NSW Blues coach Michael Maguire has reportedly handed goalkicking duties for State of Origin II to Zac Lomax after Mitchell Moses reported soreness in his foot.
Moses has only played three games for the Eels since returning from a foot fracture that kept him out of the selection picture for Origin I.
But the Eels gun pulled up sore after training on Monday, prompting blues coach Michael Maguire to look at other options.
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He had plenty of them. Lomax and Latrell Mitchell are both frontline kickers for the Dragons and Rabbitohs respectively, while Dylan Edwards has been the Panthers’ kicker in Nathan Cleary’s absence and Stephen Crichton can also kick.
On Wednesday morning, News Corp reported Lomax had been given the job in what will be just his second Origin appearance.
Lomax is kicking at 78.8 per cent in 2024, having kicked 41 from 52 this season.
Backing up from Origin I, he smashed a Dragons’ joint-venture club record against the Tigers in round 14 when he kicked 10 from 10 and scored three tries at WIN Stadium.
There is no suggestion Moses won’t be fit to line up as Blues No.7, only that he won’t be goalkicker.
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“He will love the challenge,” Dragons coach Shane Flanagan said on Tuesday.
“Zac has self-belief by the bucket loads. It’s a big game but he takes his goalkicking really seriously.
“I’m not saying he will kick every single goal but Zac will go through his processes.
“He will need to get used to the arena where there is a lot of open space behind the goalposts.
“It will be a matter of getting the angles right.”