Queensland game plan: give Ponga the ball

Cameron Munster says his role as Queensland playmaker in next week's State of Origin series opener against NSW is easy: get the ball to young gun Kalyn Ponga.

Maroons

Cameron Munster (left) says Kalyn Ponga (right) can expect to see plenty of ball in Origin I. (AAP)

Kevin Walters won't be happy after Queensland playmaker Cameron Munster not only dropped the N-word but also revealed the Maroons' game plan for next Wednesday night's State of Origin series opener against NSW.

Desperate to regain interstate bragging rights after losing last year's series to the Blues, Walters has engaged revered mind coach Bradley Charles Stubbs to turn around Queensland fortunes.

One of the taboos of the so-called "Coaching Whisperer" is allowing Queensland players to mention the opposition team's name, with the Maroons instructed to focus only on themselves.

The bizarre edict had Munster referring to NSW as "the other state" when quizzed on Fox Sports' NRL 360 program about the Maroons' mindset on Tuesday night.

"Last year we were probably more worried about the other state instead of ourselves and that's probably what kind of got us down two-nil at the start," Munster said.

"We just need to worry about ourselves and what we do best and that's play good footy and train really well."

Munster's faux pas came when grilled about any "alarm bells" that rang in the Queensland camp when Brad Fittler named his Blues line-up on Sunday night.

"No, not too much at all. To be completely honest with you, I haven't really looked at the NSW side," the Maroons' five-eighth said.

"We're just focusing on ourselves this week. If we start worrying about them too much, we won't worry about our own selves and our own game plan.

"We've got a very confident team here. We've picked a winning team, which is confident for us, and it's all been picked on current form and we just can't wait to get out there on Wednesday night and just really show Queensland what they've got in this exciting young talent."

Apart from muttering the NSW word, Munster revealed how he and electrifying fullback Kalyn Ponga planned to unhinge the Blues defence.

"He's a very talented kid," Munster said of Ponga.

"Everyone's seen the way he plays and I'm really excited about getting some combinations going this week with Kayln.

"We know what he can do with the ball and he's very hard to tackle, especially one on one. That's something I need to: is give the ball to him and let him do the rest."


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Source: AAP


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Queensland game plan: give Ponga the ball | SBS News