself and have confidence in yourself.
"But personally I still hope Johnno plays, I really do.
"He's played 36 Origins in a row and it would be a shame to see him miss one. As a fan of the team I really hope he plays because Queensland is at their best when he's in there."
Morgan has largely been overlooked in debate surrounding Thurston's replacement, with most speculation surrounding Daly Cherry-Evans, Anthony Milford and Corey Norman.
Maroons great Wally Lewis even said last week feared Morgan had been pigeonholed as an interchange utility.
But after a tricky month without Thurston - when he had a previous calf injury - Morgan stepped up to the plate on Thursday night.
He had a hand in all of the Cowboys' points, setting up four tries with his grubbering kicks and scoring one himself as he danced through the Bulldogs' defence.
Morgan said he and Green had sat down to discuss taking on more responsibility in the Cowboys attack, after they won just one of their three games without Thurston before the representative round.
"I was more on the ball than what I was the last few weeks with (Thurston) out," Morgan said.
"The last few weeks I was wearing No.7 but John Asiata was on the ball whereas tonight I might have been wearing No.6 but my role was to be on the ball."
It worked: North Queensland reached 30 points for the first time in five years without Thurston.
"I was really proud of Morgs' game," Green said.
"He came back from that week with the Test side with a lot of confidence and he wanted to step up and run the show."
Share
